A word, please, about Italian drivers. They were weaned on Ferraris, Alfa Romeos and Lamborghinis. They are expert operators, generally, who seem to think every trip to the supermarket is a Formula One event.
On a quiet country road, they'll come up behind you fast and sit on your bumper before executing a daring pass, seemingly in the face of oncoming traffic. On a multiple-lane road, the "fast" lane is for fast cars only. If you're in their way, they'll let you know it with a flicker of high beams, often followed by a flick of the finger.
And the motorcyclists! Street riding is taken seriously in Italy. The riders are all helmeted _ it's the law _ and they are also for the most part well-equipped with high-grade leathers and boots. On the Chianti and Mugello roads I saw mostly well-protected riders, riding professionally.
Lane-splitting is allowed in Italy, and local riders lane-split across the center line. On some of the famous northern passes the more aggressive ones pass across the center line on the curves.
I never saw the head-on, two-cycle collision I kept expecting. As I said, these are good riders. I tried to resist the impulse to emulate them.
