Rome pushing back vs golf cart ‘invasion’
ROME—Beneath its splendor of monuments and ruins, the Eternal City is taking aim at a modern-day chariot: the golf cart.
Even rolling along at a moderate speed, these golf carts have so far outpaced regulation—with hundreds of them carrying tourists through Rome’s historic center. But the city is mounting a crackdown.
For critics, the carts are running amok, parking illegally, worsening congestion and unlocking another level of overtourism.
Some local media invoke sensational language, calling it an “invasion” and saying Rome is being “held hostage by golf carts.”
But advocates argue the carts are silent, occupy less space than tourist vans and buses, and don’t choke the air with exhaust that also stains historic monuments.
Enmity on the road
The Associated Press (AP) got a taste of the enmity during a late August ride when a black, eight-seater van pulled up alongside.
“You’re in the middle of the road!” its driver barked. “Move it!”
“Always the same! The road isn’t yours!” the golf cart driver shouted back. Both gesticulated angrily with their free hands, following a time-honored Roman traffic tradition.
Carts like this zip through Rome’s cobblestone alleys, past tourists eating spaghetti carbonara from checkered tablecloths and shops hawking tote bags stamped with clichés (“Ciao Bella!”).
“We don’t have a proper stop for golf carts, so we park where we can—as legal as possible,” driver Martin Halili said.
Little room for parking
Even before the golf cart boom, parking was a pain. Cars, vans, Vespas and motorcycles are stationed atop curbs, crosswalks and medians. Trucks double-park while unloading. Plus, an average 50,000 vehicles enter daily.
Unsurprisingly, some residents are unhappy. “This was the last straw because, unfortunately, there has already been traffic here for a long time, since there are too many categories of vehicles authorized,” Luigi la Licata, head of the Monti neighborhood association, told AP. “The golf cart is the most obvious one—and the latest—but there are many others.”
Golf cart bookings this summer grew 147 percent from 2024, according to TripAdvisor, whose subsidiary Viator is the biggest source of passengers.
Rome has as many as 500 carts, with one-fifth belonging to the Metur association of tour operators, established last December to seek common ground with locals and the city.
“Overtourism is a real problem, and we’re not denying it. And maybe we’re also part of it in a way. But if we’re part of it, then at least be part of it in a smart way,” Pascal van Duijnhoven, the association’s president, said. “We believe, especially for Rome, that it’s a solution. And we really hope that people start looking at it like this.”
EVs, carts of all types
Eugenio Patanè, Rome’s deputy mayor for sustainable mobility and transport, is striving to restore order and reduce traffic—not just golf carts.
In July, electric vehicles (EVs) started paying for admission to the historic center—a strategic shift from cutting emissions to tackling congestion.
The number of authorized vehicles is now down about one-quarter, to 350,000, and Patanè still aims to halve the number of daily entrants.
But it hasn’t been so simple to put the brakes on golf carts. For one thing, not all carts are created equal—technical specifications mean some fall under existing rules while others can roam freely.
Patanè aims to present regulation that would establish fixed tour routes, cap the number of carts of all types and create a system to select operators.
“Cities where this golf cart phenomenon is expanding truly have very few weapons,” he said, adding that “this phenomenon that has now become rampant and, in some cases, even worrisome.”
