Driving in Rome

Rome has 3.5 millions inhabitants and 1.5 millions commuters. 
Subway transportation reaches only a restricted area of the city.
Buses are often packed and slow, because of the car traffic.
Parking places are insufficient, and guarded ones are just a few.
Motorbikes are the quickest means to move around the capital, but also the most dangerous.

Enlarging the roman streets is impossible. Creating new parking lots too. 
Wherever you dig, roman ruins come to light, and what had started as an excavation mining turns soon into
an "archaeological" excavation.

Therefore the Italian atout known as "arte di arrangiarsi" (the art of getting on with anything) reaches in Rome its apex. 
But, though drivers' parking indiscipline can be judged less severely under these circumstances, there are some behaviors that have become (unfortunately) customary.
So, if you venture driving a car in Rome, be aware that you'll need sound nerves and a lot of patience...

To a Roman, a speed limit road sign is just a number, 
Except for elderly people, who are scared of driving too fast, almost no one respects speed limits. If you are too slow, you'll be honked. So you'd better know exactly the route to take, or before you get to destination, you'll fall prey to a nervous breakdown.

and a car, left in second row, is a perfectly parked car,
This is the most common way to avoid loosing precious time while searching a regular parking place. The problem is that most car drivers leave their car in second row, and go away, without caring if the owner of the car, blocked by theirs, needs to leave.
If it happens that YOU are this last one, you can even wait a generous half hour before the uncivilized shows up. And to him, smiling while saying "ooops, sorry" is more than enough to be pardoned... So be aware, that if you insist complaining, YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED A NEUROTIC.
I had to drive through just a couple of streets this morning, to take the following testimonies...

as well as bumping slightly into other people's car is a "sine qua non" condition to drive his own out of a parking place.
It goes without saying that, if possible, you should park your car at a "safe distance" from those close to yours. Nonetheless, be prepared for the "unavoidable"...and drive safe! :))