S.maybe because Italy is the second European nation (after Luxembourg) with the highest number of cars considered to be its inhabitants, but in the beautiful country finding parking is a difficult task. According to one study of Parclicka parking booking company in Europe with more than one million active users, Italians employ an average of 30 minutes a day to find an area to park your car. It is therefore about ten hours a month, not counting the weekends, which citizens spend locked inside the car only to find a free seat.
Parking problem: critical neighborhoods and times
Minutes can jump from thirty to forty-five depending on the city or even the neighborhood or time of day. According to Parclick the worst time is between 7pm and 8pmwhen returning home after finishing work, as well as between 8 and 9, moment that coincides with leaving home to start the day.
“Difficult” for parking are not only the times, but also some areas. The parking booking company has compiled a list that includes i quartersi of some of the largest Italian cities in which citizens take longer to find a free place.
Rome
In Rome the center is impossible, but it is better to avoid going to the station by car because the surroundings of the Termini station they are really crowded with cars. Among the other districts where parking is a real nightmare, Prati, San Giovanni, San Lorenzo and Trastevere stand out.
Florence
Even in Florence it is inadvisable to go to the center and to the Santa Maria Novella station by car, as well as in the surroundings of the Church of Sant’Ambrogio, Lungarno della Zecca Vecchia, Porta San Frediano, Lungarno del Tempio.
Milan
The center is an off-limit area in all cities, including Milan, as is the station. In the Lombard capital it is better to take the metro also to go to the Navigli area, San Siro, Cadorna and Parco Sempione, Rho Fiera.
Naples
In addition to the center and the central station, in Naples it is better not to look for a parking space in the Circumvesuviana railway station area, Mergellina and via Toledo: you would not find it.
Palermo
In Palermo, parking is a “nice nuisance”, as a “local” would say. In Piazza Marina, the Foro Italico, Piazzale Hungary, via Amari near the port and in the Court area, you can waste hours of time.
Too many cars and few seats? It pays to maximize
Based on the latest Eurostat datarelating to 2019, in our country there were 663 cars for every thousand inhabitants and according to the Parclick study they are six out of ten workers who use their car every day to go to work. A trend that has been growing during the pandemic when the Italians preferred to use a private car instead of public transport to avoid contact as much as possible. Yet, now that the number of vaccinated people has increased and that of infections has decreased, and despite the increase in fuel prices, most citizens still prefer to travel by car.
Behind the difficulty of finding a parking space, however, lies not only the high number of vehicles circulating on the street, but also the inability demonstrated so far to maximize the space available. This is revealed once again by the Parclick studio. According to the company, 95% of Italian car parks are not used correctlybut the solution exists and is that of making underused spaces available to citizens at affordable prices.
Six out of ten motorists are of the same idea: they positively evaluate a monthly pass at low prices, especially in the congested areas of the most populated city. Venturing every day in search of a place to leave your car can get really exhausting and that’s why more than half of citizens who drive their own cars would be willing to pay a reduced rate to save time wasted looking for a parking space.
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