Rental Car Pick-Up and Drop-off locations

Drop off in Rome at the airport or someplace else not in the city center, you don't want to drive in Rome. If you can pick up the car anywhere else but Florence, I'd recommend that, because of the dreaded ZTL zones that cost you about $150 each time your rental car drives past a camera.Regards,Kent of Oregon (logging in on Miss B's computer).

I used Auto Europe and picked up at Via Del Gelsimino, Florence to avoid the ticket issue. The man spoke great English and we were quickly off to Chianti. We returned to Chiusi downtown office and trained to Orvieto for two nights(which we loved!) and then trained quickly to Rome from there.

Now I'm curious about Kent and Miss B, but maybe that's a topic for another time.

A few more points about your options. Picking up from a downtown office in Florence is easy but, as Kent points out, you could stray into the vehicle prohibited zones that are nearby and wind up with a ticket sent to you by mail. You could take the bus that goes to the Florence airport from the central train station and pick up your car at the airport. The buses go every half hour. It's a little easier to begin your Italy driving from an airport because you don't have to immediately deal with urban traffic. Also, most airport rental counters have longer hours than city locations. On the downside, there are often surcharges for picking up (but not dropping off) at airports. Autoeurope has all of this information on their website.

I agree with dropping off at the Rome airport. You can take a train from there to central Rome. Depending on where you will be in Tuscany, however, it might be easier to drop in Orvieto and take the train from there. Again, the airport will have better hours, although the rental office doesn't have to be open to drop your car. Just take pictures of the condition of the car when you leave it.