We are currently booked to fly into Rome where we will only pick up our rental car (no time in Rome on this trip). We will be spending 1 week in Tuscany (outside of Florence). This was part of a package deal. We are considering requesting a change (expecting to pay extra) to pick-up car in Florence (FCO to Florence on train). We considered changing the flight to Florence but have opted to have some train time. I would appreciate your thoughts on this plan and any suggestions for improvement would be welcome. (We are aware of the dreaded ZTLs and international drivers licenses.) Thanks in advance...
If Rome is not in your plan I would have flown to Florence from Amsterdam with Alitalia (Klm codeshare). But if you want to take a train, there is nothing to improve. See if you can change at least the return trip and fly out of Florence to Amsterdam. There is a very early flight out (Alitalia/KLM codeshare).
If you're going to be staying south of Florence, Hertz has a rental location across from the Orvieto train station, 70 minutes by train north of Rome. It's a easy drive from Orvieto on the motorway into the Sienna area and Chianti. Orvieto is also another very popular hilltop town to visit. You can often turn Italian rental cars into other locations within Italy without any drop off fee. International drivers licenses are simple to pickup at any AAA office with a couple of passport photos. They're no big deal.
ZTL's are easy to stay out ofbut Florence is where you'd probably not want to drive. There are rental locations outside the center of the city that avoid the ZTL's, and there are always the airport car rentals to return cars to.