Autostrada dei Fiori, a stunning coastal road from Genoa to Nice
Part of European route E80, Autostrada A10 is one of the most challenging yet scenic highways in northern Italy. You’ll feel constantly distracted by the beautiful views.
The road, also known as Fiori Autostrada or AutoFiori, is totally paved and runs along the Ligurian Coast. It was built directly along the coast with absolutely great sights towards the sea. It runs from Genoa to Ventimiglia, on the French border, and later links to the French A8 autoroute, which finishes in Aix-en-Provence, in the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The road was opened on 6 November 1971. It is an absolute masterpiece of human construction work because it runs constantly along a very steep hillside with numberless bridges, tunnels, and bends. There are a lot of speed restrictions and they have a very good reason because if you are not careful you are constantly in heavy danger of having a severe accident.
The highway is 158.1 km (98.2 mi) long in good conditions. There are always guardrails and road markings but also a lot of road works and the traffic is dense because this is the main connection from Italy to the south of France and Spain. The trucks driving there are countless. There is a little room for failures. If you are not constantly 100% concentrated and driving the average speed of all other vehicles around (about 80 - 100 km/h) you will soon have a deadly crash. Do not drive this highway if you are tired.
Besides the stunning views, the 78 tunnels between Genoa and Nice, the dense traffic, the curves, the countless bridges, etc., for most of its length there is rarely a service lane. So, if you have some technical troubles you are really in trouble because you have to stop where you are - and that's in the middle of this horrific highway. On 14 August 2018, a section of the Ponte Morandi bridge that formed part of the A10 collapsed during a storm, killing 43 people.
Road suggested by: Michael Spannlang