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This may be a scam. In some countries the penalty notice is sent to the hire car company and they settle up and put the cost on your credit card, of which they still have details. It seems that the car hire company have been contacted as this is, presumably, how your address has been obtained. I suggest some Googling and a visit to Pepipoo site.
Loads of similar queries here, from a Google search. tinyurl.com/lfbat2x
4) In Italy, the authorities have up to one year after they have obtained the offender's details to issue a traffic ticket to an offender in a foreign country (unlike in Germany, for example, where there is a three month limit). Italian bureaucracy being what it is, the ticket usually does take a year or more to arrive. The first notice will be a "friendly" letter that arrives unregistered. The second notice will be registered.
The recipient of the ticket has 60 days to pay or appeal. You must appeal by writing in Italian to the Prefetto (Prefect) or Giudice di Pace (Justice of the Peace) of the appropriate Provincia. But don't plead ignorance - that won't work. You must present evidence that it was not you in the car or that you were driving to or from your hotel. If you don't pay or your appeal is dismissed, the amount is doubled.Contacting the office of a Prefetto can sometimes be done via email and or even via a web site form - you can see the form for Pisa here. "Codice della Strada" might be the appropriate subject header to choose in this case. To write to or fax the Pretetto or Justice of the Peace, here are the details for Pisa only:
- Prefect of Pisa, Piazza G. Mazzini, I-56127 Pisa, Italy or send a fax to this number 0039 050 549666.
- Justice of the Peace of Pisa, via Palestro 39, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
5) Car rental agencies are obliged to and always do provide the traffic authorities with the name and address of the individual who rented the offending car. They charge the credit card of the renter a significant amount of money for doing this - sums ranging from 16 up to 50 euros have been mentioned.Many tourists who see this charge against their cards assume that it is payment of the fine itself, but in fact it is only the administrative charge from the car rental company. Note that this fee might be listed in two parts - the charge and the sales tax (IVA, 20%). Don't mistake the IVA for the admin fee and the admin fee for the fine. The reason the rental agencies now have the right to collect this fee is because such a high charge for identifying motorists made it uneconomic for the municipalities to pursue them when it was the municipalities that had to pay the fee.
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