Rental Car Help Please

If you intend to take a ferry to Positano, it might be best if you take a high speed train Frecciarossa from Roma Termini to Salerno, then take a ferry to Positano. I think it's faster (the ferry in Salerno is walking distance from the station, and there are more ferries to Salerno). Salerno is the next high speed train stop after Naples.

1. The best choices are (in order of driving distance from Positano):
   Sorrento
   Salerno
   Orvieto (Hertz only)
   Chiusi (Avis-Budget only)

2. there are only two choices: in the city center near the station (exact location varies depending on rental car) or airport (requires a 20 min taxi ride to your hotel for approx 25€ or a tramway ride from the airport terminal to the SMN central station for a little less than 2€ per person). Returning to the city center has challenges due to ZTL traffic restrictions, refer to some of my previous posts for directions (use the search function above).

To rent a car I use a broker called www.autoeurope.com.
They do not work with the Orvieto Hertz franchise office I think due to poor customer service

In your shoes I would probably rent a car in either Sorrento or Salerno and drive the 5 hour (mostly freeway) to S.Casciano dei Bagni. From Salerno is faster since you get immediately on the freeway (just over 4 hours). If you want to minimize driving then Orvieto or Chiusi are best, however it will require multiple train changes and you will be dealing with small franchise offices, therefore they will be closed at lunch time for a few hours, they will close on Saturday afternoon, and all day Sunday. That is probably true in Sorrento as well. Both Sorrento and Salerno have offices with the major rental companies, while Orvieto only has Hertz and Chiusi only has Avis-Budget, both are close to their respective train stations. If those offices don't work for you, then Naples has plenty of choices, but I recommend to rent from the airport because driving out of the city center is a nightmare. (I still recommend picking up the rental in Salerno).

Edit: If you plan to stay in Siena be aware that Siena also has a ZTL (Limited Traffic Zone) where cars are prohibited except for residents with permit (violations are enforced by camera). Therefore you must choose accommodations outside the ZTL, or park outside the ZTL and walk to your accommodations. The Siena ZTL encompasses the entire historical center.

2nd Edit: I checked www.autoeurope.com for rental rates for a random week next month, with pickup at Salerno or Sorrento or Chiusi (AutoEurope does not work with Orvieto Hertz) and return at Florence a week later. The best weekly rate is with pick up at Salerno, the highest is the one with pick up at Chiusi. It is probably because Chiusi Avis/Budget is the only game in town.

Thanks for your detailed response. We would rather not drive the 4hrs from Salermo. Is there a website you could recommend to map out the train route from Salermo to Orvieto? I am OK with picking up the car in Orvieto because I want to visit that town.
We will be staying at Fonteverde Lifestyle & Thermal Retreat in Siena. I believe it is not in the city center.

Hertz in Orvieto only has manual cars available and we will need automatic.

SIENA -you’ll need correct spelling for searches

Use the official train site

https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html

Most of the rental agencies in smaller towns will only have manual
You might need to go to Florence to get your automatic
There are several threads here on how to drive out of Florence safely

Be sure all drivers have an International Driving Permit-get it at AAA

If you are unable to drive a car with manual transmission, then the small offices like Orvieto or Chiusi may not work.

Your other options with auto transmission are in the cities:
Salerno
Naples
Rome

Going to Florence to drive back to Fonteverde wouldn’t make any sense. Fonteverde is halfway between Rome and Florence. It would be like taking the train from Washington DC to NYC to rent a car and drive back to Philadelphia. Who does that?

You must go to Salerno to catch a train north. Why not pick up the car there and drive the 4 hours? It’s all 4 to 6 lane freeway like an US interstate, except for the last 15 miles on two lane highway. I bet you wouldn’t think twice about driving 4 hours on a freeway in the US.

You could minimize driving a bit by taking the train to Rome and renting a car at the Termini station. But then you’d need to find your way out of Rome, which has worst traffic than Manhattan, without getting lost or getting a ticket for entering a bus lane accidentally (good luck with that!) then drive two hours on the same freeway coming from Salerno. Going to Florence and driving in Florence, besides being absurd because you’d need to backtrack back 2.5 hours, would present similar challenges. Unless one is used to driving in Manhattan, or similar city environment, many Americans, who are used only to suburban driving or rural driving, are ill equipped to drive in Rome, Naples (especially), or even Florence. Salerno has the least challenges to reach the freeway from the rental offices (all near the station), then once you are out on the freeway or the countryside, driving in Italy is not anymore challenging than in America.

Thanks! We’ e decided to rent a car to head to Siena. Would you recommend also getting a car at the airport in Rome to Salermo or directly to Positano?

I'm sorry- my mistake!
I read this and assumed it was close to Siena- it is actually 1.5 hours south of Siena!

We will be staying at Fonteverde Lifestyle & Thermal Retreat in Siena.

Take the fast train from Rome to Salerno. Then ferry to Positano- change in Amalfi- as explained above.
If you are worried about driving on the freeway to Tuscany you sure don't want to drive on the Amalfi Coast.
Parking is an issue as well.

No. Don’t rent a car in Rome to go to Positano. Take the high speed Frecciarossa train from Roma Termini to Salerno, then the ferry to Positano. Driving on the Amalfi coast presents challenges, especially parking. The road is also very narrow and congested by visitors. Rent the car in Salerno when you leave to go to Fonteverde. Salerno is a good size town so I presume they have automatic cars either at the station (or they can get you one from their Salerno airport office). Naples obviously will have automatic cars, considering the thousands of US military personnel stationed there (Naples is the NATO Headquarter for the Southern European Command), but if you can avoid driving in Naples you will be happier. If you must absolutely rent from Naples, then pick up your car at the airport, not the city center.