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The northern part of Italy is quite safe but take care in the south of Italy. When pitching a tent in the wild make very sure to stay out of sight. In areas like Puglia people are so friendly that you can just basically ask if you could crash at their place if you need a place to sleep.
[[File:No_autostop_en_italia.JPG|thumb|left|[[User:Quarim|Quarim]] and a ''NO autostop'' sign.]]
'''Hitchhiking (Il)legal?''' - Hitchhiking on the ''autostrada'' is not legal (there are big signs saying ''no autostop'' at motorway [[on-ramp]]s) and it extends to petrol stations (''area servizio'') on the autostrada. Fine is 21 euro (so you need to find excuse for not having that money, poor traveler, somebody stole it etc.). Most of the times police just ignores you or say that you must go further from exit. If you happen to gt kicked out of a petrol station by the police they'll tell you to go to the nearest train station and take the train. If there's no way around it you can simply dodge the fare as the Italians themselves say that "nobody gives a shit about the law in Italy." The conductors usually can't articulate anything beyond "Money" and "Ticket" in English, so just tell them "No money, no ticket" and they'll let you be. Easier it is just to ask from people while they refill their cars. Hitching on the petrol stations is generally fairly easy. If petrol stations has exit to normal road, then police asks you to leave. And when it happens that you are on the motorway, don't put your thumb out.
If you're on a petrol station it's a good idea to stay on friendly terms with the staff. When starting, it's probably a good idea to find a spot before drivers encounter the ''no autostop'' sign, but it is still possible hitchhike while you have ''no autostop'' behind you; once you have passage onto the ''autostrada'' it is fairly simple to skip from one service area to the next until you arrive at your destination. It's less likely that you will encounter problems if you're not Italian -- and, if you speak Italian, don't reveal this to police (or the armed forces ''carabinieri'').
