Italy | Area code 39 | Common abbreviation I | Last updated 29-3-2009 | |||
| Road class | Syntax explanation | Administrative subordination | Sub classes | Zones | System | Remarks |
| European road | E[0-9]<2-3> | Europe | See Europe | |||
| Motorway (Autostrada) | A[0-9]<1-2>{dir} | national | 1-32 | sequential | Exit numbers: sequential on bypasses and ring roads | |
| 50-90 | ||||||
| Tunnel motorway | T[1-9] | national | sequential | |||
| Link road (Diramazione) | D[0-9]<2> | national | Often derived from A numbers | |||
| Link road (Raccordo) | R[0-9]<2> | national | ||||
| State highway (Strada statale) | SS[0-9]<1-3>{`suffix`} | national | 1-134 | spider-web; sequential with clusters | ||
| 141-672 | ||||||
| Regional highway (Strada regionale) | SR[0-9]<1-2> | regional | sequential | |||
| Provincial highway (Strada provinciale) | SP[0-9]<1-3>{`suffix`} | provincial | sequential | Sometimes indicated by roman numerals | ||
| General description: | ||||||
| Motorways:
The system is truly sequential in the sense that all numbers 1-32 have actually been used. They were apparently also assigned sequentially.
The A1 used to go from Milan to Rome, and the A2 from Rome to Naples, but in the early 1990s th A2 was changed to A1 (with a shortcut passing Rome, the old A1 and A2 near Rome both became A1diramazione). Therefore the A2 does not exist anymore. The A3 runs from Naples to Reggio di Calabria. The motorway from Rome to Civitavècchia was originally numbered A16. Later it was planned to continue it to Livorno, thus creating a motorway all the way from Rome to Genova. Thus it was renumbered to A12. The A17 Naples-Bari was then renumbered to A16 and the number A17 was no longer used (it was probably never signposted). There is only one section of single carriageway motorway (on the A6). There are many spurs and bypasses that are officially motorways, or at least dual carriageways with motorway characteristics, but that do not have numbers. The table below lists known named roads (there are many more). Recently many have received numbers, see Link roads. Exit numbers are very rare. Some of these roads have them: | ||||||
| Road | Connected to | Exit numbers | ||||
| Raccordo autostradale Ferrara-Porto Garibaldi | A13 | |||||
| Raccordo autostradale Firenze-Siena | A1 | |||||
| Raccordo autostradale A1-Perugia | A1 | |||||
| Raccordo autostradale A14-Ascoli Piceno | A14 | |||||
| Raccordo autostradale Tolentino-Civitanova Marche | A14 | |||||
| Raccordo autostradale Avellino-Salerno | A3, A16, A30 | |||||
| Raccordo autostradale Sicignano-Potenza | A3 | |||||
| Grande Raccordo Anulare (Roma) | A1dir, A24 | 1-33 clockwise, 1 at SS1 | ||||
| Tangenziale (Napoli) | A1 | 1-14, increasing westbound | ||||
| Tangenziale Est (Milano) | A51 | 3-24, increasing northbound | ||||
| Tangenziale Nord (Bologna) | Partly parallel to A14 | 1-13, increasing eastbound | ||||
| Tangenziale Sud (Torino) | A6, A21 | A-G, increasing westbound | ||||
| Tangenziale Nord (Torino) | A4, A5, A32 | H-O, increasing eastbound | ||||
| The Torino bypasses are particularly interesting because the motorways A5, A6, A21 and A32 are not linked directly to each other. The A21 ends east of the junction with the A6, and the A5 ends at the Falchera interchange. It would be more logical to continue the A21 via the Tangenziale Sud and the A5 via the Tangenziale Nord, so that the A5, A21 and A32 would all meet at the Bruere interchange. | ||||||
| In 1999, some new numbers were assigned to bypasses (Tangenziale) of Milan and later also to other roads: | ||||||
| Number | Road | |||||
| A50 | Tangenziale Ovest | |||||
| A51 | Tangenziale Est | |||||
| A52 | Tangenziale Nord | |||||
| A90 | Grande Raccordo Anulare (Rome ring road) | |||||
| In future, some more of the roads listed above may be numbered as well.
Another class of not numbered motorways are the links between motorways on which only other motorway numbers are indicated. For example, the link between the A8 and the A26 is 24 km long but it does not have a number of its own. Towards the A8, it is signposted as A8, and in the other direction as A26. Yet another idiosyncrasy are the tunnel motorways. Instead of just continuing the A32 to the French border, the section through the tunnel has the number T4. So far, only four such numbers are known: T1, T2 (single carriageway), T3 and T4. For a list, see Trafori. | ||||||
| Recently two classes of link roads were introduced: Diramazione and Raccordo. Numbers are usually derived from existing A numbers (e.g. A14dir became D14). See Link roads. | ||||||
| State highways: The class distinction of SS roads is very loose: it can only be said that numbers under 140 are generally more important than higher numbers.
One might also argue that 1-8 (or 9!) are more important than higher numbers.
Importance should be seen here in terms of distance and continuation, not of traffic intensity or width and maximum speed.
The numbers under 140 form a closed network (i.e. they usually terminate at other roads belonging to the same class, or at an important town or an international border),
but the best route between the termini of one road is often not that road. For example, few people would follow the SS7 from Rome to Terracina (which is only a small part of the whole road): the S148 is much faster, with motorway-like standard between Rome and Latina.
The system is typically sequential, with almost all numbers from 1 to the highest actually existing. The SS1 - SS8 form a spider-web around Rome, starting with the SS1 along the coast to Ventimiglia near the French border, increasing clockwise to the SS8 to Ostia. The SS9 runs from Milan to Rimini. Numbers 10 and higher are assigned beginning in the north and moving south to 112. Numbers 113 to 124 are on Sicily, and 125 to 134 on Sardinia. Then numbering continues in the north again from 141, quickliy going south to 200 (in Sardinia again) and higher numbers are spread all over the country. New numbers are probably assigned sequentially. Currently the highest known number is 672. Many of the high numbers are recently upgraded former provincial highways (e.g. SS659, SS663). The SS16 has exit numbers 3-15 near Bari, where it is the city bypass (Circonvallazione). For a route list, see Strade Statale. SS roads also have names, which sometimes appear on signs, see S33 and S337 in Domodossola. | ||||||
| Regional highways used to exist only in the region of Aosta, which is not further subdivided into provinces. Therefore it has regional highways instead of provincial highways. Recently, all SS roads except the SS26, SS26dir and S27 have been replaced by SR roads. List of former SS roads: | ||||||
| SS406 | SR46 | |||||
| SS505 | SR44 | |||||
| SS506 | SR45 | |||||
| SS507 | SR47 | |||||
| Recently, they have started to appear in other regions as well. | ||||||
| Provincial highways: Every province has its own numbering system. These numbers do appear on signs, but they are rarely indicated on maps except on the Michelin 1:400000 series (and even this only shows a small fraction of all SP numbers). | ||||||
| Suffixes of SS and SP numbers | ||||||
| The following formats are possible: | ||||||
| Suffix | Full name (if abbreviation) | Meaning | SS | SP | ||
| a | X | X | ||||
| [ab][12]dir | dir=diramazione | branch/spur | X | |||
| bis | second | X | X | |||
| bis dir | bis diramazione | X | ||||
| [b-g] | various derived roads | X | ||||
| dir | diramazione | branch/spur | X | X | ||
| dir [A-C] | diramazione derived roads | X | ||||
| quater | fourth | X | ||||
| r | =racc/radd? | X | ||||
| racc | raccordo | connection | X | |||
| radd | raddoppiato | doubled | X | |||
| ter | third | X | X | |||
| trav | traversa | X | ||||
| var | variante | variation | X | |||
| .[0-9]<1-2> | SP[0-9] | |||||
| Road signs: The letters 'SS' are written in a smaller type font than the digits,but it may be assumed that they are capital letters because the letters 'SP' appear in a similar way and the P is uppercase. | ||||||
| Sometimes only E numbers are indicated, sometimes both E and A numbers and sometimes only A numbers. In 2003, the old E number 66 was still indicated on many signs between Milano and Bergamo instead of the E64. | ||||||
| Road type | Background | Text | Road numbers | |||
| Class | Shape | Background | Text | |||
| Motorways | Green | White | A | Octagon | Green | White |
| Other roads | Blue | White | SS | Rectangle | Blue/White | White/Blue |
| SP | Rectangle | White | Blue | |||
| It seems that SS numbers are blue on white on old signs and the other way round on new signs, but this is only a guess. | ||||||
| History: The numbering system was probably introduced in the 1930's.
Most of the original numbers have never been changed. It is peculiar that when a new road is built, it often does not get a number (or only after many years), and the old road maintains its SS number.
Examples: The Raccordo autostradale Sicignano-Potenza, which is parallel to the SS94. It would seem obvious to call it SS94 and decommission the old road. The SS653, parallel to the SS104, was not numbered for a long time. It is a much better road, and it would make more sense to give it the more important number. Interesting recent developments are the new A numbers in the 50's, and the SR roads in Aosta. Around 2005, some provinces in Piemonte have replaced some or all of their SS roads by SR and SP roads with the same numerical part. In Lombardia, many SS roads were downgraded to SP roads, again not changing the numerical part. | ||||||
Sources and links: Various maps and atlases, personal experience
Official sites: | ||||||