Yeah , but a lot of roads have the compulsory carry Snow Chain signs on them ( even quite major ones - pretty sure including some Autostrade - as well as quite far south .. I've seen them in Sicily in not particularly mountainous areas ) and the restriction is quite lengthy in many cases running until late April ? ... My understanding is that if you were stopped ( admittedly fairly unlikely ) you'd be in trouble if you didn't have snow chains in the car regardless of the actual weather