Is It Really Difficult To Drive In Italy?

Yes, you are. Italy is no more difficult than driving in the NE U.S., especially boston as an example.Since you're looking at driving in the country, It should not be that scary, however, the "A" roads could change your hair color. My Italian business friends suggest you follow a simple rule:" drive as if all others are insane as they are driving as if you are.

We drove there last fall from the rome airport to Civita, Sienna, la spezia pisa and back to rome airport. Driving the freeways out of the city were very similar to the US except for lots of tolls and be very careful of your speed. Driving into our hotel into sienna was a bit of challenge, old city roads, narrow with lots of turns. A GPS is so helpful along with a good navigator to help. The country roads were narrow but very little traffic when we were there, so navigation was the main issue and the GPS solved this. Just plan to stay out of the bigger cities or park it and leave it if you do. The 1st poster is correct. Not unlike driving in the Northeast US Boston area towns etc..except higher tolls, more expensive gas, and Italian road signs.

We picked our car up at Hertz which was about 2 miles from the Florence train station. They gave us directions to get to the autostrada without getting near any ZTL's. We were driving down to Poggibonsi, to Certaldo to our agriturismo 2 miles from town.
The roads in Tuscany are crooked and hilly, but they're well paved and easily driven. When you come up to an intersection or often a round-a-bout, signs point to where the roads go to. We drove to Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano and down to Orvieto without any road signs even. Outside of Siena, the roads were not at all congested with other drivers.
Whenever you want to really see a region in an efficient manner, a rental car is the way to go. Driving in Tuscany is just no big deal.

I travel with friends for two weeks every year in Italy, and it's fine outside of city centers. We have done our share of multiple roundabout drives to check the signs. Occasionally you will expect to see a town listed on a signpost and it's not there, but will appear in a couple hundred meters.

Essential equipment: A very detailed highway map and an up-to-date GPS service. No question the roads can be variable but the highway signs seem designed to stifle tourism. We drove in circles for an hour around Florence airport trying to find the car rental depot, with signs pointed in every direction while John Cleese scoffed at us on the Garmin (or maybe Tom Tom.) It's a wonderful country but driving is teamwork, with the blame falling on the navigator.

Not difficult for most people. It really depends on what you are used to driving in.

Driving in an Italian city is similar to driving in Manhattan or downtown Chicago.
Driving in the Tuscan mountains is not any different than the mountain and country roads in America,
Driving on Italian freeways is like driving on American ones, just don't cruise in the left lane (passing only lane)

The only thing difficult about driving in Italy is the very strict traffic laws. Speed cameras are everywhere, limited traffic zones, etc., that make it very easy to get an expensive letter about a year after you return.

We've rented a car twice in Italy - once to go from the Rome airport to Florence (dropped it off at the airport and toured the city via public transportation), and once we picked up the car just outside of downtown Florence and used it to tour the environs.

There's really no better way to tour Tuscany than driving around. People on the autostrade drive fast, but people stay in the right lane except to pass. And, there are many rest areas to stop, use the facilities. Tolls are very high on the autostrade. The local roads are easy enough to drive on.

If you don't know how to drive a manual transmission, make sure you reserve early to get an automatic car. Check with your credit card company to see what insurance they will cover for your car rental.

As an aside, if you rent the car in Florence, make sure to drive up to Piazzale Michelangelo to get great views of the city. It's great at night and during the day.

Don't forget you need to avoid the ZTL's in the cities, but it's pretty easy to avoid.

Have a great trip. Enjoy and relax.

Don't pick up your rental car inside the City of Florence like we did. Driving in or out of the city is difficult even with a GPS. Pick it up at the airport, as others have suggested here. Driving on the autostrada is easy and driving in Tuscany is only difficult if you don't like twisty roads. My husband loves that kind of driving so he enjoyed it. Driving after dark on those roads is not easy when you don't know them well. If you are traveling in the late fall or winter months remember it gets dark early. Stay in towns where there are lots of restaurants that you can walk to so you don't have to drive at night to out for dinner. Driving really is the best way to see all the hill towns of Tuscany as traveling by bus town to town can take a long time.

We drove in the Tuscany region for just a day going to hill towns from our base in Siena. It was fine. No issues.

Then one year we kept a car on our whole month long visit starting in Germany which included driving through the Italian dolomites, to Verona, Lake Como and then over to Switzerland. Hubby lived in Germany for years and it use to driving. I'm not sure exactly what makes driving in Italy difficult and scary, but it is. Sometimes it is fine, and other times you are dodging people, bikes, cars passing you within your lane, craziness!! I was so happy to get out of Italy without killing someone. But, I do think in the countryside you will be ok. Have a good GPS, a backseat driver to help you navigate things you may not see and just take it slowly.

Thank you everyone for all the great experiences you had and your advice to all of us out there.
I feel so much better and have the assurances of fellow travelers that it is not so bad after all.

I do have a question about the GPS. When you rent a car, is the GPS an option?
If you rent a car in one city, can you drop it off in another city?
Did you purchase your map in the USA before arriving in Italy?
When you pay a toll, is it all cash, or can you use a credit card?

Yes you can pick up in one city and drop in another. It costs more but as long as you are in the same country it shouldn't be too much. Dropping in another country comes with high fees. Obviously when doing this you are limited to rental agencies that have locations in both cities. No issue with bigger towns, but a small place may only have 1-2 agencies.

GPS - all rental agencies I have seen offer this with your rental for a per day fee. You can also bring your own, I think, but I haven't done that.

Maps - you can buy them there but I sometimes buy Michelin maps at home and bring them. Overly cautious, I guess, in case I can't find them there.

I do have a question about the GPS. When you rent a car, is the GPS an option?
Yes, but it tends to be an expensive option. Better to bring your own GPS with current European maps.

If you rent a car in one city, can you drop it off in another city?
Generally yes, but the drop fees, if applicable, can be expensive. Check carefully. And make sure you can drop the car when the office is open. For smaller locations that can be a problem.

Did you purchase your map in the USA before arriving in Italy?
Yes

When you pay a toll, is it all cash, or can you use a credit card?
I would always plan on using cash. Some toll require a true chip and pin card and will not accept the American chip and signature card. Play safe, have cash.

We used the GPS provided by the rental car company it was fine..Yes you can drop the car in a different spot, for a fee, but it is worth it if you don't have to go racing back across the country at the end of your trip, lets you see more things. Just make sure you plan to drop it at a place that has your company and is open when you get there. We paid our tolls in cash in Italy, as we had problems with the card we had, just plan to have cash in the car. The card worked fine at gas stations, although we did appreciate gas stations that had an attendant, as the self serve one we tried was tricky, but another motorist helped us out.

I printed out directions from google maps and brought them with me. They were much more accurate than my brother/sister in-law's GPS system they brought with them from the states.

drove for two months in Italy last year. It is NOT scary. The roads are well maintained and Italians in general are good drivers. No difference IMO than driving in the states. They do tail gate more though

Of course you have to check, but as long as you pick up and return the car in Italy, there's usually no extra charge for using different cities for the pickup and the drop off. If you pick up and drop off in different countries, then there's a fee.

When comparing rates do look at Kemwel, in addition to Auto Europe and Gemut, and the rental agencies themselves, such as Hertz, Europcar, Avis, etc. For my rental, my friend's rental, and his friends rental, all three times Kemwel had by far the best rate. But, of course you have to see what works best for you.

To avoid any expensive problems, make sure you understand ZTL's, the Tutor system, bus lanes, and speed cameras. If you do run afoul of any of these, you'll not only get an expensive ticket, but it comes in two installments. First, you get a fee of about 40 or 45 Euros from your rental company, for turning your information over to the authorities. Then you get the actual ticket, which can take many months.

Look carefully at the insurance when comparing rates. One company offered us an attractive price, but with a 2000 Euro deductible. We ended up getting the car from Kemwel, as I said above, with a zero deductible.

We were driving in Sicily, which is supposed to be even harder than the rest of Italy. My friend, who did the actual driving, didn't find it particularly difficult, scary, etc. On a later trip he drove in the UK, and he said that was FAR more difficult than driving in Sicily!

If I were you I would bring my own GPS or use your smart phone. Rental car agencies charge about €15 a day for GPS rental.

I've never had to pay a drop off fee for picking up a rental in one city and returning it in another, as long as it was within Italy. So I don't know where others here have rented their vehicle if they had to pay a fee. The only place where I was charged a fee for returning the car in another city was here in America.

I don't know if Italian freeways accept American credit cards, since I have used only my Italian one. For sure you need a card with a chip, as the magnetic strip won't do it. Entering a PIN however is NOT necessary to pay toll at the toll machines. Tolls are not really that expensive, so paying with cash will not set you back a lot. For example from Rome to Florence is about €20, since you plan to drive mostly in Tuscany, even when you happen to use the freeway you will hardly have to pay much more than €10 each trip.

Piece of cake, you can do it! We much prefer to drive. You miss out on so much by taking public transportation. By driving if you see something like a winery, an attraction, anything that gets your attention, you can pull over immediately. Signage is excellent. Download maps from viamichelin. Not to contradict Roberto, but last October, we kept our ATM card with magnetic strip handy and paid all of our tolls that way. But things change, so have Euro available.

Do credit cards and ATM cards without chips still exist? Mine got all replaced in the last year or so.
I'm surprised the toll machines would take a magnetic stripe only. I wouldn't chance it however. Your credit card or ATM with chip should work however since a PIN is not required for the transaction. But as I said for Tuscany only your tolls will be minimal.

other than the "A" roads I did not see any tolls in Tuscany

With GPS & a co pilot, it's doable if you are adverse to the train service available.

That is correct Jim. Only the A highways (Autostrada=Motorway) are toll highways.

The only toll autostrade present in Tuscany are:
A1 (Milano-Napoli) in Tuscany from Barberino del Mugello all the way down to past Chiusi.
A11 (Firenze-Mare) from Florence to Pisa Migliarino or Viareggio (entirely in Tuscany)
A12 (Genova-Livorno), in Tuscany from south of Livorno up to the border with Liguria near Sarzana.

All other roads are toll free. Therefore one is unlikely to spend a lot in tolls if the trips are all within Tuscany.