Italian Roundabouts
I take the bus to and from work every day, and I have noticed that there are many roundabouts on the route my bus takes. When I say many, I truly mean a seemingly absurd number of roundabouts. On the 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) stretch of the street Viale Ticino that the bus takes right before my stop, there are five roundabouts! That averages out to a roundabout every 200 meters (220 yards or 650 feet). Moreover, three of those roundabouts only connect three roads, and one is in place of what would be normally be a cross intersection.
The more I’ve traveled around Italy, and the more roads I’ve seen, the more I’ve realised that a high number of roundabouts is not only characteristic of the bus route I take to and from work, but of all of Italy. Italy just seems to really like roundabouts. It’s quite ridiculous actually, but also really intriguing. Why are there so many roundabouts? Was there a time when there were few roundabouts? How long did it last? Does anyone else think that there are an absurd number of roundabouts in Italy? I decided to do some research, and this post is a summary of my findings (well, mostly my not-findings).
First of all, after a good 15 minutes Google searching, I was unable to find where the first official roundabout of Italy is. When you search for “first roundabout in Italy,” Google gives you dozens of articles (as well as videos) describing the chaotic nature of roundabouts in Italy, and providing tips and advice on how to maneuver them, but no information actually pertaining to the first roundabout in Italy. I did find out, however, that official roundabouts were first introduced in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1909.
I was also able to discover that the first piece of Italian legislation pertaining to roundabouts was proposed for the country’s 1993 road code, but it was not until 2004 that the official standards for roundabouts were passed through national legislation. This coincides with, and is probably related to, the fact that over the past fifteen years, modern roundabouts have apparently become increasingly popular in Italy. I could not find any exact figures, but that fact in itself feels indicative of the large number of roundabouts in Italy, since there are so many articles related to roundabouts in Italy.
Furthermore, according to the New York Times, many citizens are concerned about the works of contemporary art that are in the middle of many roundabouts. The article I read gives an example of a roundabout close to Lago (Lake) Varese, where drivers have been doing double takes ever since brightly colored metal cutouts of bicyclers were placed on the roundabout to commemorate when Varese hosted the International Cycling Union’s world championship. People are worried that the art may be too distracting for drivers.
That same article explains that many European countries, including Britain, France and Switzerland, are actually substituting roundabouts for traditional intersections to increase safety. The consensus is that road junctions, when built correctly, and in consideration of the road and travel conditions of the area, are much safer and can improve mobility. Presumably this is due to the fact that there can be confusion about who has right of way when it comes to roundabouts.
All this leaves the most important question: why are there so many roundabouts in Italy? I couldn’t find a simple answer. But, to play to the stereotype that Italians like to drive fast, it seems possible that a big motivating factor is the fact that roundabouts don’t force you to stop. For medium traffic, traffic lights can get very annoying because you’re forced to stop, and no form of traffic control can be dangerous. Roundabouts allow you to keep moving, while still being safe.
