Daytrips From Fregene

Assuming your rental house is in the town of Fregene, near the beach, you are not near the Fregene train station, which is about 5 miles in the interior at Maccarese Stazione. I don’t know about bus or taxi availability and frequency between station and town. For doing Day trips, It would have been better to find a house in Rome. Fregene is a popular beach resort, but not ideally located for taking Day trips by train. Regarding doing what you want to do by car, first of all, for 16 people with luggage you need to rent 5 economy cars or 3 minivans (which however cost as much as 7 or 8 economy cars).

The drive to Montepulciano is about 3 hours each way plus pit stops.
The drive to Amalfi is about 4 hours each way, on a good day, plus pit stops.
Neither place has railways.

The closest to Amalfi would be Salerno, over 1hour away. You can reach Salerno in about two hours by train from Rome Termini station. So in the end the drive would be shorter, but some people do not feel comfortable driving along the Amalfi coast.
The train to Montepulciano requires a change in Rome, then a bus from Chiusi to Montepulciano. I don’t think it’s doable as a day trip from Fregene. You are looking also to a very long day of about 4 hours each way at least.
My suggestion, if you want Day trips, is to stay in Rome, preferably near the Termini station. Also you plan to do Day trips,to,locations that are too far. There are numerous day trip opportunities that are closer to Rome, like the Castelli Romani, Orvieto, and from Fregene, even Capalbio, Tarquinia, and the Mt. Argentario Peninsula. But you need cars for all of those, except for Orvieto.

Your nearest train station will be Maccarese - Fregene but you'll probably need some other sort of transport to get to it from wherever your rental house is.

We will def rent a car for at least one day to do a day trip to
Tuscany (Montepulciano).

not sure if things like Amalfi coast would be too far?

With a group of 16, you will need to rent multiple vehicles or hire a driver with a commercial license and vehicle large enough to handle the whole group. I'm not 100% sure but believe that the max. sized vehicle you're legally allowed to drive on a standard license seats 8 + the driver (9 total). For driving rentals yourselves, all drivers will need IDPs.

Large vehicles would be a real pain on the Amalfi Coast. Parking is limited and traffic during high season is a challenge at best. I'd look into escorted tours which can handle a group your size. Personally, I think it's too far to do as a day trip - it would be a long day - but people do it from Rome quite often. I'll say the same for Montepulciano: too far for a day trip from near Fiumicino.

Driving in Italy has its own set of rules so homework is essential for avoiding large fines like driving into ZTLs and bus lanes. There are town centers in Tuscany that you will not be allowed to drive into at all but will need to park outside the city walls.

To be honest, moving 16 people on day trips from Fregene is probably not going to be especially easy nor inexpensive. Trains into Rome will not be difficult and tickets are not pricey but you'll have the added cost of getting people to/from a station from your rental property. There is probably a local bus you could take to the train station (I haven't looked) but without knowing where your rental is, no idea how far you'll be from a stop. I'd guess the nearest car rental will be at/near the airport. You might ask the host of your property what they advise?

Thanks for the replies! We are fully aware of the car requirements, we travel together like this often. Each individual family rents a car (so 4) so we don't all have to do everything together all the time. We wanted a beach vacation and so rented a house in Fregene close to the beach, but would like a few day trips also. I was just unsure of how close and/or good public transport is in the town. We are comfortable driving on the coast, our last trip was Ireland and we drove many very narrow, very curvy high roads successfully.

Ok, so with some background on Italian traffic laws and limited zones, sounds like the you have the car thing down.

The thing about the Amalfi Coast is not just the narrow, curvy roads but the density of traffic in that area during high season. The place is mobbed, roads are packed, and parking is also an issue.

I personally wouldn't drive into central Rome or Naples: take the train. And Tuscany would be a long haul.

Fregene is fine for your beach vacation, and since you plan to rent cars you can easily drive to the Maccarese station to catch the train to Rome (don’t drive in Rome, the train is faster and easier).

However there are tons of great Day trips you could take from Fregene which are much closer than the Amalfi coast or Montepulciano. I understand that somehow a lot of North Americans coming here are addicted to Rick Steves’ programs and books, and feel they must absolutely go where Rick Steves goes, but actually there are plenty of places in Italy that are better than the handful of choices he suggests.

Besides Rome (by train), from Fregene you have a lot of great locations within 1 to 1.5 hour drive, such as:
Bracciano and its lake
Ostia Antica
Castelli Romani (Castel Gandolfo, Frascati, etc.)
Tarquinia
Capalbio
Mt Argentario Peninsula
Tuscan Maremma
Even the Ponziane islands if you wish (hydrofoil from Anzio)

Google the above and see what you’d like. If you want to also see Rome in the same week, you have time just for few of them.

Agree with Roberto’s recommendations. Be sure you go to Ostia Antica. Castelli Romani is also be a fun area to explore. And the abbey at Casino is very impressive.

Thank you so much for your helpful replies! This forum is great! I will definitely look into all the suggestions! It's not for another year so plenty of time to plan. The difficult part of a group trip is balancing everyone's interests and expectations, but these suggestions are a great start for researching! Most of us have been to Rome, so we'll spend a few days there (definitely train in) and a few day trips. Thank you again everyone!