To anyone spending time in Italy this week, a heads-up: Massive, nationwide student protests might snarl up your sightseeing.

Students have taken to the streets — for the most part, peacefully — to condemn a bill that would cut some €9 billion and 130,000 jobs from education. They are, of course, just the latest to register their angry against the Berlusconi government, but their protests are creating problems for tourists even more than most: Among other things, they prevented trains from entering and leaving Siena by camping out on the tracks yesterday and kept tourists from entering the Leaning Tower of Pisa after they took it over. That’s on top of the usual problems with traffic that any manifestazione causes.

And it seems like the demonstrations are only growing. So if you’re traveling to Italy, be prepared: Count on taking a little longer to get to your destination, and always have a Plan B if a particular site you really want to see has, you know, been taken over.

You can read more about the student protests and what they might mean (plus see a video of the demonstration in Rome) at my other blog, Inking Italy.