I agree with TigaWave: if your car is conspicuous, it will be noticed and attract trouble. I owned a red MG for a couple of years in Turin, and that was more or less ok (town of 1 million). As soon as I moved to the country, I was being eyeballed by the Carabinieri and had to import it. I see a few British cars parked at my local Ryanair airport, so clearly, others are getting away with not importing, though.