Options for rental car return in Tuscany

Crossing Tuscany from the Grosseto area to Siena or Chiusi is a good deal more arduous than just driving to Rome. The drive down the coast to Rome is simple and, since you'll be on the Fiumicino side of the metro area, it's no more difficult than driving around the Lucca area. Keep it simple, and in the Grosseto area don't miss Pitigliano and the Etruscan Via Cave 'roads'.

Mike is correct. The freeway from Grosseto to Siena is “unfinished” since circa 1970s when I first started driving in it. There are still portion of two lanes only road, and, as of this past July, still an open construction site in several stretches. On the stretches that are finished there are numerous speed tutor cameras (which calculate your average speed for a determined stretch) which issue automatic tickets if your average is above the ridiculously low speed limit for that same stretch. Therefore the 1h15min drive, especially with the road construction interruptions, can easily turn into almost 2 h drive.

You should not bother to go back to Siena, you should stay the entire time in Maremma. There are several places to visit there besides the Maremma Park:
Pitigliano,
Massa Marittima
Capalbio
Talamone
Vetulonia (Etruscan town)
Castiglion Della Pescaia
Tirli
Montemassi
Porto Santo Stefano
Giglio Island
Argentario Peninsula
Saturnia (natural thermal spas)
Just to name a few, but you can find more in the official Maremma tourism website below
https://www.tuttomaremma.com/en/
And on the way to Rome you can even stop at Tarquinia, which has one of the best Etruscan museums in Italy.
Then you should return the car at the Fiumicino airport. Returning at FCO is not any more difficult than returning at any US airport. The rental car returns are in the parking structures across from Terminal 3. Some are inside parking tower A some under B (there are A,B,C,D parking buildings), so follow the directions for your rental car company, Hertz is in A for example.

On the way to the return, set your navigator for the freeway service area below, near the airport. This is where you should refuel your car before returning it. It’s the last chance to do so before the airport, otherwise you have to get off the freeway and look for a gas station in the town of Fiumicino.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/csvaumCvSSRuuchT7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

The drive to Fiumicino from the Maremma is uneventful and very smooth. 4-lane road for 95% of the way. No real concerns, it is definitely the option I would pick.

I think the OP wrote that they plan to stay at a hotel at the airport the night before the flight (Friday night) regardless, therefore the car would probably be returned on Friday night in any case, especially if the hotel is the Hilton Fiumicino, which charges a lot for parking overnight, and which is right next to the rental car return garages. If the hotel is not the Hilton but nearby, then it is up to the OP whether they prefer to return the car in the morning, but I would prefer to return it the night before and go to the airport with a hotel shuttle (if provided by the hotel) the morning of the flight (Saturday morning).

As far as the option of returning the car full of gas or not, or prepay for gas, the prepayment option is convenient but always more expensive, because it is virtually impossible to gauge the gas needed and return the car with an empty tank, so in the end when we prepay for gas to the rental company, we are almost certainly subsidizing the rental company because we will have paid for gas that we won’t be able to use. I did so sometime on my business trips since my company paid the rental bill including the prepaid gasoline, so I don’t care to subsidize gasoline to the rental company, but if I am the one footing the bill, then I put my own gas and return it full. But people are free to choose the option they prefer.

The SS1 and A12 route along the coast is all 4 lane divided freeway, except for maybe 5 miles between Capalbio and the border between Tuscany and Latium, which is still a regular 2 lane highway (with reduced speed, so watch out for the speed limit). I wouldn’t go to via Siena even if they paid me. And actually someone would need to pay me very handsomely to drive the car from Maremma to Chiusi so that I can return the car there and take the train. i would certainly drive to the FCO airport along the coast and return the car at the airport (and preferably the evening before my flight). Way easier.

Thank you all so much for these very informative and thoughtful replies!

Yes, we will be staying at the Hilton Rome Airport Hotel the night before our flight. Although the flight is not super early in the morning, we prefer not to have the stress of returning the car that morning.

I also really appreciate the reassurance that the drive from Maremma to the Rome airport is pretty straightforward and smooth. I expect we will still opt for a more relaxing train ride for that leg, but I will discuss it with my boyfriend (who will be the one driving, since I don't drive stick).

I do very much want to see Siena, but I am very cautious about the idea of stopping in Siena when we drive from Lucca south to Maremma, due to all the comments I have seen on discussion forums about rental cars being a target for break ins. I would hate to lose our luggage and any gifts we've purchased. Am I being paranoid?

Would it be worth the slight hassle of renting luggage storage lockers in Siena if we stop there on the drive south? I am definitely open to that idea if there is a facility near where we would be parking. I was looking at them last night but was more focused on their proximity to the train station. (Obviously that would not be a need if we're stopping in Siena on the drive south.)

I had mainly researched other towns in which to return the car as a means to avoid driving to/in Rome, as well as to see another interesting town (and before we had settled on Maremma for our last three nights). But I don't need to add them since Grosseto and driving to Rome sound like good options. Especially if we are able to stop in Siena on the drive south.

Also, I want to thank Roberto specifically for the detailed info about the highway between Siena and Grosseto. We chose to rent a car specifically for visiting Pescaglia and then smaller Tuscan hill towns and the Maremma region, but I did not realize that getting south from the Lucca area to the Maremma area via Siena (or the reverse) would be on such an unfinished road. Oh well! :-)

Driving from Pescaglia to Maremma via Siena would be a detour of maybe an extra hour or less, but the unattended luggage issue is real. Although you could use a baggage service like bounce bag or radical storage or nannybag. If you must absolutely visit Siena, you could also take a day trip from Maremma where you are staying, unencumbered by luggage, if you have enough time. It is less than 60 miles from the Maremma Park to Siena, but just be aware that when everything is said and done it is almost a two hour drive each way, because of the slow downs due to road work.

As I said the drive from Maremma to Fiumicino is a super easy 2 hour drive on a divided freeway similar to any US interstate all the way to the rental car return at the airport. So you don’t even get near the city of Rome or even the GRA beltway, which gets congested at rush hour. I don’t see the benefit of taking the train, especially considering that the train will take you to Termini station from which you need to take the Leonardo Express to the airport for another 32 minute ride.

But if you decide to return the car in Tuscany, then the only option from Maremma is to drive Grosseto, which could be back tracking north if you stay near the park. Hertz franchise in Grosseto is at a car dealership not far from the station, albeit a long walk with luggage. Enterprise/Alamo/Locauto/Dollar/National (all part of Enterprise) is a franchise part of a gas station not far from the station, Avis Budget franchise is at a travel agency not at walking distance from the station. Europcar is not available in Grosseto if you rent from them.

Roberto, grazie mille for the additional car rental and driving information! I had not yet tried to look up car rental office locations in Grosseto, so that is very helpful to know proximity to the train station. Same with the Rome train and airport proximity.

I was just looking up the closing hours for rental offices at the Rome airport and it looks like all the major US and international chains stay open until about midnight. If Google has that information correct, that should be more than late enough for us to enjoy Friday sightseeing and then drive to Rome. That is sounding like the more reasonable option (unless we decide we absolutely must do something closer to Grosseto that day, LOL! But at least that looks like a minor backtrack.)

Also, thank you for reassuring me that my concerns about leaving luggage in the trunk of a car while sightseeing is valid. If we include Siena on our way south from Pescaglia/Lucca we will definitely seek out a luggage storage option for that day. A two-hour drive each way is less than desirable. I can appreciate driving a rural "country road" if the scenery is nice, but driving slowly on a road that should be faster can be frustrating.

miuccia, grazie mille for you additional thoughts on returning the car in Grosseto and having a relaxing train ride, and a light supper in the mercato and a taxi to Rome! I can absolutely see how car return in a smaller city might be easier. And I appreciate your sightseeing tips as well. Since I will not be doing the driving, I will make sure my boyfriend weighs in on what feels easier to him.

Regarding your other question: the first part of our itinerary is a little silly in terms of geography covered, LOL! We arrive in Rome the morning of Sept. 22 and spend a couple of days getting acclimated and seeing a tiny bit of Rome. Then train to Venice for about three days. Then train to Florence for three nights. From there we pick up the car for the rest of the itinerary we're discussing in this thread, with two nights in Pescaglia and three nights in Maremma. So the first week of the trip is cities, and the second week we are planning to (hopefully) slow down a little in the countryside of Pescaglia and then Maremma.

I might have preferred flying into Venice or at least Florence to begin the trip and then simply working our way south, but my partner realllllllly wanted a direct flight from the US. And the only option for direct flights from where we are was to fly in and out of Rome.

If you decide to drive to Grosseto to return the car, and then take the train to Rome from Grosseto (which I wouldn’t do, since the Rome airport is easy to drive to from there and the drive is only 2 hours), be aware that you will be dealing with small rental car franchises (as I said they are a car dealer, a travel agency, and a gas station), so they all observe a lunch time closure of a few hours. For example the Hertz office, an Aixam car dealer (Aixam is a French car manufacturer), closes from 12:30 to 4:00pm on weekdays, including Friday.

Thank you, Roberto! I was aware of the lengthy afternoon closures of the smaller rental franchises. I have a mosaic of post-it notes with the office hours & closures, afternoon and evening train times, and train ride lengths (in hours, including changes if any) for the towns I was considering for rental car return, LOL! But it's never the same as knowledge from experience, and I am aware that those details would all have to be confirmed if we choose Grosseto over Rome for the car return. We'll figure out what fits us best! The information on this thread is a gold mine.

miuccia -- thank you for the additional resources on the Garfagnana! I am looking forward to a little exploration of the region -- including, if possible, the local chestnut museum and the small historical theater in/near Pescaglia (my partner and I are both active in local theater). I know the "museum" will be a very basic and local historical museum, but that kind of thing can be refreshing next to all the flashy grandeur of other sites.

Interestingly, the current Lonely Planet guide for Tuscany does offer a fair number sites in the Garfagnana region, so I was aware of it (though they make no mention of Pescaglia). It is one of the few upsides of the guide that they give some attention to less-visited areas. I had been a Lonely Planet devotee for a couple decades and so we bought their current guides for Italy and Tuscany without checking them first, and they are AWFUL. (Hence I picked up the Rick Steves guide a few weeks later after looking through it.) The new owners of LP have redesigned the books to feel more like a series of Instagram posts or something -- flashy design with lots of wasted space, only about 3 recs for places to stay or eat for locations (and often you only get one of those categories but not the other), and very little of the practical "how to" that the RS guides give. There also seems to be much less focus on budget travel in them. I know many younger travelers my simply get all their info online, but I think the new owners have done a grave disservice to LP fans and to the brand.

Anyway, sorry for the digression!

Another side note: I may try posting about this on Reddit, since this is likely not the right forum. But I thought I'd add that technically my grandmother was born in a village named Cafio (or so my mother says), but that village apparently got bombed out of existence during WWII (she came to the US as a baby just prior to 1920).

I have tried googling Cafio with no luck, of course. I have also tried googling my grandmother's maiden name, and it seems a common enough one in the Pescaglia/Lucca region. (I do not plan on trying to contact strangers with the last name, don't worry!)

I keep wondering how and where I can find out about the village of Cafio, since I don't really speak Italian and won't really have time to visit various historical societies or places with town records. But it seems like it might have to be a feet-on-the-ground research effort, rather than emailing people, for a tiny village that has not existed for 80 years. Maybe that can be a future trip...

Yes, I agree that small, local museums can be gems for recording how people live, and how those lives have shaped the present. We have a tiny museum of that sort in my small New England home town. :)

Also, just in case anyone else is curious, the small theater in Pescaglia: "Teatrino di Vetriano (Small Theatre of Vetriano), known by locals as “La Bomboniera”. It was certified by the Guinness Book of Records in 1997 to be the smallest historic public theatre in the world."

Miuccia, thank you also for the Atlantic article (I had not seen it), the encouragement to let my familial connection to Pescaglia be known, and that interesting info showing the possibly linguistic evolution of a place name. My hope is that WWII is not so far away in time that Cafio has been completely forgotten, but whether I will encounter the right people who might have heard of it is another question. I figured knowing more than a handful of words in Italian might be helpful simply in asking the questions and understanding the answers from residents, or from a local librarian or town clerk or such. We shall see!