It’s hard not to have noticed: in general, any good purchased at the airport or on the motorway is always more expensive than the same good purchased in a bar or supermarket outside the toll booths. This also happens in the case of fuels: refueling with petrol, diesel or LPG is in fact usually more expensive in service areas along motorways and the reasons are different: from royalties and concessions, to the service that must be guaranteed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to the dynamics of competition.
The differences, in the case of refueling in self-service mode, are on average a few percentage points, but in some locations and in serviced mode they can even rise significantly. For example, according to a 2025 Altroconsumo survey, which compared the prices of motorway service areas and urban petrol stations located in the immediate vicinity (between 10 and 15 km) in some areas of Italy, there are cases where a difference of up to 11% can be achieved – around 20 cents per litre, which on a 50 liter tank can lead to a difference of 10 euros. Let’s understand the reasons in more detail.
How much does it cost to refuel in Italy today
According to data from the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy updated to 21 April 2026, the average self-service price on the ordinary road network in Italy is 1,759 euros per liter for petrol (self-service) and 2,106 for diesel, while on motorways it rises to 1,785 for petrol (self-service), to 2,130 for diesel (self-service), with prices falling in recent days. On the Ministry website you will find updated average fuel prices every day starting from 8.30 am.
The average national weekly price recorded by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, in the energy and mining statistics section, is updated every Tuesday at 12: for petrol it is currently 1,783 and 2,153 for diesel, up compared to last week. The survey of 04/20/2026 takes into consideration the average of prices from 13 to 19/04 (which considers the total between net cost, excise duty and VAT), in self-service mode, and sees:
- Petrol: €1762.82/1,000 liters (-19.85%)
- Car diesel: €2114.71/1,000 liters (-38.73%)
- LPG: €803.78/1,000 liters (+5.82%)
- Methane: 1568.81/1,000 kg (+0.83%)
To see the increases for April we can wait until May 5th, but in the meantime you can also find the monthly average for the month of March:
- Petrol: €1765.46/1,000 liters (+6.77%)
- Car diesel: €1987.58/1,000 liters (+16.85%)
- LPG: €696.96/1,000 liters (+0.39%)
- Methane: €1474.39/1,000 kg (+6.11%)
What are royalties: the “real” petrol toll
Why does a full tank on the motorway cost more than at a petrol station outside the network? First of all because of the assignments and royalties. The service stations on the motorway network are assigned on the basis of national tenders, regulated by the Ministry of Infrastructure. Royalties are the costs that whoever manages the distributor must pay to the motorway concessionaire company.
As the Transport Regulatory Authority explains, “The services provided in these areas, if not provided directly by the motorway concessionaires, are entrusted by them in (sub)concession to third parties, with transparent and competitive procedures, starting from the entry into force of law 498/1992. In exchange for the assignment of these services, the sub-concessionaires are required to pay a fee (so-called royalties) to the motorway concessionaires, generally proportional to the turnover deriving from the exploitation commercial of the single service area. Just over a third of the revenues from the ancillary activity are related to the fuel supply activities, while the remaining two thirds concern all the remaining services offered within these areas, with an absolute prevalence of the refreshment and bar activity.”
Therefore, the State entrusts the management of a stretch of motorway to a company (the concessionaire, such as Autostrade per l’Italia): the company does not directly manage the petrol stations and bars at the service areas, but rather “sublets” them to someone else, such as an oil company or a group such as Autogrill, Chef Express, and so on, which becomes the sub-concessionaire. To provide its services, the sub-concessionaire pays a periodic fee to the motorway concessionaire, i.e. royalties, calculated as a percentage of what it collects. Only a third of the royalties come from fuel, while the other two thirds come from bars, restaurants and shops – and that’s why they cost so much. According to trade associations, royalties stand on average at 20%, with peaks of 40% for the Autobrennero.
Services open 24/7 and staff, competition and service costs
Management costs on the motorway also increase as constant service must be guaranteed, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with dedicated staff. Refueling the dispensers located in service stations and carrying out maintenance obviously costs more, because they are more difficult to reach.
Furthermore, as happens with products and services provided in bars and shops in petrol stations, there is a factor relating to competition. On the motorway the different brands compete with each other less, as the stations are distributed in one direction of travel so it is unlikely that anyone will choose to go back seeing a more or less convenient price, as happens more easily in the city. Due to the simple rule of supply and demand, consequently, managers are not pushed to lower prices to make the purchase more attractive.
In the same way, more and more people, knowing that prices are higher on the motorway, prefer to refuel outside, thanks to widespread alternatives. In fact, it is often better to make a small detour, certain that there will be distributors in the immediate vicinity, and then return.
There is a very high number of petrol stations on Italian territory
Have you ever noticed how many petrol stations there are in your cities? In Italy, according to data from the Transport Regulatory Authority, there are approximately 473 service areas on the entire motorway network equipped with fuel distributors, which are added to the over 22 thousand distribution systems on the ordinary network. A truly very high number, greater than in other European countries – in Germany, for example, there are around 14 thousand, on an area of 357,683 km² compared to 302,073 km² in Italy, and for a decidedly larger population, 84 million against around 59.
It is also true that in Italy there are many more cars: according to the latest ACI data, around 41 million cars circulate in our country, around 700 for every 1,000 inhabitants, the highest index in Europe together with Cyprus and Luxembourg. More than 4 out of 10 cars run on petrol, more than 4 on diesel, the rest are divided between LPG, methane and electric. To always make a comparison with Germany, which has the European record for registered cars, around 48 million are in circulation, around 570 per 1000 inhabitants – in France around 39 million, in the United Kingdom 37 million and so on. It is not surprising to discover that Italy, in Europe, is the second country to use public transport the least: almost 7 out of 10 people, according to Eutostat data, do not use it.
The presence of more distributors leads to lower sales for each station (an estimated 60% less than abroad), which, in turn, leads managers to keep higher prices to cover fixed costs.
Tips for saving
Among the tips for saving on fuel, there is always a good practice to avoid refueling on the motorway, precisely because, as explained, it is more expensive – about 10% more. Furthermore, both on and off the motorway it is always good practice to prefer the “self service” mode to the “served” one, where a surcharge of up to 30 cents per liter is applied.
In general, it may be useful to check whether the price charged by the individual distributor is in line with the average price. You can check updated petrol prices, daily, on the website of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, while on the Autostrade website you can check prices in real time within the service areas.
