Driving from Florence to Rome...?

If you plan to stop somewhere in the middle or take an important detour, go for it. But if you just have to move from Florence to Rome, usually train is much less a trouble and much faster than driving.

When we were driving south, about all we saw was a generic controlled access toll road.
Do yourself a favor and take a train to Rome.

burd,

I'd also suggest taking the train, as it's only a 90 minute trip. There are some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of when using rental cars in Italy. Here are a few things 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!

You may also want to have a look at some of the other posts here concerning the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato 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 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.

Rental cars (especially in big cities) are just a boat anchor around your neck! Do not not not not drive rental cars into cities. They're fine for the countryside but avoid the cities by all means.

Take the train.

If you're just using the car to get from Florence to Rome and not allocating days to STAY in any towns along the way, I'll vote for the train too. You can hop on in the middle of Florence and off in the middle of Rome without any of the hassles Ken and the others have described.

Scott,

You could take a wonderful drive through the heart of Tuscany from Florence to Rome! When we stayed just south of Rome in the charming town of Greve, we drove up from the Rome airport and then back down.

Although you can make the drive in 3-3 1/2 hours, plan to take the entire day so you can explore. When you leave Florence, travel down the famed SR222. It's a gorgeous drive through the countryside. You can stop in Greve, Radda and Montepulciano.

If you are a good driver, you won't have any trouble driving in Italy. Study up on signage and the rules of the road. Speed limits are clearly posted. Just make sure you obey them, especially in the small towns. You'll want to drive slow to soak up the scenery anyway! Yes, gas costs more (~$4.00/gallon when we were there), but our Renault Diesel SUV got 50 miles a gallon!

ZTLs in small towns (not many have them) are clearly marked and easily avoided. We opted to not drive in Florence and Rome because of that and traffic. Getting out of Florence and into Rome would be the hardest part of the trip, but certainly not a show stopper. There are places you can rent and return that avoid the heart of both cities.

You'll be there in early Spring and the countryside will be gorgeous. Rural Italy is completely different from Venice, Florence and Rome. I think no trip to Italy is complete without getting into the country. I heartily recommend taking the drive.

I was reading through driving requirements and some of the stuff I read, said that an IDP was not necessary. Only valid DL and Passport. Is this incorrect?

Our intent for driving from Florence to Rome, was because we don't have as much time as we'd like in Florence to be able to take some day trips to Siena, see Tuscany Hills and etc, so we figured, we'd rent the car the day we depart Florence and be able to see the Tuscany countryside, stop in Siena and etc and then drop car off in Rome. Our checkout in Florence is 11am, so we were going to pick the car up after we check out and figured we'd see sights and not be concerned with getting to Rome until that evening anywhere from 5-7pm or even later. I've heard about the toll zones and speed zones, but my main concern is just being able to navigate properly. Are the most of the road/highway signs descriptive enough to understand?

Scott,
Get the IDP. It costs $20.00 and takes 10 minutes.

We bought an Italy maps card for our Garmin and a good Michelin map. It worked out great. Three days in, we traveled from Greve to San Gignano to Volterra and back without the aid of the GPS or map.

I think trying to work in Siena would be too much. You'd shortchange bot Siena and the countryside.

Don't know where your info is coming from but I think the IDP is required in Italy for every driver.

I was reading through driving requirements and some of the stuff I read, said that an IDP was not necessary.

burd_scott, It depends on which country issued your licence. You do not need an IDP if your licence was issued by an EU/EEA country, but you do need it if your licence is from outside Europe. So if you, for example, were reading a website from the British AA, it would say your licence was sufficient, as a British Driving Licence is EU-standard and is valid on its own in Italy.
Some posters also say "the rental company doesn't want it so I don't need one". An IDP is a legal requirement to drive a car in Italy, regardless of whether the car is owned by you, borrowed or rented. The rental company may not check if you have one, but if the police stop you, and you can't show one, legally you are driving without a licence; which is not a situation you want to be in.

If you have never driven in Italy before, make sure you know the road signs (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Italy ) and the traffic laws. Ignorance of the law is no defence.

Driving from Florence to Rome would allow you to take a quick look at Tuscany. It would be better if you had the time to stop for a few days but it could be done in one day. But I would not wait until the 11:00am check out time to start your day, get an early start.

If you have time for only one place in Tuscany I would see San Gimignano. It is off the road and will add a couple of hours but it's worth it.

"some of the stuff I read, said that an IDP was not necessary."

YES, an I.D.P. is necessary under Italian law. Roberto has posted information here on the appropriate clauses in the italian motor vehicle codes, but I can't find that post. You may never be asked for one, but if you are asked and can't produce one, you'll face hefty fines on the spot!

Your profile does not indicate your location, but this information from the U.S. Embassy may be helpful.....

"Americans visiting Italy as tourists and intending to drive should obtain an International Driving Permit before leaving the U.S."

https://it.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/transportation-driving/

I.D.P.'s are easily available for a small fee at any AAA / CAA office for a small fee, and must be used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are valid for one year.

As for navigation, on smaller roads it's common for there not to be directional signs (north south east west) or road numbers, but city and town names. Unfortunately, on smaller roads these will be the names of smaller towns you've never heard of. So, you will need a good map or a GPS (on your phone or a stand-alone one).

To better explain what I mean: when driving around the Washington, DC area, it's common for roads to be labeled as going to Baltimore or to Richmond. If you're not headed to either, you just need to know that "Baltimore" means north and "Richmond" means south. That's not so hard. But if you're not from the DC area, would you know where a road labeled "Shirlington" or "Takoma Park" was headed? Well, signs on small roads in Italy are often labeled with the local equivalent of Shirlington and Takoma Park. Without a map or GPS, it's not easy to navigate.

Thanks for the information and advice. The information that I read saying an IDP wasn't required, was actually in the Hertz rental agreement contract details. As others have pointed out, the rental car company may not check or even care if a person doesn't have an IDP, because there's no liability on them if a rental driver gets pulled over. I guess common sense would be to not trust all their 50 pages of fine print in the rental agreement, because it could be wrong or not updated. I live in Colorado and there's a AAA a couple miles from me, so I'm going grab a IDP from them tomorrow. I looked it up and as many of you have mentioned, it's a small fee($20) and is simple to get. We're pretty excited about driving to Rome, just so we can see some Italian countryside at our leisure, but did decide to pick the car up a 8am, so we have more time. Now that being said, I'm being quoted $61 for the one day rental, which says it includes all taxes, fees and etc, but I've also heard from a friend that when they got to the rental place to pick up their car, they were told there were additional "mandatory" fees, which more then doubled their rental cost?! I've rented plenty of cars from Hertz and etc here in Colorado in the past, so I know sometimes they try to sell add-ons and etc, but most are always optional. I'm just curious if anyone else has ran into this when renting internationally? I guess we could always just cancel at that point, if there are additional fees that are not being quoted and then just grab the train instead.

This is some of the prettiest country in the world but you don't have enough time anywhere in this trip. Both Venice and Florence are getting very short shrift and Rome not much better. You don't have the extra day or two to really explore that stretch between Florence and Rome so I'd just hop on the train and be there in 90 minutes. Save Tuscany for a time you can allow at least 3 or 4 days.

Ditto to the above: one day isn't enough to begin to do it justice so save it for the next trip.

How much time are you allocating to your transfer from Florence to Rome?
If at least a few days, a car might be worthwhile, but if you plan to depart and arrive on the same day, I don't think it's worth the trouble because you don't have much time to visit anything in between.
Travel times city center to city center:
High speed Train 90 min
Car drive: via A1 freeway-3.5 hours.
Car drive via Via Cassia: 6 hours

Yes, IDP is required by law, although the car rental company will most likely not bother asking for it.
But problems may arise if you are pulled over by police or if you are involved in an accident.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/drive-without-idp-at-your-own-risk