The second half of July 2026 marks the start of Italy’s mass holiday period, bringing a sharp increase in traffic flows, with several peaks, as well as more days on which industrial vehicles are not allowed to travel, except under the usual exemptions. The starting point is the driving bans for heavy vehicles, meaning those with a gross vehicle weight of more than 7.5 tonnes. The last weekend of July 2026 also sees the start of Friday bans, which will continue for part of August. The first ban runs from 16.00 on Friday 24 July until 22.00, followed by a reopening until 08.00 on Saturday 25 July, with the ban ending at 16.00, before the usual Sunday restriction from 07.00 to 22.00. Trucks will also be stopped on Friday 31 July, again from 16.00 to 22.00.
August begins with two days of restrictions: Saturday 1 August from 08.00 to 22.00 and Sunday 2 August from 07.00 to 22.00. The following weekend also includes three days of bans: Friday 7 August from 16.00 to 22.00, Saturday 8 August from 08.00 to 22.00 and Sunday 9 August from 07.00 to 22.00. This year Ferragosto falls on a Saturday, so the impact on road haulage is limited, but trucks will still have to remain stationary for three days that weekend: Friday 14 August from 16.00 to 22.00, Saturday 15 August from 07.00 to 22.00 and Sunday 16 August from 07.00 to 22.00. The final two weekends of August involve only two days of restrictions each, in both cases with the same timings: Saturdays 22 and 29 August from 08.00 to 16.00 and Sundays 23 and 30 August from 07.00 to 22.00. In September, restrictions return to Sundays only, always from 07.00 to 22.00.
As for traffic flows, Viabilità Italia (Road Traffic Italy), the coordination body chaired by the director of the Polizia Stradale (Traffic Police), has released its traffic forecasts for the 2026 summer getaway, identifying the final days of July and the first two weekends of August as the most critical phases for travel on the national motorway network. Ferragosto will concentrate departures and the first return journeys into a single long weekend, from 14 to 17 August. For the end of July, the body does not expect any black alerts, but the situation becomes more difficult in the final two days of the month: Thursday 30 July is marked yellow in the morning and red in the afternoon, while Friday 31 July carries a double red alert for the entire day, signalling the growing overlap between outbound and return holiday traffic.
In August, pressure increases. The mornings of Saturday 1 and Saturday 8 August are marked with a black alert, the highest level of criticality, the Polizia di Stato (State Police) notes, with the weekend of 8-9 August historically the most congested of the summer, as departures for the second holiday week are joined by those travelling ahead of Ferragosto. The following weekend, 14-17 August, will already be heavy from the afternoon of Friday 14 August, while the main return wave will begin from Sunday 16 to Monday 17 August, with sustained queues heading north. The last two weekends of the month, 22-23 and 29-30 August, show a decline in intensity. As indicated by Viabilità Italia, the pattern is a recurring one: outbound traffic increases from Friday afternoon and remains heavy throughout Saturday and Sunday morning, while return journeys are concentrated on Sunday afternoon and, to a lesser extent, Monday morning, overlapping with daily commuter traffic.
The heaviest flows concern the routes linking the north with the south and with coastal and mountain areas. The A1 Milan-Naples, the A14 Bologna-Taranto and the A22 Brenner motorway are identified as the most sensitive stretches, especially during the return phase. Concessioni del Tirreno, which manages the A12, has issued its own forecasts for regular, heavy or very heavy traffic throughout the summer period, while Autostrade per l’Italia has published its own forecast framework for summer 2026 covering its network.
