Rome - Forget about zipping around the Italian capital on a sleek Vespa. Motorists in the Eternal City spend an eternity sitting in traffic - an average of 260 hours, or 11 days, each year.

Rome ranks as the most congested city in Italy, according to a news report Monday quoting data released by the consumer watchdog Codacons. Other cities are not far behind though: drivers in Milan spend 240 hours in stop-and-go, and in Naples 210 hours navigating traffic per year.

"It is unacceptable in a city like Rome that it takes a motorist more than two hours to get from the south to the north during peak traffic periods," Codacons president Carlo Rienzi was quoted as saying in the daily La Repubblica.

In that time one could reach Tuscany, Umbria, or Campania, he said. (dpa)