Catania ZTL: hours, cameras and who can drive in

Checked on 22 October 2026 against the city's ordinances and official pages.

Right now in Catania

ZTL Centro Storico …
Area Pedonale Via Etnea …
Area Pedonale Piazza Vincenzo Bellini …
Area Pedonale San Giovanni Li Cuti …

Worked out with Italian time and public holidays from the official hours. The sign at the gate always prevails. Signs and cameras: the guide.

There is no way to buy your way into central Catania: no day ticket, no paid pass. Every permit issued by AMTS, the city's transport company, is free, but only for specific groups; visitors get in only through their hotel, if it is inside a zone, by taxi or with a disabled parking badge.

The map is the other surprise. Catania has just one ZTL, a tiny one behind the Teatro Massimo Bellini. The rest of the enforcement is done by camera-controlled pedestrian areas, starting with Via Etnea, the main shopping street that climbs from Piazza Duomo. For drivers the difference is academic: without a permit, the camera reads your plate. As early as 2023 AMTS spoke of “tens of thousands” of fines in a single year on Via Etnea alone.

The zones and their hours

ZTL Centro Storico

The nightlife quarter behind the Teatro Massimo: Piazza Scammacca, Piazza Ogninella, Via Sant'Orsola, Via Pulvirenti, Via Birreria (now Via Maria Callas). The streets that form its boundary are not part of it and stay open. Cameras active since 28 July 2022.

It is closed to unauthorised vehicles 24 hours a day, every day, Sundays and public holidays included: there is no quiet hour when you could slip through.

2 number-plate cameras (“varchi”) watch the entrances.

List of the 2 cameras (varchi)

Via Pulvirenti (dopo via Valle) · Via Sant'Agata (dopo via Santa Maria del Rosario)

Area Pedonale Via Etnea

Piazza Duomo and Via Etnea up to Piazza Stesicoro, plus the stretch alongside the Giardino Bellini to Via Litrico; the crossings at Via Fragalà–Via Collegiata and Via di Sangiuliano stay open. The area is split into three sectors, and a permit only opens the cameras of its own. Fines since 17 June 2022.

It is closed to unauthorised vehicles 24 hours a day, every day, Sundays and public holidays included: there is no quiet hour when you could slip through.

6 number-plate cameras (“varchi”) watch the entrances.

List of the 6 cameras (varchi)

Via Vittorio Emanuele II / via Raddusa · Via Etnea / via Fragalà · Via Etnea / Basilica Collegiata · Via Etnea / via A. di Sangiuliano · Via Etnea / piazza Stesicoro · Via Pacini

Area Pedonale Piazza Vincenzo Bellini

The square in front of the Teatro Massimo (Piazza Vincenzo Bellini, Via Michele Rapisarda). Not to be confused with the ZTL behind it, which some online guides call the “ZTL Bellini”, a name the city and AMTS never use.

There are no time slots here: the ban applies day and night, all year round, public holidays included.

A single camera checks the entrance.

The camera (varco)

Via Michele Rapisarda / via A. di Sangiuliano

Area Pedonale San Giovanni Li Cuti

The little fishing harbour: Via San Giovanni Li Cuti and Vicolo Liborio Santangelo, one-way. This is where Catania's cameras first started issuing fines, on 15 May 2022.

It is closed to unauthorised vehicles 24 hours a day, every day, Sundays and public holidays included: there is no quiet hour when you could slip through.

2 number-plate cameras (“varchi”) watch the entrances.

List of the 2 cameras (varchi)

Viale Ruggero di Lauria / via San Giovanni Li Cuti · Piazza del Tricolore

Who can drive in

Motorbikes and scooters: same rules as cars.
Disabled parking badge: the number plate must be reported before you drive in or within 48 hours afterwards. Disabled badges and ZTLs: what to do, city by city.
Electric cars: free permit, to be requested from the city. Compare with other cities.
Hybrids: no exemption for private drivers.
Taxis and chauffeur cars (NCC): allowed once registered on the white list, free of charge.
Residents: permit for their own sector.

Visitors: hotels, rental cars, tickets

Staying in a hotel

Only accommodation located inside the ZTL can register your number plate. A hotel outside the zone gives you no right to drive in. Give your plate number to reception as soon as you arrive. Deadlines for every city are compared in our guide to hotels in a ZTL.

Tickets for non-residents

There is no day ticket for tourists. The simplest option is to park outside and walk or take a bus.

Rental cars

The fine notice goes to the rental company, which names you as the driver and, depending on your contract, may charge an admin fee, before the fine itself reaches you, sometimes months later. A registration made in time by your hotel covers a rental car just as well: all that counts is the number plate. Admin fees, timings, appeals: see our guide to rental cars and ZTLs.

A pedestrian area is not a ZTL. Taxis and registered private hire cars (NCC) can drive in the ZTL; in the pedestrian areas they may only drop off or pick up a passenger, as may anyone driving a disabled person, without parking, and the trip must be reported within 48 hours. The free permit for fully electric cars is valid in the ZTL only.

The 48-hour form. Anyone entitled to enter whose plate is not registered sends the “Modulo Avvenuto Transito” to ztl@amts.ct.it or through the AMTS portal, with supporting documents; after 48 hours, the fine goes ahead. The national CUDE platform is no guarantee: in January 2025 the city had not joined it. Deliveries have two slots, 6am to 8am and 2pm to 4pm, free of charge.

Hotels: 12 hours, no more. Accommodation inside the ZTL or a pedestrian area requests the permit on the day you arrive and the day you leave, for your luggage; it lasts 12 hours at most from issue. Nothing is provided for parking: agree a time with reception and plan on a car park outside the zone.

Four areas with no published hours. Mazzini (around Piazza Mazzini and Via Garibaldi), Crociferi (fines since 15 October 2024), Sciuti (around Piazza Sciuti) and Castello Ursino have cameras but no readable official hours, so we do not list them as zones. If in doubt, treat them as closed and read the sign.

Catania in numbers

4 separate zones, all of them active around the clock.
11 cameras in total, ranking 22 of the 42 cities on this site.

Where official sources disagree

Castello Ursino: closed round the clock in 2024; open to through traffic from Monday to Friday, 7pm to 1am, between 16 October and 19 May, as a one-year trial, according to the city's notice of 21 February 2025 and order 142 of 25 February 2025. In September 2026 the press reported a new Polizia Locale order (1 October 2026 to 30 May 2027) with different hours, which cannot be found in any official source; AMTS still shows the 2025 map. The 2026-27 rules could not be checked against an official act, so we publish no hours.
Sciuti: 5 cameras according to the city (14 November 2024), 6 on the AMTS map, including the Via Pacini camera already counted for Via Etnea. We use 5.
Mazzini “permanente”: seen only in a search-engine snippet, as the city's notice would not open. No readable act, no zone.
Electric cars: Article 5.1 of the June 2022 order admits them to pedestrian areas, while Article 17 limits their permit to the ZTL. We follow Article 17.
How current this is: on 22 October 2026 the city's website refused secure connections, so its notices were read in archive.org copies. The most recent official source dates from February 2025.

If you drive in without a permit

Driving past an active gate without a permit costs €83 to €332 (article 7 of the Italian Highway Code), cut by 30% if you pay within 5 days. Since the 2024 reform, when the passages are recorded by camera rather than by an officer on the spot, only one fine per calendar day applies within the same ZTL, even if you drive through several times (article 198); two different zones mean two fines. For drivers living abroad, the notice can arrive up to 360 days after the offence. No licence points are deducted. If you think you were entitled to enter (hotel, disabled badge), contact the office named on the notice before paying: a late registration can sometimes still be sorted out. Amount, deadlines and appeals: all about the ZTL fine.

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy a ticket to drive into central Catania?

No. There is no paid access at all: permits are free but reserved for residents, hotels inside the zone, taxis and deliveries.

Is Via Etnea open on Sundays or at night?

No. Via Etnea, Piazza Duomo, Piazza Bellini and the ZTL behind the Teatro Massimo are closed round the clock, every day, public holidays included.

My hotel is in the centre. Can I drive there?

Only if it is inside the ZTL or a pedestrian area. The hotel then asks AMTS for a permit for your plate, valid for 12 hours at most, for your luggage. Send it your plate number before you arrive.

Can I ride a scooter in?

No. Only bicycles are exempt: a scooter without a permit is fined like a car.

Can I drive to the Castello Ursino in the evening?

We have not been able to confirm it. In 2025, through traffic was allowed on weekdays from 7pm to 1am, October to May; the new 2026 order reported by the press cannot be read in any official source.

Sources

Based on the city's own ordinances, rewritten in plain language. Only the ordinance in force and the sign at the gate are legally binding.