Getting from Rome to Bologna

Why not just take the train?

https://www.trenitalia.com/en/purchase/info_contacts/disabled_passengers.html

Why driving? More or less, all cars are cramped.

I think you could take a direct high speed train if you registered and asked for the Sala Blu free assistance: https://www.rfi.it/en/for-persons-with-disability/sala-blu.html

Of course you'd better book a cab to Roma Termini in advance, making clear one of the passengers has mobility issues.

Hi Rob. I had my left knee replaced. If you are still getting PT, tell them you need to be able to do stairs. I don’t have any stairs in my house, but my goal was visiting Venice. I also did all the recommended at-home exercises. You are about 6 weeks out from your trip, yes? The pain will lessen. You can get ice at a grocery store for your knee at night, if your hotels don’t have any. Pack your brand of OTC pain med and put it in your carry-on.

Thanks all for the advice. I started doing a little more in depth digging into rental cars and found Alamo will rent one for about $200 Canadian. It is cancellable up until the day before, so if things improve with the knee we can change plans.

Are you really sure that the car is a good idea? It's a 5-6 hour drive from Rome to Bologna, compared to 2 hours by train.

Have used the train disabilty service and it was wonderful both in Rome and Bologna.
If you decide to rent a car, why not take a few days to see the countryside in Tuscany. There are many places to visit that don’t require alot of walking. Pienza is a relatively flat beautiful place to see.

How does driving to Bologna actually help with the mobility issues? Would you plan to drive right to your hotel and drop off luggage, then return the car someplace? If your hotel is in the city itself ( which it should be), it is likely within the Limited Traffic Zone (ZTL) and you will be fined for driving in, unless you can somehow secure a permit. You may even receive tickets from multiple cameras if you drive very far within the area trying to get to your hotel.

You need to inform yourself about this before committing to the driving plan.

It is likely your knee will be much improved by late August. But even if not, you would be safer taking the train. Take a taxi to the station in Rome and another from the Bologna train station to your hotel. Use the Trenitalia disability access service mentioned above to help with negotiation the two train stations.

If you buy your train tickets now for your late August trip, you may be able to get Frecce Speciale tix for €21,90 in 1st class. If those are gone, Senior or Super Economy tix are €31-36 each. Either way, the cost of two train tickets and the taxi rides at both ends of the journey would be much less than the cost of a rental car for the day, especially if you consider the added cost of fuel and autostrada tolls. And the potential for ZTL fines.

If you can climb 2 steps, you should take a train. There is assistance for people with disabilities and they can wheel you on a ♿️ from train to taxi. It’s a long drive from RM to BO. Then you have to find your way to the rental car return location and hope you don’t get fined for entering the ZTL or even speeding. Bologna just instituted a city wide camera enforced speed limit of 30 km/h (18 mph) with speed cameras everywhere and having to deal with the same low limits while visiting Italy I can tell you that exceeding that limit is so easy that all you have to do is blink and you are driving above it. If I haven’t gotten a ticket yet is because of Saint Waze of Palo Alto (May he be praised).

In Bologna we have dropped the rental car off at the airport and then take a taxi to our lodging. Much safer than driving in the historic area with bad trafic and strict ZTL.

Thanks for all the replies folks. We really appreciate the time you took to answer. In hindsight it appears that it may be best to take the suggestion to take a taxi to the train station and if I need it, use the help they can supply. The problems of car rental are probably not worth the chance of tickets and all. We had planned to take a taxi from Bologna airport in, but now think a taxi from the train to the hotel wil be better.
Once again, many thanks
Rob in Toronto