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== Eating & Sleeping ==Also, service stations and restaurants on highways are commonly referred to as ''Autogrill''.
In areas like For detailed information on speaking Italian check the [[PugliaSouthern Europe phrasebook#Italian|Italian phrasebook]] people are so friendly that you can just basically ask if you could crash at their place if you need a place to sleep. In the South, you might also be invited for meals. Table-diving is good at service stations, at least in the Northon hitchwiki.
If there's no way around it, you can simply dodge the fare on local trains. 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 -- in the worst case they'll ask you to leave at the next stop and you can resume hitchhiking or take the next train.[[trash:Italy]] [[nomad:Italy]] As local trains are taking a lot of stops it is advised to take some of the express/high-speed trains between bigger cities. These trains are travelling really fast and even if you are asked to leave the train, the next stop can be 100{{wikipedia-200 miles away so you can cover this distance at no cost. link|Italy}}
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The law is pretty clear, and while it is not at all unusual in Europe that hitchhiking right on the motorway is illegal, Italy explicitly includes service areas into the law as well. Be aware that drivers picking you up may also be fined; for hitchhikers, the fine appears to be 21 euros, for drivers up to 137 euros.
Of course it is still possible to hitch the width and length of Italy on freeways without being fined all the time. On-ramps and exits of petrol stations have big signs saying ''no autostop''; if you stay before those, you should be fine; even if police have a problem, they will mostly just ask you to move further away from the sign. The ban on hitchhiking is not generally enforced in highway gas stations, but all the more when you're in a place where it actually is potentially dangerous to stand. It can happen that they ask you to leave a gas station and continue by train (see [[https://nomadwiki.org/en/Italy#Public transportpublic_transport|public transportation sectionin NomadWiki]] for advice on how to travel for free by train). Generally it is smart to lower your thumb and try to look like a straying botanist or something whenever you see coppers approaching near the motorway.
According to [http://www.laleggepertutti.it/94376_autostop-chiedere-un-passaggio-e-illegale this legal article (Italian)], this does not apply to ''tangenziale'', bypasses, unless they are ''autostrade'' or other high-velocity roads. All in all, 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'').
As in any foreign country, learning some of the language is recommended. Aside from Italian and local dialects, French is spoken in some areas of Piedmont and Aosta, as well as German in South Tyrol. A handful of words from a local dialect may make drivers loosen up. Spanish is easy for Italians to understand. English is less widely spread than in more northerly countries.
"Hitchhiking" is ''autostop'' or ''passaggio'' in Italian. Just say ''faccio autostop'' or ''cerco un passaggio'' and the name of your your destination or show your thumb, otherwise Italians might think you are asking directions as Italy gets a lot of tourists. A sign can also help to avoid misunderstandings. For detailed information on speaking Italian check the [[Southern Europe phrasebook#Italian|Italian phrasebook]] on hitchwiki.
== Public transport Trashwiki & Nomadwiki ==
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