I have a relative who is vacationing in Italy...

[Archae]

He rented a car there, and after doing some conversions at a gas station, he told me the price of gas at that station, (which was average for Italy,) is $8 a gallon.

He also said many of the roads were in terrible shape, even by Wisconsin standards!

He said when he gets back to the US, he's not going to ever bitch again about the price of gas even in California, where he lives.

[Coventina]

1. Europe has almost always had high gas prices.

I went to Italy last summer, and I went everywhere by public transportation.

Much easier, cheaper, and less hassle than renting a car.

[Emile]

3. I use to navigate Naples by city bus.

That was back in 1969. I knew just enough Italian words to ask for help.

[RockRaven]

2. I saw a social media post a few days back saying in London it was equal to $11-something/gal

Americans look like spoiled brats to much of the world. On this matter and many others.

[Polybius]

5. I remember reading a few years ago that Venezuela was like .12 cents a gallon

It's all relevant as to what you're used to.

[Polybius]

4. That doesn't make me feel any better about our prices

They've always been too high there. When we were $2, they were $5.

[Nanjeanne]

6. We are in Italy now. We are driving a diesel car. The pump rate is per liter and yes

the liter to gallon ratio and euro to dollar rate probably is about $8. But we also manage to drive long distances in our car as it gets excellent mileage. So in filling up our car it doesn’t seem that much more than the states. Maybe a little more but we expected that. As for the roads, we drove from Milan to Lake Como area, then into Langhe region in Piemonte. We also drove into Emilia Romagne area to visit Parma. And one day down to the sea in Liguria region. We’ve been here close to 3 weeks and go back to states next week. The roads we are driving on have been excellent. The signage is great. The roundabouts easy to understand and maneuver. The autostradas wonderful. The small town roads are freakishly narrow - and in Piemonte you drive many of them. It’s very much a team sport as drivers on both sides have to give way in order to pass each other by. Some small towns you could touch the wall of a building as you pass. But we certainly haven’t noticed particularly terrible toads at all. Not sure where your relative is driving. Maybe some regions are worse than others as it is everywhere.