Gabriella Bazzucchi (55) has been spending her summer holidays in her Italian husband’s homeland for many years. At the end of July, the kindergarten teacher from Horgen ZH will travel to Umbria again for three weeks. But the joy doesn’t last long. Since the weekend, relaxation and holiday fun have evaporated in one fell swoop.
“I went to a hardware store with my Italian sister-in-law,” says Gabriella Bazzucchi. “I kinked my left foot.” It won’t be the only mishap. On the contrary. The real anger is only now taking its course. The ankle is sprained and painful. The Zurich woman cannot step on a pedal. She asks her sister-in-law Lisabella Bazzucchi (54) to get behind the wheel of her Nissan and drive the approximately 60 kilometers home.
“The Carabinieri stopped us less than 500 meters from the shopping center’s parking lot,” the Zurich resident added. An officer asks for the papers. “He came back after ten minutes,” recalls the Zurich resident. “We have a problem there,” he told us. We would have to follow them to Assisi on the station. ” Reason: The sister-in-law lives in Italy and is not allowed to drive a Swiss car.
The Swiss woman’s car is confiscated
What then follows really annoys Bazzucchi: “They asked my sister-in-law to pay a fine of over 1400 euros and confiscated my car. It didn’t help to explain that with my sprained ankle I was no longer able to drive my car myself. ” Law is law, so the Carabiniere. If you paid cash in hand immediately, you would get away with 497 euros. “Of course we didn’t have that much cash with us. So I hobbled about a mile to the nearest ATM and withdrew the sum. “
But that’s not all of the absurd bus Zoff. Gabriella Bazzucchi: “I am not allowed to drive my car until I receive a letter from the AGI (a kind of Italian TCS) or a local driving school with which I can have my vehicle confiscated.” After that, the tourist has five days to leave Italy. «So in order to continue my vacation as planned, I would first have to go to Chiasso TI, enter Italy again and return to Umbria. That would be a total of 800 kilometers. “
“A law to annoy tourists”
The vacation is over for Bazzucchi. “I’ll be leaving in the next few days,” she says bitterly. The holidays ruined a law that the ex-interior minister and Lega boss Matteo Salvini (48) had tightened in 2019. It was once used to put an end to car smugglers and those tax evaders who lived in Italy but registered their vehicles abroad for cost reasons.
“I wonder how Italy can apply such a law to tourists,” says Gabriella Bazzucchi. Because: “The car is mine. It’s paid for, everything works fine. My sister-in-law has a driving license. We didn’t go too fast. ” Her verdict on the Gaga law: “It’s only used to make money – and to annoy tourists!”