International Driving Permit in Vatican

🗓 We could not independently verify the road-traffic law for Vatican; facts here rely on official travel guidance where available. Research last updated: 30 October 2026. You may copy this information only if you provide a link back to this page.

⚠ This page is general information about driving rules, not legal advice. Rules change, and each authority applies its own — confirm your case with the relevant authority before you drive.

ℹ We are a private company. We are not a government body, a licensing or issuing authority, or a treaty organisation, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for any of them. The International Driver's Document we sell is a translation of your national driving licence: it is not a driving licence, and it is not a government-issued document.

• Driving in Vatican: key facts
• Do you need an International Driving Permit in Vatican?
• What side of the road does Vatican drive on?
• How long can you drive in Vatican with a foreign licence?
• Is Vatican a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?
• Why acceptance of your licence varies from place to place
• Can you drive in Vatican with your country's licence?
• Where to get an International Driving Permit
• Moving to Vatican? Rules for new residents
• Driving rules in Vatican tourists get fined for
• Read more about driving in Vatican
• Sources

Driving in Vatican: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Vatican?

The Holy See is a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (accession 5 October 1953) and only a signatory — never a ratifying party — to the 1968 Vienna Convention, so the 1949-style IDP is the only permit backed by a treaty of the Holy See itself. Vatican law applies Italy's legislation on motor vehicles and their circulation as it stood on 1 January 2009, including the treaties Italy has ratified, unless a specific Vatican rule provides otherwise (Legge N. LXXI sulle fonti del diritto, art. 12); Italy ratified the 1968 Vienna Convention on 2 October 1996, so that convention reaches Vatican City through this reference. The Italian Highway Code applied in this way makes no IDP compulsory: a licence or international permit issued by a foreign State is valid for the vehicles it covers while its holder has not been resident in Italy for over a year, and one that does not follow the model of a convention Italy has joined must be accompanied by an official Italian translation or an equivalent document (art. 135). The Vatican's own road-traffic law (Legge N. LXII of 22 June 1970, as amended), which prevails where it provides otherwise, could not be obtained, and Legge N. CXXXI leaves the circulation of vehicles inside the State to specific rules (art. 13(2)). Whether a foreign licence or an IDP is valid for driving inside Vatican City is therefore not established: check with the Vatican authorities before you travel. In practice the question rarely arises: a vehicle driven by anyone who is not a Vatican citizen or resident enters Vatican City only with prior authorisation (Legge N. CXXXI, art. 13), and every road approach is through Rome under Italian rules.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: Vatican law applies Italy's 2009 road code, which accepts a licence or international permit of any foreign State, unless Vatican rules provide otherwise; the Vatican's own road-traffic law, which governs driving there, could not be obtained. Check with the authorities before you travel; the answer below says what is known.

No specific penalty for driving without the required document was verified from an authoritative source. Official source.

What side of the road does Vatican drive on?

Vatican drives on the right-hand side of the road, and overtaking is done on the left. Cars in Vatican are left-hand drive.

How long can you drive in Vatican with a foreign licence?

No visitor period is established: the Italian Highway Code that Vatican law applies names none, the Vatican's own road-traffic law could not be obtained, and a visitor's car needs prior entry authorisation. Art. 135(1) of that code, in its text of 1 January 2009 applied by Legge N. LXXI sulle fonti del diritto, art. 12, lets a licence or international permit issued by a foreign State be used until its holder has been resident in Italy for over a year; the authorisation is required by Legge N. CXXXI of 22 February 2011, art. 13, for any vehicle driven by someone who is neither a Vatican citizen nor a resident. There is no tourist self-drive regime: Vatican City is roughly 44 hectares, its vehicle fleet is closed (SCV plates are reserved for the institutional vehicles of the Governorate and Holy See bodies, about 600 of them, and private CV plates go to the Presidents and Secretaries of Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, Vatican citizens, and the Governorate's governing bodies and Directors, about 300), and all road approaches pass through Rome. (Vatican Department of Motor Vehicles page (plate categories and fleet size))

Planning to move to Vatican? Different rules apply once you become a resident — see the residents section below.

Is Vatican a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?

Vatican is a Contracting Party to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, but not to the 1968 Vienna Convention.

• 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic: accession on 5 Oct 1953.

Why acceptance of your licence varies from place to place

Whether a foreign country accepts your driving licence hangs on a tangle of variables: three different road-traffic conventions signed decades apart (1926, 1949, 1968) — the oldest predates the United Nations itself, and only the latter two were concluded under it — countries at different stages of joining each (signed vs. accepted vs. ratified), licences printed in alphabets local police can't read, vehicle-category systems that don't line up between countries, document generations that may not meet a convention's format even when the country is a member, bilateral deals between individual states, and local laws that are looser in one place and stricter in the next. The same licence can be fine at one border and rejected at the next — even at the next rental desk. The International Driving Permit exists to cut through most of it: a standardized, multilingual presentation of your existing licence, with harmonized category symbols, that most officials can read at a glance. It doesn't replace your national licence or grant new rights — you carry both — and it doesn't guarantee acceptance: a handful of destinations still require a local permit alongside or instead of it, but for most it meaningfully improves your odds.

Can you drive in Vatican with your country's licence?

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Vatican as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Vatican City is not a drive-in destination. It is a 44-hectare enclave with a closed institutional vehicle fleet and no visitor parking, and a car driven by anyone who is not a Vatican citizen or resident enters only with prior authorisation; every approach is Roman driving under Italian law and Rome's ZTL cameras. Vatican law applies Italy's road legislation as it stood on 1 January 2009, including the treaties Italy has ratified, except where its own rules provide otherwise. Its own road-traffic law could not be obtained, so whether any foreign licence or IDP is valid there is not established: check with the Vatican authorities before you travel. The Holy See is a 1949 Geneva Convention party (acceded 1953) but not a 1968 Vienna party, so a 1949 IDP is the only permit backed by a treaty of the Holy See itself — and Vatican driving licences are issued only to Vatican citizens and residents. Rules change — confirm with official sources before you travel. Last verified: October 2026.

Legend: "1949" — Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (IDP valid up to 1 year); "1968" — Vienna Convention (IDP valid up to 3 years).

Not established — the record does not settle whether you may drive here on this licence; confirm with the destination's licensing authority before you rely on it. The answer below says what could not be confirmed.

What you need to carry — Prior authorisation for your vehicle to enter Vatican City; check with the Vatican authorities which licence or permit is valid

Why — Vatican law applies Italy's 2009 road code, which accepts a licence or international permit of any foreign State, unless Vatican rules provide otherwise; the Vatican's own road-traffic law, which governs driving there, could not be obtained. [1]

Sources and notes for the answer above

[1] Legge N. LXXI sulle fonti del diritto, art. 12; Nuovo codice della strada, art. 135 (text of 1 January 2009); Legge N. CXXXI, art. 13

Where to get an International Driving Permit

An International Driving Permit must be obtained before you travel, and only certain countries may issue one to you — you cannot buy an official IDP from an unrelated country. Under the 1968 Vienna Convention it may be issued only by the Contracting Party where you normally reside and which issued or recognizes your licence — by that Party's competent authority or by an association it has duly empowered. Under the 1949 Geneva Convention it is issued by the competent authority of a Contracting State, or by an association that authority has duly empowered. Which body that is varies by country: a government agency in some, an authorized motoring club in others.

• Travelling from Vatican? Vatican's official IDPs are issued by Vatican Vehicle Registry (Registro Veicoli Vaticani).
• Travelling from another country? Ask that country's driving-licence authority which body it authorizes to issue IDPs — a government agency in some countries, an authorized motoring club in others.

Separately, IDA offers a digital International Driver's Document — a translation of your national licence that you carry alongside it. It is not an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 or 1968 conventions by the body your country authorizes for that purpose, and it is not a certified, sworn or otherwise official translation: no authority certifies it, and where a country requires an official or certified translation by law, our document does not satisfy that requirement. It is a private translation meant to make your national licence readable at rental desks and roadside checks.

Moving to Vatican? Rules for new residents

The Vatican Department of Motor Vehicles issues driving licences "exclusively to Vatican City citizens and residents" — this is a residents' regime and carries no visitor entitlement. Archived copy of the cited page.

Driving rules in Vatican tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: Carry passport, the original licence, vehicle registration, rental authority and insurance evidence, plus the prior authorisation a visitor's car needs to enter Vatican City. Under the Italian Highway Code that Vatican law applies, a licence that does not follow the model of a convention Italy has joined must be accompanied by an official Italian translation or an equivalent document. A 1949 IDP follows such a model and is the permit of the convention the Holy See itself is party to; Italian rental firms may require one.
• Drink-driving: Do not drink and drive. In practice Italy's limits govern the whole approach; no separate published Vatican visitor threshold was found. Italian fines, licence suspension, criminal exposure and insurance voidance can apply on the approach. In Vatican City the fines for road-traffic offences are those of Tabella IV of Legge N. X of 22 August 2025, applied since 1 December 2025; for driving while drunk ('Ebbrezza del conducente') it admits no settlement payment ('Non ammessa'), and it names no alcohol limit.
• Speed limits: Traffic drives on the right. Inside Vatican-controlled roads expect pedestrians, barriers, checkpoints and walking-pace speeds, and move only as directed by the Gendarmerie.
• Plan on foot. St Peter's Basilica, the Square and the Vatican Museums are reached on foot from Rome; there is no visitor parking or drive-in access, and the Vatican fleet is a closed institutional one (about 900 vehicles on SCV/CV plates). Do not approach a Vatican gate by car without a confirmed, named appointment and instructions from the office you are visiting.
• The Gendarmerie Corps is Vatican City's police force: it carries out institutional police duties, including border duties and judicial and tax police work ('compiti istituzionali di polizia, compresi quelli di frontiera, nonché di polizia giudiziaria e tributaria'). Follow security directions at any checkpoint.
• Every approach is Italian driving. UK government advice for Italy says "You can use a UK photocard driving licence to drive in Italy", but also that "Hire car companies often have stricter requirements for their customers, such as a year of driving experience, a higher minimum age and holding an IDP".
• Central Rome around the Vatican is ZTL-controlled. UK government advice for Italy is that "You need a pass to drive into the historic centre of many Italian cities in a private or hire car", that the boundaries are marked "ZTL in black on a yellow background" and that unpassed entries are camera-fined. Check the ZTL map before driving anywhere near the boundary.

Read more about driving in Vatican

Watch what driving in Vatican looks like

A few minutes of real POV footage is the fastest way to feel confident before your first drive in Vatican:

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. Vatican Department of Motor Vehicles page (plate categories and fleet size)
3. Vatican Gendarmerie Corps (page in Italian) — border, judicial and tax police duties; Operations Room +39.06.698112
4. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Convention on Road Traffic: Holy See accession 5 Oct 1953
5. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic: Holy See signed 8 Nov 1968, never ratified
6. UK FCDO Italy — photocard licence accepted, hire-car IDP practice, ZTL camera fines
7. Legge N. LXXI sulle fonti del diritto (1 October 2008), art. 12 — Italian legislation on motor vehicles and their circulation in force on 1 January 2009, including treaties ratified by Italy, applies in Vatican City
8. Nuovo codice della strada (Decreto legislativo 30 aprile 1992, n. 285), text in force on 1 January 2009 — art. 115 (minimum ages) and art. 135 (foreign licences and international permits)
9. Legge N. CXXXI sulla cittadinanza, la residenza e l'accesso (22 February 2011), art. 13 — vehicles driven by non-citizens and non-residents enter only with prior authorisation
10. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
11. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic