I receive so many reports of this that the only conclusion I can come to is that it is almost inevitable if you hire a car in the Florence area. However, there are some rules: This, from the Italian Consulate. “According to the Italian Law, a fine to a person resident abroad must be notified within 1 year from the date of the traffic violation which caused the fine. Besides, it must be notified in that person’s language and must contain the indication of a means of payment from abroad (for instance, the international coordinates, IBAN code, of a bank account where the fined person may pay the fine by international bank transfer). If a fine notice does not satisfy the last 2 conditions (for example is in Italian and asks you to pay the fine with a postal order you may use only in Post Offices in Italy), you have not to pay anything.” There has been a case in Italy over a fake ticket scam involving illegally altered traffic light timing. R.S. of Roccamalatina in Emilia Romagna tells us that a widespread nationwide scam involving scam involving officialdom, police and camera companies. This was identified last year in Italy and the various parties are being prosecuted (www.thenewspaper.com/news/26/2672.asp). As a result, most if not all red light camera and similar traffic light - speed control devices have been removed/deactivated in the last few months.