Reggio Emilia ZTL: hours, cameras and who can drive in

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

Right now in Reggio Emilia

ZTL Centro storico …
Varchi via Nobili e via Roma …

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

Reggio Emilia's old centre fits inside a hexagon traced by its ring boulevards, which the city now calls the "Ecoesagono". Two systems overlap within it: a camera-controlled ZTL that is closed day and night, and, at its heart, a pedestrian area sealed off by retractable bollards (the "pilomat"). Piazza Prampolini with the cathedral and town hall, Piazza San Prospero, Piazza Fontanesi and the central stretch of Via Emilia lie behind the bollards; Corso Garibaldi and the Ghiara basilica, Piazza Roversi and Via Ariosto are in the ZTL.

A paid ticket, the FASTPASS, opens the ZTL to visitors, but there is hardly any off-peak window: in the evening only the cameras on Via Nobili and Via Roma switch off.

The zones and their hours

ZTL Centro storico

Most of the hexagon outside the pedestrian area, from Corso Cairoli and Via Mazzini to Corso Garibaldi and Piazza Gioberti. It was enlarged twice in 2023, in April and October, to stop through traffic along Via Emilia Santo Stefano, Corso Garibaldi and Via Ariosto, now reserved for permit holders and buses. Watch out: four cameras sit inside the zone rather than at its entrances (Viale Allegri, Via Nacchi, Via Guido da Castello, Via del Cristo) and record vehicles already driving within it.

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

The entrances are watched by 12 plate-reading cameras, known as varchi.

List of the 12 cameras (varchi)

Via San Zenone (piazza San Zenone) · Via Emilia Santo Stefano (via Monte Pasubio / via Minghetti) · Via Secchi (via Roma) · Via Panciroli (piazzale Fiume) · Via Guazzatoio (viale Monte Grappa) · Via Ludovico Ariosto (viale Monte Grappa) · Via Campo Marzio (viale Monte Grappa) · Piazzale Marconi (corsia bus) · Viale Allegri (viale Isonzo) · Via Nacchi · Via Guido da Castello (corso Garibaldi) · Via del Cristo (piazza Roversi)

Varchi via Nobili e via Roma

These two cameras guard the route Via Nobili – Via Filippo Re – Via Roma, which leads out towards Porta Santa Croce or, via Via Emilia San Pietro, towards Porta San Pietro. In the evening it is the only way through the centre open to everyone.

It is active at these times:

Every day, 6:00 to 20:00, public holidays included.

Outside these hours, access is free.

The entrances are watched by 2 plate-reading cameras, known as varchi.

List of the 2 cameras (varchi)

Via Nobili (via della Veza) · Via Roma (tra via Alighieri e via Cambiatori)

Who can drive in

Motorbikes and scooters: only mopeds (up to 50 cc) can ride in freely; other two-wheelers follow the same rules as cars.
Disabled parking badge: the number plate must be reported before you drive in. Up to 2 plates can be registered permanently.
Taxis and chauffeur cars (NCC): allowed once registered on the white list.
Residents: permit, €8 a year for the first car.
Deliveries and tradespeople: paid annual permit (€24).

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. It must do so on the same day you drive in. Give your plate number to reception as soon as you arrive.

Tickets for non-residents

Visitors can pay to drive in: €6.50 for 1 day; €13 for 2 days; €19.50 for 3 days; €23 for a week; €54 for a month; €6.50 per day elapsed: regularisation within 48 hours, online only. Access tickets must be bought before you pass the gate; only the regularisation is paid afterwards.

Rental cars

The fine notice goes to the rental company, which names you as the driver and usually charges 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.

The FASTPASS. Every duration can be bought online on the Pass portal (pass.brav.it/reggioemilia) at any hour. The one-day pass is also sold at authorised parking meters (card, or coins for the exact amount); the longer ones only at the two machines outside the Ufficio Permessi, Via Fratelli Manfredi 2. Parking is included: 30 minutes in loading bays and 2 hours in white bays with a parking disc, then a "gratta & sosta" scratch card. Blue bays are not covered. Regularisation is for accidental entries only.

The bollards. On paper the FASTPASS also covers the pedestrian area, but the bollards only drop during loading windows for authorised vehicles, early in the morning and early in the afternoon. For a one-off passage, call the Polizia Locale control room on 0522 4000, staffed 24 hours a day.

Without a ticket. Drivers heading for the ACI and Vittoria multi-storey car parks, inside the zone, enter freely. At a hotel you are given a numbered permit to park in the marked bays.

Special cases. Only mopeds up to 50 cc are exempt, and not in the pedestrian area; motorbikes follow the rules for cars. Electric cars need a permit: Reggio's "Mi Muovo" costs a €24 fee and never expires, while registering an electric-car permit from another town is free. Hybrids pay €24 for a transit-only permit valid until 31 December. A disabled badge from another town must be registered on the Pass portal. In every case the permit only counts once validated, so do it before you drive in.

Fines. They arrive through the SEND platform, certified email or registered post, never by ordinary email; the council warns of fake "ZTL fine" emails. Review requests: pm.verbali@comune.re.it.

Reggio Emilia in numbers

2 separate zones, 1 of them active around the clock.
14 cameras in total, ranking 11 of the 20 cities on this site.

Where official sources disagree

Night corridor Allegri – Garibaldi – Ariosto: the council's camera page (updated 2 March 2026) still describes a route open from 20:00 to 06:00 towards Porta Castello, yet Corso Garibaldi and Via Ariosto were added to the ZTL in 2023 (orders 271 and 512) precisely to close it, and the same page lists those cameras as active round the clock. We treat it as out of date.
Exit cameras: 22 are installed, but order 437 of 18 July 2025 postponed their activation, and we have found no act switching them on since. We do not count them.
Hotels: the camera page mentions a "free" numbered pass issued by the hotelier; the July 2019 protocol describes the hotel entering your plate online by 23:59 on the same day, for a fee paid by the hotel. The operator, TEA, publishes nothing on hotels, so we follow the protocol.
Hybrids and electric cars: the camera page lists hybrids among the exemptions; order 792 of 24 December 2025 requires a €24 annual permit. The same order calls the electric permit "free", yet a €24 fee is charged.

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 for the same ban, even if you drive through several times (article 198). 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.

Frequently asked questions

Can I drive into central Reggio Emilia if I am not a resident?

Yes, with the FASTPASS: €6.50 a day, up to €54 a month, bought before you pass the camera. It opens the ZTL; the pedestrian area stays closed by bollards.

I drove past a camera without a ticket. Is it too late?

Not necessarily: after an accidental entry you can regularise online within 48 hours, paying €6.50 per day elapsed, counting both the day of entry and the day of payment.

Is the ZTL open in the evening or on Sundays?

No, it is active 24 hours a day, public holidays included. Only the cameras on Via Nobili and Via Roma are off from 20:00 to 06:00.

My hotel is in the centre. What do I need to do?

Give your number plate to reception as soon as you arrive: the hotel registers it the same day and hands you a numbered parking permit. The published procedure dates from 2019, so ask the hotel to confirm it.

How do I get past the bollards at Piazza Prampolini?

They only drop during loading windows for authorised vehicles. For a one-off passage, call the Polizia Locale on 0522 4000.

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.