Speed radar installed in a hidden village in the Dolomites becomes the protagonist of a million-dollar revenue and places small Italian towns at the center of a national controversy.

Written by Viviane Alves

Published on 03/06/2026 at 22:01

Updated on 03/06/2026 at 22:02

Be the first to react!

Speed cameras installed in small Italian towns generate millions, while Rome, Milan, and other major centers record a drop in revenue

A survey on traffic fines in Italy revealed a distortion that caught the country’s attention. Small Italian municipalities have started to collect millions with speed cameras, locally known as autovelox, despite having very small populations.

The most significant case occurred in Colle Santa Lucia, a village with just over 300 inhabitants, located in the Dolomites, in the Veneto region. Between 2021 and 2025, a single camera installed in the municipality generated more than 2 million euros, according to data from Codacons, an Italian consumer association.

The amount is equivalent to an average of 5,989 euros per resident. This figure placed the small locality at the center of a national discussion about monitoring, fines, and public revenue.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Survey shows the impact of speed cameras in small towns

The analysis by Codacons was based on data sent to the Ministry of the Interior of Italy. According to the survey, small localities manage to collect large sums because the cameras are installed in high-traffic areas.

The financial result depends less on the size of the population and more on the intensity of traffic on each monitored road. However, the criticism is not new.

The newspaper Corriere della Sera notes that speed cameras have been accused for years of functioning as a kind of ATM for local administrations. This perception has gained traction because some small municipalities have started to record revenues exceeding those of much larger cities.

Galatina and other towns also accumulate millions

The case of Colle Santa Lucia is not isolated. In Galatina, a municipality with about 26,000 inhabitants in the province of Lecce, in southern Italy, the cameras secured about 5.3 million euros in 2025.

This amount exceeded the revenue recorded by several major Italian cities. When adding the revenues of Trepuzzi, Cavallino, Lecce, and the province, the total reached 9.3 million euros.

Another point mentioned by the survey was the state highway Telesina, which connects the regions of Campania and Molise. Along this route, five municipalities with cameras collected together more than 2.8 million euros.

Large centers move in the opposite direction

The main Italian cities recorded a decline in the same period. In 2025, the largest cities collected 56.5 million euros with electronic radars.

The amount represented a decrease of 8.9% compared to the previous year. Among the large centers, Florence led the collection, with 19.7 million euros.

Following were Bologna, with 9.2 million euros, and Milan, with 6.9 million euros. Rome had the largest decline among the big cities.

The Italian capital saw revenue fall from 4.8 million to 2.3 million euros, a reduction of 52%.

Stricter rules change the fine landscape

According to Codacons, the decline in large cities was related to stricter rules adopted in 2025. Decisions by the Court of Cassation also annulled fines applied by approved but not homologated equipment.

These cases, however, are concrete decisions and do not form binding jurisprudence. Even so, they increased the debate about the validity of charges made by electronic radars.

The central point of the discussion is the homologation of the devices. A decree from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport provides that radars installed after 2017 are considered automatically homologated.

The text, however, has not yet been published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, the Italian official journal.

Associations warn of a new wave of appeals

The association Assoutenti states that jurists question the validity of this rule. Therefore, the number of appeals against fines may increase on the eve of the summer exodus.

This scenario increases the pressure on city halls, drivers, and traffic authorities. At the same time, it reinforces the discussion about the limit between necessary enforcement and excessive collection.

For small municipalities, radars have become a relevant source of revenue. For drivers, however, the speed cameras have become a symbol of an increasingly contested charge.

Now, Italy needs to decide how to balance road safety, equipment legality, and transparency in public revenue. After all, should speed cameras be seen as a traffic safety tool or as a million-dollar revenue source for small towns?

0 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

Speed radar installed in a hidden village in the Dolomites becomes the protagonist of a million-dollar revenue and places small Italian towns at the center of a national controversy.

Speed cameras installed in small Italian towns generate millions, while Rome, Milan, and other major centers record a drop in revenue

Survey shows the impact of speed cameras in small towns

Galatina and other towns also accumulate millions

EMS launches Ozivy pen for R$ 452 and fully enters the weight loss battle that is driving pharmacies and patients in Brazil.

Large centers move in the opposite direction

Stricter rules change the fine landscape

Associations warn of a new wave of appeals

Mother and daughter build a 70 m² house with more than 8,000 discarded glass bottles and impress with their creativity; known as the Casa de Sal, the property is located on Itamaracá Island, in Pernambuco.

Workers were opening a new road connection near the Marginal Tietê when they found, in the underground of the construction site, remnants of locomotives, wagons, and boilers from the 19th century linked to the forgotten history of Lapa.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

China transforms desert-devastated area into the world’s largest artificial forest, planting trees for 60 years, blocking sand that reached Beijing, and creating a “green lung” of 92,000 hectares in a region once considered lost.

He transformed an abandoned plastic water tank into an underground house in the “hobbit hole” style, using only repurposed pallet wood, without heavy machinery or expensive labor.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

The river that “dies” in the desert never reaches the sea and yet gives life to one of Africa’s largest natural refuges in a truly impressive way.

Drivers with licenses nearing expiration received an unexpected reprieve on the calendar, but the Contran extension only applies to those within specific dates.

Embrapa takes cashew, peanuts, and sesame to the world’s largest seed bank in Norway, where Brazil has already stored more than 8,000 samples since 2012 against pests and climate change.

China prepares mBridge, a new digital payment system with blockchain that promises transactions in seconds, lower fees, and the advancement of the digital renminbi while aiming to reduce dependence on the dollar in global trade.

Norway will excavate 3 million cubic meters of rock to open a 1,700-meter maritime tunnel, where ships will pass through a mountain in 10 minutes, escaping a stretch that has killed more than 30 people since 1900.

São Paulo accelerates basic sanitation with R$ 70 billion until 2029, expands treated water, sewage, and promises to advance universalization four years ahead of the national deadline.

Speed radar installed in a hidden village in the Dolomites becomes the protagonist of a million-dollar revenue and places small Italian towns at the center of a national controversy.

Speed cameras installed in small Italian towns generate millions, while Rome, Milan, and other major centers record a drop in revenue

Survey shows the impact of speed cameras in small towns

Galatina and other towns also accumulate millions

EMS launches Ozivy pen for R$ 452 and fully enters the weight loss battle that is driving pharmacies and patients in Brazil.

Large centers move in the opposite direction

Stricter rules change the fine landscape

Associations warn of a new wave of appeals

Mother and daughter build a 70 m² house with more than 8,000 discarded glass bottles and impress with their creativity; known as the Casa de Sal, the property is located on Itamaracá Island, in Pernambuco.

Workers were opening a new road connection near the Marginal Tietê when they found, in the underground of the construction site, remnants of locomotives, wagons, and boilers from the 19th century linked to the forgotten history of Lapa.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

China transforms desert-devastated area into the world’s largest artificial forest, planting trees for 60 years, blocking sand that reached Beijing, and creating a “green lung” of 92,000 hectares in a region once considered lost.

He transformed an abandoned plastic water tank into an underground house in the “hobbit hole” style, using only repurposed pallet wood, without heavy machinery or expensive labor.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

The river that “dies” in the desert never reaches the sea and yet gives life to one of Africa’s largest natural refuges in a truly impressive way.

Embrapa takes cashew, peanuts, and sesame to the world’s largest seed bank in Norway, where Brazil has already stored more than 8,000 samples since 2012 against pests and climate change.

Almost 1 km beneath Albania, miners find an underground “jacuzzi” of nearly pure hydrogen, with bubbles emerging from a pool inside a chrome mine and the potential to reveal a rare natural reservoir beneath Europe.

After working as a waiter for ten years, he borrowed R$ 500 from his brother, created 40-minute lines with an açaí cart on the street, and today runs a farm with 600,000 trees in Pará and a network worth R$ 45 million.

Italian community secretly excavated an 8,500 m² underground temple 30 meters deep for 16 years, opened decorated halls under a mountain, and was only discovered after a tip-off and police entry.

After becoming a craze among amateur builders, an American microjet measuring just 3.7 meters enters the Guinness World Records as the smallest manned jet in the world, weighing 162 kg and reaching 483 km/h.

Drivers with licenses nearing expiration received an unexpected reprieve on the calendar, but the Contran extension only applies to those within specific dates.

Embrapa takes cashew, peanuts, and sesame to the world’s largest seed bank in Norway, where Brazil has already stored more than 8,000 samples since 2012 against pests and climate change.

China prepares mBridge, a new digital payment system with blockchain that promises transactions in seconds, lower fees, and the advancement of the digital renminbi while aiming to reduce dependence on the dollar in global trade.

Norway will excavate 3 million cubic meters of rock to open a 1,700-meter maritime tunnel, where ships will pass through a mountain in 10 minutes, escaping a stretch that has killed more than 30 people since 1900.

São Paulo accelerates basic sanitation with R$ 70 billion until 2029, expands treated water, sewage, and promises to advance universalization four years ahead of the national deadline.