Driving in Italy, part 1

So, at this point in the journey you might suspect that we'd be driving, and that suspicion is right on! We picked up our diminutive Renault at Europcar yesterday.

As the primary passenger,my experience of driving has been less active, but perhaps more stressful. I would say that driving in Italy has been very much akin to a grief process. First: denial. So what if everyone (including the sage Rick Steeves) says that it is unrecommended (on the more neutral side) or insane (on the more extreme end) to drive in this country, we can do it! Then, anger. How could they rent us this car without showing us the very non-intuitive way to get into reverse? Don't these people know how to merge? Who walks into the middle of a busy street like that? Why on earth did they put a metal gargoyle there (more on that later). Now, finally, acceptance. Yes, driving here is crazy, but it will give us the most outstanding access to the Amalfi Coast. The key is trying to reduce our exposure (let's drop the car off in Naples on our way back from Amalfi so we can avoid driving in Rome, for example). Let the adventure continue!