Renting a Car in Italy

I have done just that a number of times. I use Auto Europe and always have a good experience with them. Be aware that dropping a car off in Florence can mean driving in a very challenging city. If there is a drop off site out of the city center, that would likely be much less anxiety producing. Or there are a number of towns fairly close the Florence from which you could take the train the rest of the way..

Usually in Europe, if you rent and return the car in the same country (even if different cities), there's no surcharge. So your plan is fine, but of course you have to check with each rental company for specifics.

I just went with a friend to Sicily. He made the rental car arrangements, and found that Kemwel, a sister company of AutoEurope, had much better deals than AutoEurope did for a car with zero deductable (very important to me). We also had to rent a larger car just to make sure it had space in the trunk to hold all our luggage with nothing showing, so we didn't have visible baggage when we stopped somewhere.

Do learn all about ZTL's now, or as the old joke goes, you'll learn about them the hard way later. Hopefully Roberto, a Florence native who frequents these boards, will give you specifics on where to return a car in or near Florence without hitting the ZTL's.

First I need to know which rental car company you are booking with (Europcar, Hertz, Avis-Budget, etc) then I'll give you your return locations options. Europcar is generally cheaper but do your search and book first.