Is driving from center of Rome onto Autostrata that hard?

It would be a challenge. I am sure you and the car would survive. I would not do it.

This year and once before we picked up a car at Termini. We got very explicit instructions, for accessing the autostrada, from the rental agent, along with a highlighted street map. Yes, it was a bit nerve-wracking, mostly because my husband, the navigator, doesn't see too well or register what he is seeing very quickly. However, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if doing something else was inconvenient and/or expensive. And by the way, I'm a 68 year old woman who is a good, but very cautious driver. I have learned, when driving in Italy, to take the time I need and to ignore the honking and other antics of the impatient Italians. They're not nearly so scary or threatening as some drivers I've seen in the U.S.

Driving out of the city center of Rome can be done and tourists do it all the time. However this can easily be avoided. Instead of picking up the car at the airport, where you will pay a higher fee for renting the car, pick the car up in Tuscany. Take the train from Rome to Chiusi and then take the car. The agencies in Chiusi have a midday closure so be sure to take a train that will arrive while the rental office is open. I have had great luck with AutoEurope.com for rental cars.

In one word - yes. It is difficult. Rome is the one place where my husband will not drive again. It took 45 minutes to find our way out through the wall!!! Granted - this was our first trip to Italy and we were in a 3 car caravan. We stopped and the drivers consulted the map - oriented our position and off we'd go only to go in a circle and end up back in the same spot!

Take the train out of Rome. Pick up your car in Orvieto or Chuisi.

Chris, I have to agree with Ros.

We had NO problem driving out of Rome when we picked up our car at one of the rental agencies at the Bourgeshee park this last June. They gave us explicit instructions that worked quite well. But I would highly rec. that you rent a GPS from the rental agency for your car. This makes things so much easier for all of your trip. Again, do like Ros suggests, take your time, and don't hurry.

As per Sam's rec, we also use autoeurope.com for all of our rentals in Europe, and love their rates and service. They also have specials all the time where they throw the GPS rental in for free with the auto rental.

We didn't want to drive in Rome again (it was scary the first time we did it- my husband ended up drive down a one-way street the wrong way with cars coming at us) so we took the train to Orvieto where we had reserved a car with Avis. We walked up to the Avis building and it was empty. The AVIS sign had been removed from the wall but you could see where it had been. My husband starts laughing hysterically. I don't think it is funny at all because we need a car. A lady from the shop next door comes out and tells my husband AVIS just packed up and left the month before. It would have been really nice if Avis had emailed us this tiny bit of info. We passed a HERTZ office on the way to AVIS so we went back there and she had a car for us for the exact same price that we had reserved with AVIS 6 months in advance. I try to use Autoeurope as much as possible. If you get a GPS, you should be fine driving in Rome. One problem is the drivers will make 6 lanes out of 4 so it gets confusing.

Thanks, everybody, and especially Cynthia, because we were just about to change our pick-up location to Orvieto - and I had just talked to an Avis agent about it yesterday! Amazing......

Hi Chris, We've picked-up & dropped off cars in Rome, Venice, Lisbon and London. If you anticipate any problems or get lost, you can simply hail a cab and follow the cab to you destination. Worth the extra euros and the cab drivers are really nice. Have fun and remember it's all an adventure.

We just got back from Rome and my husband, who loves the driving challenge that New York City presents, said he would never attempt to drive in Rome. He had great admiration for those that do.

I would take the train to where you plan to stay in Tuscany and rent the car in that area. I would save you the headaches of driving around Rome.

Rome has a lot of one way streets or streets where you'll have to seemingly drive in circles to get to the street where you'll turn right. It is pretty nerve-wracking, even with a map. And there may be times when the police decide that nobody can turn right at a street where you know you have to turn right to get where you want to go (this happened to us). Then its another circuitous route to get to the street you want to be on. One day, we spent 3 hours driving around to get to a place that was supposedly 30 minutes away. Hope you have nerves of steel and GPS!

Ive driven into and out of the center of Rome.I would do it again if needed.However having said that I would suggest taking the train to Orvieto.There is a Hertz rental at the station and probably more.There are frequent trains and they take 1 hour and are inexpensive.Orvieto is a neat place to visit if you have a night or a few hours.