Where to Park in Verona Without Getting Robbed + Tips

Current Car Robbery Situation

When you park your car in a paid garage or in an open parking lot, you'd expect that safety is guaranteed. Well, in Verona it isn't.

We know several family members, friends, and acquaintances who visited Verona on a road trio to the region. Car break-ins were the most common horror stories in this otherwise lovely city.

They didn't park in shabby free parking garages. In fact, they parked in the most well-known and largest CCTV monitored parking garages in Verona.

These garages have staff and CCTVs across the garage, but break-ins still happen, and the garage administration will just say “parking is at your own risk”.

It's absolutely mind-boggling and infuriating. This pattern appears to be common in Rome and Venice as well.

Parking on the roadside isn't any saver and mind you, these robberies happen in broad daylight.

Where to Park Safely in Verona?

We found a parking lot in Verona that solves the safety problem altogether. It's called Garage Italia, and it's a 10-minute walk from the Roman Arena and the start of the old town.

It's just outside the ZTL zone (more about ZTL further below).

The Italia Parking Garage is smaller, and it comes with a premium price, but they guarantee safety, and you get a valet driver to park your car. That said, we have honestly paid more for parking elsewhere in Europe.

The key remains in the car because they move around cars all the time. I think, they are super professional! You'll also find limited EV-chargers in this garage.

Several Ferrari and Porsche are parked in this garage. My tip, if you would rather not deal with a break in and lost valuables, park where Ferraris, Lamborghini's and Porsche park.

I recommend getting to Verona early enough as well, because the parking lot gets full pretty fast.

You get a little slip with the car model and number plate mentioned, don't lose it, you will need it to get your car back. Payment is done when you are back, just keep an eye on the opening times.

Which Cars are most likely to be targeted by Thieves?

The thieving gangs target mostly:

• Expensive cars — In Italy, anything that isn't a Fiat could be considered an expensive, but with that, I don't just mean Porsche and Ferraris, but also Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes.
• Cars with a foreign number plate — They like German, Austrian, and Swiss number plates.
• Cars with visible valuables — Such as laptops in the car or E-Bikes attached to the rear-rack.
• Cars that are parked in lone not-so-busy areas, in dark corridors and corners of parking lots.
• Cars that park overnight, for 24 or more hours.

But of course, there is no guarantee, and you decide where you want to park. I'm just giving you a heads-up.

That said, my sister and her friends have parked in clear-lit busy parking spots in the larger parking garages near the arena, and they didn't have any issues so far.

Can you park on the Roadside?

Some smaller roads allow curbside parking in Verona. Those are rarely free, that means no parking disk, and they charge an hourly rate.

Look out for signboards that help you with the requirements, or else you could get fined. Use Google Translate because these signboards are all in Italian.

Park within the marked line. Ticket inspectors will fine you if you are violating street parking laws, or your car will be towed away.

Located the ticket machine to pre-pay your parking ticket and place the ticket visibly on your dashboard behind the windshield.

What's ZTL?

ZTL is a Limited Traffic Zone in Italy and major cities such as Verona, Rome, and Florence have a ZTL zone.

That means, if you drive through this zone without a ZTL permission, you will have to pay a fine.

If you are getting a rental car, you will also get a letter with a fine sent home. It generally takes 3–4 months for them to send it to your address abroad.

Your maps won't tell you when you enter a ZTL zone. It's your responsibility to check the local laws. Typically, you can't just drive through old towns in Western Europe.

I have marked the ZTL zone for Verona in red in the map above, and you will notice that a few parking lots are located in the red zone. Well, those are mostly for residents.