Today I have to drive into Vasto. Now, that may not sound like much of a big deal to you and it really shouldn’t. After all, Vasto isn’t a big city (population about 35,000), but I avoided driving into the center of town up until last week when I had to make my way in, driving on my own.

So, what’s the big deal? Well, I have to admit that I’m still not that comfortable driving my stick shift car. Even though it rarely happens now, I’m still nervous about stalling it Not only that, but what a pain in stop and start traffic to have to constantly be shifting the thing.

That’s not the main reason though. You see, for some strange reason that I have yet to figure out, the town turns off the traffic lights at odd times of the day and night. What’s up with that?

Of course, it always seems to be when traffic is heaviest. Or maybe it’s because traffic slows down to a crawl because of the havoc caused by having no traffic light. I mean, obviously the traffic light is there because it’s needed, right?

But, you can forget about people being polite and taking turns going through the intersection. I remember going to events back in the states where there would be 1,000 people in their cars, politely taking turns getting through the intersection. HA! Not in Italy! Here, it’s every man (or woman) for himself. There is actually a rule - simply stated, priority goes to the person on the right, and you can get fined for not observing it, supposedly - but that rule goes out the window too. People just keep nosing forward until someone manages to get through the intersection. Then it’s the next person’s turn. It almost makes you want to just close your eyes and hope for the best.

Of course, if you manage to get through the traffic, there’s the fun of finding a parking place. It doesn’t matter which direction you’re going in, people park on both sides of the street. But that’s a topic for another day.

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