Flagship schools: competition is prohibited

As well as taxis and beach establishments, there is another protected sector, though one that is rarely discussed: driving schools. Anyone wishing to open one must have expensive heavy vehicles, which they will hardly ever use, set up classrooms measured by the square metre, and forgo online teaching. On 4 June in the Chamber, Minister Matteo Salvini defended the current system for the time being, and although he acknowledged the need to modernise the regulations, he postponed any changes until a later date. Yet in a sector that conducts over two million driving tests a year – tests that determine access to driving, a crucial economic and social function for citizens – these constraints are nothing but an obstacle to the very purpose of driving schools.

The first restriction is set out in Article 123 of the Highway Code. By law, a driving school must own its entire fleet of vehicles, including lorries, even if it only offers car or motorbike licences. This consequently represents a prohibitive, if not inefficient, cost for starting up the business. For this reason, the law allows schools to form consortia to share the cost of vehicles (heavy goods vehicles, for example, which entail a high financial burden). However, the consortium is a private club comprising driving schools already operating in the market, and entry therefore requires admission by competitors. The Competition Authority highlighted this requirement in 2010 and again in 2013, describing it as a barrier to market access "not justified by the pursuit or protection of significant public interests". In 2023, whilst concluding a preliminary investigation into the Enna consortium – which had denied one of its own driving schools access to vehicles and instructors – with binding commitments, the Authority noted that the clause “remains unchanged to this day”.

The second constraint relates to theory. A 1995 decree stipulates that lessons for driving school students must be held on the premises, in a classroom of at least 25 square metres with an adjoining office of at least 10 square metres. Yet students are not expected to attend lessons and there is no compulsory attendance requirement. A complete contradiction. Then, when the internet arrived, the Ministry reinforced the ban on e-learning in 2014 (although it will be permitted from 2024 for obtaining the D1 boat licence). Consequently, a YouTuber can explain the meaning of motorway signs online for a fee, but certified driving schools cannot.

The third constraint concerns driving instructors, of whom there is a shortage. This was confirmed by the Ministry itself, which in 2024 issued a ‘driving school rescue’ decree in response to an ‘ever-widening staff shortage’. That decree removed the requirement for instructors to hold a bus driving licence and opened the door to distance learning for aspiring instructors. Consequently, how can it be argued that online learning is suitable for training those who teach but poses a danger to those who are learning? Furthermore, the requirement to hold a lorry driving licence remains in place even for those who will only be teaching in cars, in a market where heavy-vehicle categories account for just 4 per cent of tests. Opening up access, whilst maintaining the same safety standards, would also mean creating jobs.

One organisation that has come up against this system is, for example, Brum Patenti, a digital driving school, whose chairman, Paolo De Nadai, told "Il Foglio": “By restricting the entry of new operators, trade associations think they are protecting driving schools’ turnover and jobs, but they are merely fuelling the sector’s decline. It is anti-competitive behaviour.”

And it is the candidates who pay the price: 618,208 failed tests in 2025, the highest figure since 2009. Almost all failed the theory test, which sees 38 per cent of candidates fail. Consider, for instance, the case of private candidates, who would certainly benefit from the availability of standardised online courses – whilst still complying with safety regulations – but perhaps at a more affordable cost. Or consider the positive impact this would have on competition between different companies, which would find themselves competing on the quality of their learning methods as well. Not to mention that a driving licence is a gateway to employment for foreign nationals too: one in five candidates in 2025 was born abroad (230,000 people), and amongst those who passed, the proportion drops to one in seven. However, the questionnaire is only available in Italian, and on request in French and German, but not in English. Meanwhile, in Germany, the same test is available in 12 languages, including Italian. “Young people fail because the learning method is stuck in the pre-internet era,” Luca Cozzarini, co-founder of Brum, told "Il Foglio". “The tests are designed more to assess knowledge of the Italian language than actual skills.”