Hire a driver in Florence

You could also rent two small cars. Much cheaper than one van.

Most Italians obey the speed limits nowadays. Too many speed cameras around and each violation carries a fine and a deduction of points from the license. Since 2003 Italian licenses come with 20 bonus points. Each fine deducts points depending on the severity of the violation. After you run out of points, your license is suspended for several months. If you stay several years without fines, they give you some bonus points back.

I am the only one with driving experience in Italy and the others are probably paranoid!!! I still might look into a van, but have driven one around France a couple of times and really did not want to be the navigator of this group.... Rather be able to do wine tasting and worry about pictures... I am a photographer. We don't need a tour or a guide, just a driver.

We used Florencetours for a customized day trip to Tuscany from Florence in March 2011. In 10 hours, we visited San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni, and Siena. Giuseppe owns the company with his wife, Paola. We worked out details ahead of time via email. On the day of the tour, Giuseppe picked us up at our hotel with his min-van. There were 4 in our group, but certainly the van could accommodate 6 people comfortably. The way it worked was that Giuseppe basically drove us to the cities and we explored them on our own (this was our choice), meeting at a set time to go on to the next destination. I would imagine if you wanted more guidance he could easily provide it. Giuseppe is a native of Florence and was very knowledgeable about Tuscany. I highly recommend him as a private driver.

Robert
Thanks so much. I will look him up... We don't need a guide, just a driver with some great suggestions for us.

He sounds like what we need.