First time in Italy 10 days Into and out of Rome

No I'm sorry- this is not logical at all.

Amalfi is a 5-6 hour drive- way too far as a day trip and the last place I would want a car.

I would be in Rome the night before departure.
It makes more sense to head to Montepulciano on arrival and put Rome at end.
You could pick up the car in Chiusi- about an hour from Montepulciano.
Return it in Rome.

You do not want to be driving IN Rome or Florence or anywhere on AC
Montepulciano is the only location where a car is needed.

My suggestion
Train to Florence on arrival stay 2 or 3 nights
Pick up car as you leave- head to Montepulciano 5 or 6 nights
Return car in Chiusi and train to Rome for 2 or 3 nights

A 2 night stay is really only 1 full day in that location. Each location change eats up at least half a day.

Make sure all drivers have an IDP- required by law- get at your local AAA before leaving US
Do your homework regarding driving in Italy- ZTLs, parking, tolls, speed cameras
Have a designated driver if you plan to wine taste- alcohol limits are much lower in Italy than in USA

We always book our cars thru AutoEurope.com with Full Insurance/No Deductible = peace of mind.

There are several posts here explaining how to drive out of Florence and avoid the ZTLs.

Wait what?
If this is real, plug it into maps first to see the problems.

I appreciate the responses so far. Unless I’m missing something, the only “crazy” part is the amalfi coast. I honestly didn’t think 5 hours was unlivable, but maybe it is.

If you take amalfi out of this mix…is it crazy? Arrive and stay in Rome. Drive 2-3 hours to montepulciano. Everything. Else is within 90m….unless im mistaken…which is very possible

hey hey Voltairesb
WOW who planned this "short notice trip?" you asked if logical, no way!! @valadelphia i wonder the same thing "is this real"
so many "first timers to italy" are over planning to see everything (square peg in a round hole). may is a busy time to be traveling, it will be crowded. long lines & waits. italy is one of top places to visit, no off season it seems anymore.
this does not sound inexpensive, gas/petrol is more than 10E a gallon, full insurance for "peace of mind"
don't need a car in rome, hotel check-in times 3-4pm check-out times 10-11am.
read carefully ChristineH 's post on renting car, IDP is mandatory in italy. where are you parking car? plus her reasonable plan of travel. be in rome night before flight. you'll need a vacation after this.
aloha

If you are trying to save money I will just say that your plan will probably cost you twice what my plan would.

Car rental for 11 days vs 5 days
Petrol is expensive- probably twice what it is here is US
Tolls and parking cost $

You cannot drive into Florence- you will need to park outside the center and take public transportation in- much easier to use the train which drops you right in the center so you might as well stay in Florence since you want 2 days there.
The train access from Montepulciano is very limited and time consuming.

Rome- if you pick up car on arrival you are paying for a full day you are not even using the car. You can’t drive around Rome. Where will you park? Are you sure you can avoid ZTLs and not find violation fines in your mailbox when you return home?

If your agriturismo doesn’t offer dinner you will need to drive out each evening- park somewhere (not IN any town- but outside) then drive back at night. Did you plan to drink wine with dinner? Probably not a good idea.

If Amalfi Coast is that important then plan to spend a few nights- it is a time consuming hassle to get there and you absolutely do not want or need a car there. If you drive and spend just 1 night you are paying double lodging that night. AC is not cheap.
Parking is a huge issue as well.

If anything happens to delay your arrival back to FCO you are risking missing your flight - can you afford to purchase 2 last minute tickets home?

Just a few things to consider.

Please do more research- there is a ton of info and advice here- many people do the same kind of trip.
Renting a car and driving is not the issue- it is how you have planned that. Most people rent and drive for ONLY the portions where a car is needed- as I said above- that is Montepulciano/Tuscany in your plan.
Train travel is easy and fairly inexpensive in Italy.

No, it’s not logical.
If you are on a budget, you don’t need a car.
Why do you need a car in Rome?
It’s the last place a visitor wants or needs a car……rules of the road there can often be just a suggestion..😉
Driving in the cities can get very expensive, as there are many zones for which you will receive fines down the road , for not knowing you shouldn’t drive in them and you may end up in them by accident.
Also, parking can eat up a lot of money ….if you can even find parking spots, often nowhere near where you are aiming for, especially in ancient towns or cities.
What Google Maps say is a 90 minute drive in Europe is generally about 50% more than that.
Roads are wind-y, often narrow and you may want to stop and look at things.
Trains in Italy are really wonderful for getting about and way more practical.
I’ve been there many times and never needed a car.
Look at Trenitalia.com and Italo for schedules.
As for flights, it is wise to be in Rome the night before your flight.
Everyone here will tell you this.
Have you been to Italy before?
If not, get an overview by watching some YouTube videos of the places you’d like to see.
Rick Steves has many.
Also some good guidebooks.
Your local library will have them.
You are going in May, so better be booking your accommodation soon.
Not trying to put you off, but many people here have a good knowledge of Italy to help you.
Happy planning!

Alright, thanks for the responses so far. I apologize for being a total neophyte here, and I’m additionally sorry for offending everyone’s sensibilities.

Perhaps it makes sense to reframe my idea. I’m flying into Rome because it’s 60% cheaper than flying to Florence and the flights are single connection and 6 fewer total travel hours.

I don’t have a lot of interest in spending. Time in Rome, but I have a strong desire to see the Sistine chapel and Vatican and it looks like I can do a private early am tour for about $280.

Basically we want to hang out in the Tuscan countryside and go into to Florence a few times.

Having read Steve’s most recent Italy book, he strongly recommends a car in the Tuscan countryside.

Maybe a better plan is train to Tuscany, rent a car there and do Rome for 2 days at the end? I don’t think it’s feasible to do the Vatican the same day as our flight because I can t see us getting out of there, back to our luggage and to the airport by 1130am…. But I don’t have much interest in getting to Rome Tuesday so I can go to Vatican wed and then fly home Thursday, but perhaps that’s the best choice?

I definitely don’t want to “everything in 10 days” in fact I want to keep it pretty relaxed. I’m a cyclist and plan to spend 3-4 hours on 3 of the days on my bike, and it appears that should be easy to accommodate In the Tuscan countryside.

Am I starting to sound more logical?

If you fly into Rome, you can take a train to Florence. There are a couple that are direct or just take one train to Termini and then a fast train onto Florence. In 2023 we did just that. It was relatively easy, although unfortunately for us, our first flight out of Boston was cancelled and we lost one day of the 7 we had planned to spend in Florence. We ended up recovering all of our extra costs from Aer lingus so it wasn't a big deal.
I suggest you plan to spend at least 2 nights in Florence. We took friends to Italy a year ago and they swore they didn't like big cities and weren't interested in museums, so we only spent 2 nights in Florence and they were totally blown away by the city. You can walk all around the city (do the RS audio walking tour), maybe pick one museum - we went to Accademia to see David and it was a highlight. You can get your florentine steak (lots of choices, we like The Antico Ristoro di Cambi).
When you're ready to leave Florence, rent the car (look for directions on this forum from Roberto da firenze, https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/car-rental-return-at-firenze-santa-maria-novella-station ) It's no guarantee that you won't get lost or more likely ticketed for traveling in the ZTL but it helps.
We spent 3 nights in an agriturismo in Tuscany, on the Umbria border in March 2025, Agriturismo La Terra through booking.com, which was wonderful. They offer cooking classes euro90/person includes 3+hours of cooking and then a full dinner, as well as dinner (euro35/person). We did day trips from there to Siena and Montalpuciano one day and Montalcino another day (we had private wine tastings each day arranged by a family member who is in the business). I did all the driving and I can tell you that even though it looks like an easy 45 min-1hr drive to each town, it's actually kind of taxing for the driver. After checking out we drove to Volterra for the day before dropping the car off outside the wall in Lucca, that day was at least 3-4 hours in the car.
I'm not suggesting you have to follow what we did, I'm just trying to demonstrate that even though on a map all of these places look relatively close, it always takes longer to get between towns (including parking) and so the less travel you build into your trip the more relaxing it will be. If you've never been to Italy, it will all be a wonderful new experience so whatever you do will be great.
You could plan to only have the car while in Tuscany outside of Florence, then drop it off and take the train back to Rome for 2 nights.

I can only speak for myself but you have not offended my sensibilities! I think it’s great you are planning this anniversary trip and hope you end up loving Italy as much as I do. ;)

When I said “train to Florence” I didn’t mean fly to Florence. I meant take the train to Florence after you arrive at FCO. There is actually a 1:53 direct from FCO to Florence that you might be able to make. Don’t buy that train ticket in advance though just wait til you get there. There are plenty of other trains as well- but just that one is direct (no changes) from FCO. Otherwise you simply take the LE to Termini and grab a fast train there. There are multiple trains every hour.

Yes- car rental is advised for the Tuscany countryside but not for Florence.
Driving in and out of Florence a few times will be stressful add costly so that is why I recommend just staying there.
Florence is extremely compact- easily walkable. Almost the entire historic center is pedestrianized so you sure can’t drive there!
Have your Bistecca all Fiorentina while there. Stay 2 nights- first night is jet lag, next day see the sights and have that steak dinner.
Then pick up car as you leave Florence.
(There are very few places to rent a car in Tuscany- mainly Chiusi, Siena, Florence- there are a few others but not near where you are going)

Your rental options leaving Florence are much better than picking up a car in Chiusi- more availability/better open hours. If you want to drop in Chiusi your option is Avis/Budget.
Smaller rental agencies are closed on Sunday, close at noon on Saturday and for a few hours mid day during the week.

Fly to Rome- take train to Florence on this day
Florence 2 nights
Pick up car-head to Montepulciano- you are rested and not jet lagged much better than driving after an overnight flight. The drive from Florence to Montepulciano is beautiful- take the Chianti road to Siena then backroads on to Montepulciano.
(If you are worried about driving out of Florence -this is when ZTL, bus lane violations often happen- you can take tram or taxi to the Florence airport and pick up there- your choice)

Montepulciano 6 nights-bike ride, explore the Val D’Orcia- Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico, thermal baths, relax! etc.

Drop car in Chiusi- (this would be Tues 5/12 check those hours)- and catch the train to Rome

Rome 2 nights- you will arrive in the afternoon, check in- wander do the RS Heart of Rome walk, enjoy the fountains, piazzas, Colosseum al lit up.
Next morning (Wednesday 5/13) do your Vatican tour then spend rest of day more wandering, eat gelato, apertivo etc.
Thursday 5/14 Fly home from Rome.

Just wanted to mention that you won’t be the only people in the Sistine/Vatican museums- plenty of other tour groups offer early entry- and you could save some money here
Check Tour Guy, Walks of Italy, Through Eternity

Maybe a better plan is train to Tuscany, rent a car there and do Rome for 2 days at the end?

Yes!

With the airfare costs and travel time it certainly makes sense to fly to Rome.

Some basic train info-

Trenitalia is the official train company
They run fast trains, IC-Intercity and regional trains.
Fast trains and IC require seat reservation when booking, they do offer discounted advance ticketing but check the restrictions
Regional trains can’t sell out and price never changes- no need to purchase tickets in advance.

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

ItaloTreno is a private company that runs only fast trains on selected routes

https://www.italotreno.com/en

Use the Italian station names
Fiumicino Aeroporto
Roma Termini
Firenze SM Novella
Chiusi-Chianciano Terme

ItaloTreno doesn’t stop in Chiusi --just Trenitalia

Both have easy to use apps

There's nothing wrong with wanting a countryside-focused vacation, and Tuscany is a great place for that. A train will get you from Rome up to Florence a lot faster than a car, so the suggestion to pick up a car in Tuscany is a good one, even aside from the undesirability of getting behind the wheel of a car in a foreign country after a possibly-sleepless night on a plane.

Your strong desire to see the Sistine Chapel in decent conditions does seem to be in conflict with your preference to minimize time in Rome. We can probably help you to identify some things you would enjoy in Rome for the rest of the day after you go to the Vatican. Just tell us about your interests. For example, maybe you'd like to pop into some of the other fabulous churches in Rome, nearly all of which you don't have to pay or plan for; you just need to know that many small churches close for a long lunch break. You could take the Metro over to the Colosseum stop and look at that landmark from the outside. Santa Maria Maggiore's quite close by.

I'm a bit worried about that early tour of the Sistine Chapel and want to be sure you are getting what you expect. Do you have a link to a webpage?

It's quite late to book lodgings in high-demand areas for early May, so you need to get that taken care of ASAP. I'd suggest making refundable reservations right away, then seeing if you can improve on what you've grabbed.

I think you've gotten some really solid advice so far and I agree with the suggestions here. One question still outstanding for me though is where is the bike coming from? Are you planning on brining your bike from America or do you have a bike rental arranged at some point?

I mostly ask because the logistics of getting around Rome with a bike in tow is going to add a layer of complication to your logistics. Italians ride bikes everywhere - both functionally and as a hobby - so many of the regional trains have dedicated spaces for bikes. There are requirements for transporting bikes on the fast trains you should be aware of if you're moving around with it.
https://www.trenitalia.com/en/services/travelling-with-your-bike.html

Just one more element to account for as you plan your time. Rural Tuscany is as beautiful as advertised but you may want to review poplar bike routes around the places you might stay and let that influence your choices.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

You. have lots of great advice already.
1. I can't imagine going to Italy for 10 days and only spending a fraction of a day in Rome. Yes, the Sistine Chapel is a MUST, it is the most amazing collection of art in the World. Also, St. Peters is great and all this will take most of a day.

2. Assisi is great, but your itinerary is way, way too quick to move. Do some research on what you want to see (suggest TripAdvisor.com) and plan how long it takes and how long it takes to take a train or rental car from place to place.
3. Again, zipping around from Rome to Assisi, then Montepulciano, then the Amalfi Coast, which is way south of Rome (when I visited the Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri and Amalfi Coast area I stayed 4 nights and it wasn't enough)/
4. Pick three places to visit and enjoy them. Suggest Rome, Florence and Assisi.