Hill towns

I did, thanks. Nothing in San Gimignano.

I would rent from Florence, if you are coming from there, and drive to San Gimignano. If you prefer to rent from a local independent company, the site below gives the name and contact info of 4 local companies in S.Gimignano. http://www.sangimignano.com/en/services-and-facilities/car-rental/ PS: There is no train service from/to Florence or Siena. Only buses (to Florence with change in Poggibonsi, the main town near San Gimignano). http://www.busfox.com/timetable/

I use Auto Europe for car rentals. They are a consolidator. If you get on their website and put in San Gimignano it will give you the options. It is definitely best to use a car to travel to hill towns. I would recommend against driving in Florence. Read online about driving in Italy and familiarize yourself with how to recognize the signs for the ZTL's to avoid getting any tickets.

I can't get any response from anyone in San Gimignano as far as where to rent there. I'd rather not rent in Florence.

I doubt you'll find any major rental car company in San Gimignano or even Poggibonsi.
Your choices are either Florence or Siena.

I know there won't be any major companies. Does anyone know what companies are in San Gimignano to rent from?

Be sure to use autoeurope.com, not autoeuropa.com. The latter gets really lousy reviews.

A car will be your best bet to tour the area. I can't recall seeing anyplace that would rent a car in San Gimignano. I'd also go with Florence or Siena, but pick a place you can reach easily and will be easy to get out of town and on your way. Siena's much easier to get around than Florence but should be plenty big enough for a car rental agency or two. You don't say how you are getting into the area?

I'm flying in and out of Florence. I'm trying to decide of I should just rent the car there or take the train to the hill towns and rent in San Gimignano or Siena

If you rent in Florence it's cheaper to rent from the city offices than from the airport. But see what you can find. From the airport to San Gimignano it would be an easy drive. By bus you'd need to go downtown first, take a bus to Poggibonsi then to San Gimignano. If that is your destination, going there by car is easier. If you decide not to rent a car at all, then you should stay in a city for easy public transportation access (Florence or Siena).

We want to stay mostly in San Gimignano and spend time in the hill towns and a day or two in Florence. Sounds like its best to rent in Florence.

I agree that renting in Florence is your best bet if you are arriving there. Compare the cost of renting at the airport vs. in town. Consider the cost of getting into town from the airport (express bus is about 5€ each) and the convenience of just getting in the car at the airport and being able to head to San Gimignano from there. Only you can decide which you'd rather do.

Renting a car in Florence and driving to San Gimignano is easier, I think. Since you were planning to rent a car anyway once you get there. Having a car while staying in San Gimignano is certainly a must, otherwise you'll be stuck there, buses aren't that frequent in those small towns. If you rent from a city office (which tends to be substantially cheaper than the airport) consider that they close earlier. The AVIS city office, for example, where I usually rent from, closes at 6pm on weekdays and at 1pm on Sundays. The one at the airport stays open until late (usually 11pm, after the last flight arrival). So take that into consideration depending on your flight arrival time. Take a GPS with you (load European maps in it).

We arrive at 10 am on a weds and leave at 10 am on a weds so the city office would work. Thanks

Jim, no train station in San G. No rental car place there either from what I can find. The closest place appears to be in Poggibonsi which may not have a good ion. I would suggest renting your car one block from the Siena train station and driving to where you are staying in San G. BTW, I'm taking my own advice. My wife and her daughter will be staying at an Agriturismo near Siena. They will be renting the car from AutoEurope near the Siena train station and driving to the Agriturismo.

Thanks. I'll look into the Siena option.

Siena is the same price as Florence airport. Thanks for the suggestion..

There is a new car dealer that rents cars in Certaldo, just a few miles from San Gimignano. But he's expensive. I rented thru AutoEurope.com and picked the car up at Hertz at 60 Sansovino in Florence. That's about 2 miles north of the train station. Hertz gave directions that kept me away from the ZTL and got me down to Poggibonsi easily. We were staying in the countryside between Certaldo and San Gimignano at a farm. This is a perfect area to explore the hilltowns from. Virtually every farm in the area has apartments and rooms as secondary income.
A car is mandatory when visiting this very beautiful countryside. The roads are easy to maneuver as long as you can handle a straight shift and you learn how to handle a roundabout.

There is a Hertz in Orvieto. Just steps from the train station.

If Jim lands in Florence it makes sense to rent from Florence. Going to Siena or, even worse, to Orvieto, makes as much sense as landing in San Antonio and picking up the car in Houston to drive to Austin.