Rental cars?

Yes, you can pick up in one city and drop off in another. Sometimes there is a charge, but not always. We like Hertz or Thrify in Italy. The Hertz office near the train station is good but busyI think it's on via Cappellini. If you are going to stay in Milan, we loved the Hotel St George which is about a 15 minute walk from the train station.

Yes it is possible with virtually all companies, unless you go with a local outfit. If you stick with the major companies in Italy, you'll be fine and there are no drop off charges. Major companies in Italy are: Avis-Budget, Hertz, National-Alamo, Maggiore, Sixt, Europcar, Thrifty. As you can see most are the usual familiar multinationals. To look for a rental car you can use various travel search sites, including the individual companies' websites. AutoEurope.com is a US based consolidator that might offer better deals. In Italy I suggest you buy insurance. Most credit card companies' coverage don't cover Italy and your insurance won't cover you there either. Once you factor in full coverage insurance, you should expect to pay 40-50 Euro a day for an small compact car. To save headache and money, avoid renting the car while you visit cities. You won't need the car in Milan or Venice or Rome or Florence, if you plan to visit those cities. If you pick up in Milan to visit Northern Italy, make sure you do so just to visit the countryside or the Alps. A car in Milan or Venice would be a waste. If you plan to fly to Milan and visit also Venice during your North Italy stay I would suggest the following: - Land Milan - visit Milan - Go to Venice by train - visit Venice. - Rent car in Venice - visit North Italy countryside then head down to Tuscany to visit Tuscan countryside and small towns. - Return car in Florence - visit Florence
- Train to Rome - Visit Rome.

Thanks for your advice! We actually are starting in Venice and making our way down to Rome mostly by train. However, we are staying outsiode of Parma in an agriturismo farm for 2 days and we will need a car to get there. We are looking for rental cars in parma as it would be easier to rent there near the train station.
Jo

If you are going to the agriturismo from Venice, you could rent a car in Venice. There are several rental car offices from the major companies in Piazzale Roma. The drive to Parma is easy. You could even stop in Verona and/or Mantova on the way there.

We are taking the train to Como for a few days after Venice. Then we are off to Parma. We are fine with renting the car in Parma, just not sure where to do that.
Jo

For any city you want you can use the Pagine Gialle (yellow pages) website.
The Italian for car rental is Autonoleggio. Enter in the first box. Then enter the city in the right box. http://www.paginegialle.it/pgol/4-autonoleggio/3-Parma%20(PR)/p-1 Look at map and you can find everything.