Modern Vespa

Hi folks,
What is the best way for a UK national to get qualified to use a vespa in Italy? I wanted to share my plan here, before spending too much time and money.

Me: 51 years old. I completed a CBT course about 10 years ago but never took things further so have never owned a vespa. I'm currently UK resident, but planning to apply for Italian residency. I don't speak Italian so thought it might be a lot easier to get qualified in the UK first.

I was thinking about getting a Category A licence in the UK, then using it in Italy.
So that would be another CBT, the theory test, then the Category A motorcycle (24 or over) test. At least that way I can ride a motorcycle of any size, although the plan is to get a Vespa 300 something.

I think that if I do this, then once I've moved there I have to convert the licence to an Italian one within a year? I'm not sure of the process for doing this, so not sure if it requires further testing or just submitting some paperwork?

Just wanted to sound this all out in case anyone has had a similar experience and has advice.

I'm a U.K. national, with an Italian girlfriend.

In Italy, they can ride a 125cc from 14 - but not on motorways.

Once you obtain a car licence, this automatically covers use for a 125cc scooter.

With Brexit, it's actually improved the licence situation. Previously an EU licence was only valid for 2 years within the U.K.

You then had to apply to have this exchanged.

Now, the ruling is that an EU licence is valid within the U.K. up to age 70.

I assume the situation would also then be reversible so as your U.K. licence would be valid in Italy up to age 70.

I would be tempted to redo your CBT and then an A1 licence in the U.K. - then just use your A1 licence within the EU.

I'm not sure about how Italian residency works - but my other half is currently applying for a British passport as it's possible to become a dual national. She has to undertake an English language test and a test on "life in the U.K."

You might have an Italian language test to achieve Italian residency?

Without residency, we can spend 3 months in 6 within the EU. If you work 6 months and a day within the U.K., or the EU - you become a tax resident there.

So if you worked 5 months in Italy, and 7 months in the U.K. - you would pay tax on the whole of the earnings to HMRC.

A couple of other things to consider. I believe insurance in Italy is per vehicle, not per person. Also, only an Italian national can own vehicles.

I'm considering having a Vespa in Italy for holidays, and am currently exploring how this works. I believe I will have to get my girlfriends family to own the Vespa, and then I can use it while I'm there.

Thanks for the reply Jake. For an British italian resident, I believe I'd be allowed to use a UK license for up to a year before I'd need to have it exchanged for an Italian/EU one. I think at the moment there's no requirement to also have another test in Italy, so hopefully that stays the same. Interesting that you recommend I do a CBT followed by the A1. Is that because the A1 would be easier to do or do you think I'd benefit from couple of years using a 125cc before moving up to 300cc? I don't need an Italian test for residency thankfully. I think I would to have dual nationality though, so similar to your other half's situation. All of my work is done at sea (oil and gas industry, wind farms etc) so it's quite flexible where I have my tax residency. Moving that to Italy though will avoid the need to count my days all the time in case I stay over 90 days. Hopefully this isn't the case for ownership. I think foreigners residing in Italy are allowed to own vehicles, as long as they have the permesso di soggiorno.

Double check the licence requirements, as the U.K. have only just dropped the 1-2 year requirement here. We now allow EU licences until age 70 without being exchanged. I would hope that Italy has a similar agreement in place. The requirement to exchange the licence was a law for two EU countries, and so it's no longer applicable.

The reason for recommending the A1 is that this will physically show on your photocard licence, and the A1 would also show on the back of an Italian licence. It might be difficult proving your licence with only a CBT piece of paper that says you're technically a learner.

There's nothing to stop you doing a larger bike test, but an A1 licence on an automatic scooter seems to be quite quick and cheap to achieve. None of the Vespas qualify for use on the A2 test in the U.K, although I think there are some other bigger maxi scooters that do count. You could always do a full bike test on a geared bike, but this will likely take longer and cost more to gain.

Curious to hear about the vehicle ownership. I'm off to Italy hopefully in a couple of weeks time, and will try and see what I'm allowed to do while I'm over there.

If you plan to live in Italy, it is time to start learning Italian. That is likely more important than how you obtain a license to ride a scooter.