Fare benzina: refueling in Italy
Everybody knows: in Italy things are always different and often more complicated than the rest of the planet. Obviously filling your tank is not an exception. Let’s see how refueling works in Italy:
Where should I stop for refueling my bike?
The Petrol stations on highways are always more expensive, so if it’s possible, we recommend you to fill your tank in a city, or even better in the outskirts of the city / suburbs / industrial areas. You can save 30 cents or more per liter.
In almost all the petrol stations in Italy, there are 2 prices for each fuel type:
- SERVITO: which means “served”. If you chose this pump, the staff will put the fuel on your vehicle. Note that in this case, the price is around 20 cents more expensive than the self-service option. Typically this is paid after the service. The magic words here are “Pieno, per favore” (full, please).
- SELF-SERVICE (AKA fai da te): in this case the price you pay is cheaper but you need to fill your tank on your own. In this case you need to pay first at the machine (usually they accept banknotes or credit cards) and then refuel. If you pay with the credit card, you will be charged the exact cost.
Fuel types:
Typically on every gas station in Italy you will find these fuel types:
- Benzina / Super / Senza Piombo / 95 / 98: all these means the same: PETROL
- Gasolio / Diesel / Blue Diesel + / Diesel Tech: Diesel
- GPL (Liquid Gas)
For us the choice is simple, only Petrol, which is normally the green colored pump.
BEWARE! In Italy the black pump is normally for Diesel
Our tip:
Want an advice? Download the app called “Prezzi Benzina” which will inform you not only about the prices of the gas stations in Italy but it will also give you directions to reach it. That way you can make sure you’ll pay a fair price and you’ll always find the closest station.
