Car rental pick up Florence - drop off Rome and the ZTL

First, I'm going to provide a LINK to more information on the ZTL including a picutre of the ZTL signage and cameras.

Second, you are supposed to be able to drive into a ZTL if your hotel or provider is there. The hotel or provider must call the police department and provide the license plate number. They don't always do this. For picking up a rental car in Florence, you need assurance that the license plate on the vehicle is OK in the ZTL. I would even contact the rental car company in advance to discuss this issue.

The unfortunate part of getting a very expensive ticket in the mail up to a year later is that you most likely will not be there to defend yourself. You should keep all of your rental car information including any documentation provided by the car rental agency that that vehicle was legitimately in the ZTL.

Luckily, Termini station in Rome is just outside the ZTL, but you have to come into Rome from the southeast to avoid any problems. See http://www.atac.roma.it (make sure you've got the Italian version) then click on the "ZTL" link to the left, You'll see that Termini is located just off the ZTL map to the right, where the two Metro lines cross. You car rental firm should be the one to guide you out of Florence. There are open access routes available, and they SHOULD know them. If necessary, hassle them until they agree to help. A Florence ZTL map, with "escape routes" in yellow, can be found at http://www.bella-toscana.com/traffic/firenze_ztl_map.jpg