Hi
We will be driving from Rome to Venice mid October. We will have a car and 9 days of get there. What would be a fun itinerary? We are 2 active mid 60 ‘s. Not too much into wine but would like to see a winery, hiking, history, food and cars are of much interest. Thank you for any suggestions.
The classic car tour of central Italy is usually small town rural Tuscany. There are many options but the classic southern towns of interest are places like Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano and San Quirico d'Orcia which are clustered pretty close together. There are also northern cities that can be toured in the same way.
This area is probably 3-4 hours north of Rome on the more rural road past Lago di Bolsena.
But if cars are an interest then centered around Modena in Emilia Romagna is Italy's "Motor Valley' are several places of interest including the Ferrari and Pagani Museums among others and also factory tours for other companies. These are often outlying places and difficult for people that aren't driving. I'm sure others will have additional ideas.
I think a balance of relaxed rural stays and sports car experiences sounds like an interesting mix. But I would also keep in mind that once you are in almost any major city in the north it will be faster - and I think less hassle - to drop the car and train into Venice instead. If you did visit the area around Modena I would look into dropping the car in Bologna and then taking the fast train into Venice itself.
Usual driving advice - read up on ZTLs, make sure every driver has an IDP before leaving the states, and add at least 25% to Google Maps drive times in the countryside.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
Tod thanks for the tips. We are flying out of Venice and staying in Treviso the last few days. We will look to drop the car as suggested before we hit Venice.
If you only care about Venice airport rather than Venice itself you should research Treviso to Venice Marco Polo. I'm guessing it will be a train to Venice Mestre (the last land stop before Venice) and a bus to the airport. There are only buses, cars and taxis to the airport from the land side. Assuming this works for you I would look into dropping the car as early as possible and training to Treviso and then going onto the airport on the way out.
But this is based on my assumption that a car is an expensive burden in Italy that should be as limited as possible. If you can drop the car at the airport and want to keep it the extra 2 or 3 days and the cost of car and parking in Treviso isn't too much then maybe just keep it and drop at the airport on your way out. It looks like the entire interior of the city is no vehicles ZTL so if you decide to keep the car consult with your lodging about routes and times. Travel time from Bologna to Treviso is about the same on the train as driving. Transfer in Mestre and Treviso is about 20 minutes from Mestre by train.
Whatever you decide have a great trip,
=Tod
Good points and I think we need to rethink the car rental thing for Italy. We are on a bit of a journey and already renting a car for England and Sicily. We were going to rent a car when leaving Rome and make our way to Venice to fly to London then home. We want to visit Sienna with several day trips. Florence and Venice are on the list too. We are also trying to see Modena. I am now thinking we need more research to see where cars are available. Luckily RS Italy map arrived today.
