Best place to pickup rental car for Umbria

Consider Orvieto or Terni, both accessible by train

I was alittle quick on my first reply. Yes, it is worth driving as you can visit a lot of places. Assisi, Spoleto, Deruta, Todi, etc

To consider: Does Hertz at Orvieto have limitations that specifically don't work for you? If your B&B has parking does that mean it's at the bottom of the hill instead of the top? Chiusi is on the main line with a few agencies to choose between. Terni is not a direct train ride from either Florence or Orvieto; it requires one connection. Of course, Roberto has many times given advice in this forum on driving out from Florence's Borgo Ognissanti rental offices; you can find those replies through Search, above.

It is my understanding that you can no longer pick up a car at the Hertz office in Orvieto if you are going through Auto Europe. So if you were thinking of using Auto Europe, Orvieto may not be an option. You can still drop off in Orvieto, just not pick up.

My friends and I both rented from Terni in June 2016. All the car rental agencies were an easy, flat, close walk from the train station - 2 or 3 blocks iirc. Easy enough to bring your luggage with you, or one person can wait at the station while the driver goes to get the car. You will have to decide if Terni is inconvenient for you to get to from your previous stop, but car pickup and drop off was very easy. There is also a gas station right by the train station for last minute top up before return if needed.

The only small hiccup was I arrived during the agency's long lunch hour for the first pickup. I had to cool my heels wandering around the centre of Terni for 90 minutes. Luckily I had no luggage with me. The walk was mildly interesting; Terni was pretty much flattened during the war so it's not as pretty as other towns but I always enjoy looking around wherever I am. I was well onto Italian time by then, 3 weeks into my trip, and didn't have a planned commitment right after, so I didn't bother to unpack my North American I-need-it-right-now attitude. Wouldn't have helped anyway, the guy was turning the key in the lock to head for lunch as I arrived.

Edited to add: getting out of town was pretty easy too; roads were well-marked and I went around a roundabout twice just to confirm I understood the gps correctly. There are one-way streets around the agencies but the gps knew that. And, on the return, Terni has frequent trains to Rome to pick up your high speed train to Bologna.

We picked up a car (one way with dropoff at Rome Termini) in Orvieto this past fall. Booked online directly with Hertz. No problems, be sure to have an International Driving Permit and a printout of your agreement. And yes, avoid the lunch hour or you will be waiting for awhile :)

Have fun!

If you are coming from Florence I'd rent in Florence on the morning of departure.

That way you can explore a bit of Tuscany on the way to Orvieto. Most of Tuscany is a bit far to visit from Montefalco, so you could visit some on the way to Orvieto.

For example you could get to Orvieto, instead of the quick A1 freeway way, through the Chianti or Via Cassia (SS2) and visit some places in the area (Chianti hills, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, Siena, Pienza, etc.). You have a full day to drive to Orvieto, so there are options for some en route visits.

Once in Orvieto you have two nights. That's a full day. I think you have time for Orvieto and also a quick drive to Civita.

During the week at Montefalco, you'd concentrate on Umbria only (Spoleto, Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Gubbio, Todi, maybe Urbino in the Marche region etc.)

I would also drive to Bologna and return the car in Bologna. But I would take the E45 and the A14 via Cesena. Along the way I would definitely stop in Anghiari (Sansepolcro exit on the E45), if you haven't had the opportunity to go that far while in Montefalco. If you have the time for San Marino, you could do that detour too, although I'd give priority to Anghiari.

There are also nice fortresses to see along the way in both Cesena and Forli

Wow- thanks so much for the great suggestions. Sure makes planning a lot easier with help from your experience.