Car for tuscany

We will be staying a few nights in Orvieto, then plan to rent a car as we leave and stay in Colle Val D’Elsa. After which we will make a small stop in Pisa, and then stay a couple nights in Lucca. Then on to Verona.

You won't need a car in Orvieto, Pisa, Lucca or Verona, as all of these places can be easily reached via train.

Do you plan to visit some towns along the way from Orvieto to Colle Val D'Elsa?

I've not rented a car in Italy so will let others give you the information you seek.

If you decide not to rent a car, you can travel to Siena from Orvieto by train ( I took this route in reverse) then take a bus to Colle Val D'Elsa.

Enjoy your trip!

Angela,

You may or may not be aware of this, but a few important points to keep in mind....

It's important to note that for driving in Italy, each driver listed on the rental form must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are valid for one year, and easily obtained at any CAA/AAA office (two Passport-sized photos required, which may be provided by the issuing office). Failure to produce an IDP if requested can result in fines on the spot! Failure to pay the fines when requested may result in the rental car being impounded, and further charges for towing and storage. Have a look at https://it.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/transportation-driving/ for more information on I.D.P's and driving in Italy.

You may also want to have a look at some of the other posts here concerning the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato (limited traffic) areas that are becoming increasingly prevalent in many Italian towns & cities especially Florence, which is almost saturated with automated ZTL cameras. EACH PASS through one of the automated ZTL Cameras will result in a €100+ ticket, which you won't know about until several months after you return home! This website provides more information - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

There's also the issue of parking tickets, high fuel costs, tolls and automated speed cameras including the devious Traffic Tutor system which measures not only instantaneous speed but also average between two points. Violate either or both parameter and expensive tickets will follow.

If you pick up the car in Orvieto, I presume you know that Hertz is the only company in town.
Having said that, I also presume you will be visiting several locations in Tuscany from your Colle V.E. base. As such p, you will definitely need a car in Colle.
You won’t need a car while in Lucca, so you could potentially drop it there. That also depends on whether your Lucca hotel is car friendly or not.

Thanks everyone, I truly appreciate your help! I am completely aware of all the caveats of driving in Italy, and fully intend to get the drivers permit thing. I just haven’t rented in Italy before. I was not aware that hertz was the only car rental company in Orvieto, so that info was extremely helpful. Do they have an office near Pisa where we can drop the car off? I assume there must be if there is a decent sized airport nearby. Is there a Hertz in La Spezia? We might spend half a day in CT between Pisa and Lucca if time is available. We are staying in the town center of Lucca, but it sounds as if parking costs are reasonable there just outside the walls. But if we don’t need the car at that point why keep paying for it if it’s just gathering dust?

Angela,
Would you mind sharing your finalized itinerary? That would help us provide better information. For instance, are you still flying in and out of Rome?

We rented from Hertz at FCO and didn't have any problems. I'm a Hertz Gold member and rent frequently for work, which might have helped.

IIRC, you are traveling with a fairly large family group. I'd weigh the expense of train tickets for the rest of the trip against your suggested drop off locations. It may end up that the daily rental cost is close to the cost of public transportation.

Finally be aware that Ken copies and pastes the same scare stories any time someone mentions renting a car in Italy. Our rental experience couldn't have been more different, we had a wonderful time driving around Tuscany. If you use the internet to familiarize yourself with the basic rules and signage, you should have no problems navigating Tuscany in a rental car. We chose to avoid driving in Rome and Florence, but had no problems finding parking and keeping out of the ZTL's in Siena. Everywhere else ZTL's are clearly marked. As a rule of thumb assume that if the city has a wall (Radda, San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena) that anywhere inside the wall is ZTL. Also, speed limits are clearly marked and easily observed. Remember that they use automated speed control systems and just because you don't see a police car (we almost never did), that doesn't mean your speed is not being monitored.

Certainly! We are indeed flying round trip in/out of Rome, arriving July 2 and leaving July 18. We shall spend the first night there. Followed by:
2 nights in Orvieto
3 nights Colle Val D’Elsa (planning to visit Siena, San Gimignano, and Volterra and possibly a winery or two)
Quick stop at the field of miracles in Pisa
2 nights in Lucca
2 nights in Verona (planning to see Carmen in the Roman theatre July 11)
3 nights in Venice
Final 3 nights in Rome

I know it’s pretty rushed, but I wasn’t able to get all 5 nights in Tuscany in the agritourismo of my choice so I opted to split the time between 2 locations.
We will be packing very light, and several of the places we are staying at have laundry facilities. I fully intend to take advantage of cheap train tickets bought in advance where it makes sense to do so (i.e. Venice to Rome). It’s looking like the train will cost approx. 30-40 euros per person from Lucca to Verona, with 3 or 4 train changes and taking 4-5 hours, which makes me wonder whether It might be better to keep the car until then.

We picked up our (Hertz) car in Orvieto, drove to Montepulciano, Pienza, Siena, San Gimignano, and Volterra, and dropped it off at the Pisa airport in 2015. Both were pretty easy locations for us. Pisa-Lucca-Verona is all easy by train (although we went to Verona on a separate trip).

Hi Angela,
We spent a week in Siena last May. We rented our car once settled in at our B and B on the back side of the beautiful cathedral. I have to concur that driving was something we enjoyed outside of Siena. You are already very informed re the important stuff. I wanted to just pass along one thing so in case you run into this you will not be nervous. Sometimes, apparently, the local police run a traffic stop in which they may wave a driver over off the roadway. We had missed our exit off a traffic circle returning to Siena from Pienza. On the 2nd trip around he waved us over while his partner stood their with her automatic rifle pointed at the ground.
He just checked the license and called it in, then walked back and said everything was fine and sent us on our way. No ticket then or in the mail. We had an easy time keeping to the speed limits though some seemed impatient behind us. We just kept to the posted limits.

"Finally be aware that Ken copies and pastes the same scare stories any time someone mentions renting a car in Italy."

I'm not posting this information as "scare stories", but rather to provide information that hopefully helps travellers avoid expensive fines when driving in Italy. It's not always apparent whether posters (especially new posters) are aware of things like ZTL tickets, so it seems prudent to provide that information.

I've lost count of the number of threads over the years from people who have received ZTL tickets and have accused Italian authorities of running a scam and "ripping off tourists". It seems much better to provide travellers with good information in advance, rather than having them say afterwards "why didn't someone tell me about those". Therefore it seems perfectly logical to provide this information for people who plan on driving in Italy to help them avoid tickets and hefty fines. I use a "boilerplate" as it's much easier than typing the same information over and over.

As you may have noticed, I also try to provide similar helpful information to travellers to Italy who may not be aware of the rules with trains and other public transit. If this helps them to avoid hefty fines and have a nice holiday, then my efforts are worthwhile.

Good for you, Ken, to remind everyone about the need for IDPs and the ZTLs. DougMac drove trouble-free in Italy, for which he is to be praised, but we have certainly seen enough moaning and groaning posts on these boards about expensive fines caused by ZTL ignorance. It is well to advise the uninitiated. As for the IDP, it is required by law. Need one say more?

Certainly! We are indeed flying round trip in/out of Rome, arriving July 2 and leaving July 18. We shall spend the first night there. Followed by:
2 nights in Orvieto
3 nights Colle Val D’Elsa (planning to visit Siena, San Gimignano, and Volterra and possibly a winery or two)
Quick stop at the field of miracles in Pisa
2 nights in Lucca
2 nights in Verona (planning to see Carmen in the Roman theatre July 11)
3 nights in Venice
Final 3 nights in Rome

This is a tough call. I could make an argument for either turning in the car in Lucca or Verona. It would be according to how much time you have and how you want to spend it. The drive from Lucca could be wonderful, especially if you travel through Parma and maybe Cremona. This would be a day long ramble. If you need to go ahead and get to Verona, then the ~3 hour train trip might be a better option.

You've planned a good but busy trip. I'm sure you won't get bored!

Good for you, Ken, to remind everyone about the need for IDPs and the ZTLs. DougMac drove trouble-free in Italy, for which he is to be praised, but we have certainly seen enough moaning and groaning posts on these boards about expensive fines caused by ZTL ignorance. It is well to advise the uninitiated. As for the IDP, it is required by law. Need one say more?

You can't fix stupid. There's a plethora of information available elsewhere regarding driving in Italy. Most of the moaning and groaning I have read wouldn't have been prevented by 100 posts from Ken or others. When you read where they got caught by the ZTL and go to Google maps, you see that the ZTL is clearly marked. When people gripe about speeding tickets, it's because they were speeding! Again, speeds are clearly posted. In addition, we used our Garmin and it actually alerted us to a speed change on the Autostrada just as we saw the signs.

All the horror stories and warnings here and elsewhere overstate the actual risks. They had me second guessing my decision. I'm reasonably literate and took the time to learn signage before I left. I'm also a careful defensive driver who is accident and ticket free. These qualities allowed me to have a wonderful experience exploring Tuscany by car.

I, for one, think Ken does a great service to remind first-time travelers of the pitfalls in renting. If you do not need to read this advice, you can skip over it, but the poster (or future trip researcher) may find it valuable.

I also happen to appreciate Ken's posts (as well as many others). And as Laurel said, skip over the post if you don't want to read it. You don't need to get snarky about it!

Another person THANKING Ken for his constant reminders to the newbies about the ZTL. I know 3 groups who went to Italy and did not realize the numerous ZTL's and then parking issues of driving. Six months after their return, they were all mailed fines that exceed 200E. It is the law there and I don't agree that the signs are always easy to spot, especially when you are focused on locating streets or buildings. Also the law changed a few years ago about the IDP and now it is required, not suggested as in prior years. In Lucca, there are numerous ZTL's now, we were just there again in October and I would not even attempt to drive into the walled town, but use Hertz outside the walls to drop off a car. There is no need for a car in Lucca, Verona (we were just there also in October) and Florence. Research your company and their policies, google for the ZTL's and find out where to park before you leave, you need to be informed.

Another person THANKING Ken for his constant reminders to the newbies about the ZTL. I know 3 groups who went to Italy and did not realize the numerous ZTL's and then parking issues of driving. Six months after their return, they were all mailed fines that exceed 200E. It is the law there and I don't agree that the signs are always easy to spot, especially when you are focused on locating streets or buildings. Also the law changed a few years ago about the IDP and now it is required, not suggested as in prior years. In Lucca, there are numerous ZTL's now, we were just there again in October and I would not even attempt to drive into the walled town, but use Hertz outside the walls to drop off a car. There is no need for a car in Lucca, Verona (we were just there also in October) and Florence. Research your company and their policies, google for the ZTL's and find out where to park before you leave, you need to be informed.

DougMac said, "You can't fix stupid'" I guess you can't fix overbearing rudeness, either.

Pisa airport should be fine for drop off--I believe there even might be a direct bus to Lucca from there.

The complaints you hear almost always fall under one of these categories:
1.) A rental other than from Hertz, Europcar or Avis. (consolidators are fine just make sure the booking is with one of these 3)
2.) A renter not understanding the insurance
3.) A renter not understanding local traffic rules, ZTL, etc...

I also think it’s good to warn people about the pitfalls of foreign travel.
I’m sure one day I’ll read of someone complaining:
“Those damn Australians drink so much that they kept driving on the wrong side of the highway. And the police fined me who was driving on the right side. Clearly a tourist scam going on down under.”

I do wish the RS site had a “like” button. So many helpful and/or amusing posts here!

It’s true that I’m hardly a newbie here by any means, this trip will be my 5th time in Europe, 3rd time to Italy. So I’ve read many many posts on these boards over the years, and gotten such great advice. And though I may not personally need Kens advice regarding driving in Italy, perhaps someone else might read this post and find the advice within very helpful. That was how I learned it all! That, plus a little trial and error.

I agree that if people don’t research in advance and end up being ticketed as a result, they only have themselves to blame. The information is available. We expect people here in the USA to follow the rules whether they know about them or not, so one can hardly blame the Italians for expecting the same.

My heartburn isn't with the information Ken shares, but the provocative language used in his boilerplate. Words like "Failure", "dreaded", "saturated" and "devious" makes driving in Italy sound more scarier than it actually is. His boilerplate, IMO, is unnecessarily negative. I have read OP's actually respond in fear and confusion from posts like these.

Even one of the linked articles starts out by saying "Driving in the Chianti can be fun and easy." I agree and the two articles he shares are actually helpful. It is possible to share information without resorting to hyperbolic rhetoric.

I'd be fascinated to know Ken's experiences and why he has made it his mission to warn everybody about driving in Italy.