Number of vehicles: cars 24,307,000 (1989), trucks and buses 2,082,000 (1989)
Road information: total: 479,688 km; paved: 479,688 km (including 6,621 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (1999)
Italian number plates consist of black characters on a white background
with the European standard blue stripe. The current
numbering scheme was introduced in 1994 and uses no
regional identifiers.
The current number plate system in Italy is in the form AA 999 AA, where
A can be any letter of the alphabet other than I, O,
Q or U, and 9 can be any number digit. The number plates
would increase through the series in the pattern of
AA 000 AA, AA 001 AA ... AA 999 AA, AA 000 AB.
Square r ear number plates are optional in Italy, but if the square
plate is used, the numbering scheme starts from ZA
000 AA. Due to the extensive number of plates which
can be issued using this system, it is used throughout
the country with no regional identifers. Regional identifiers
had previously been used in a blue band on the right-hand-side
of the number plates but proved unpopular.
