Renting a car in Rome to drive to Tuscany.

Rome is such a challenge to drive in: although I haven't done it, I never would having seen the traffic! We did drive through Tuscany ending in Orvieto, then taking a train to Rome. I'd recommend taking a train to Orvieto and renting your car there. There's a Hertz very near the train station, and you can easily spend a little (or a lot of) time in Orvieto, then continue on your way through Tuscany.

Agree with taking a train out of Rome and renting a car in Tuscany. Much more time efficient. The roads are good between Rome and Florence especially if you're fond of large trucks (lol). We rented a car in Florence (near the train station - Hertz I think) and had a wonderful time driving around the hill towns etc. Be advised even if you reserve an automatic that may not be what they have available. Renting a car is Florence is easy as long as you avoid returning the car during the morning rush hour (yikes and double yikes). The car rental is outside the traffic restricted zone.

Take a train to Chiusi from Rome and rent a car there. Very simple.

Never rent a car where you are. You should always take a train somewhere and then rent a car there. It's the only way you can pay for a car and a train on the same day as well as burn time changing modes of transportation.

Once again, on the spirit of fairness, I come here to debunk this almost mythological "rent a car at Orvieto" thing. Of course you can do it, but it not necessary. Outside the inner belt (within the Adrian walls, essentially) of Rome, the rest of the city has wide boulevards, couple expressways and other facilities that make driving ok. The city has a world-class ring road connecting all other freeways leading into the city. I therefore recommend that you rent from an agency in the EUR, near Roma Termini (which is a stone throw from A24 highway exit, easy way out of the city), one of the airports... no need to "take a train to Orvieto". Roma Termini is really a good bed: different agencies, and an easy way out of urban traffic into the nearest highway.

I have driven in both Rome and Florence. Driving in Rome can be a challenge, trust me. I actually find driving in Florence worse. It is much smaller but even more confusing. The rush hour in Florence is at least as bad. Once you get to the GRA around Rome its not bad. Of course there are trucks. They are everywhere in modern society. At least they move slowly and in fairly straight lines. I worry much more about the cars and especially motorinos who have all the lane discipline of an avalanche of rocks, weaving in and around all "lanes" of traffic and even using the sidewalk and opposing "lanes". All that being said, I firmly agree with Pansacola Ed that it makes more sense to either use the train or rent in a day. From Termini it can be a reasonable drive to the GRA, if done at the right time.

We rented a car at Ciampino airport and it was very easy. The motorway is simple to access and we drove to Montalcino wo any problem at all-took longer than we expected though. Took a taxi to Ciampino.

Thanks for all the answers--very helpful!

What if you were planning on spending a night in Orvieto anyway? Then you'd 'be there', no? Let's say you picked up your car in Rome, somewhere not far from the Autostrade, (which NO ONE has bothered to actually suggest yet) and hit the highway heading toward Umbria. Where would you go first? Where do you think you'd spend that first night? Are there 'must sees' just outside Rome that are on the experienced travelers itinerary? I like the thought of getting the car in Rome only because I can't find a rental desk open on Sundays in Orvieto. But if Im getting the car just to drive straight to somewhere that's easily accessible by train I don't see the point.

We rented a car in Rome and Drove to Florence. This is what we found useful. 1- we didnt' rent until we were ready to leave Rome. You really don't want to drive in Rome. 2- When we were ready to leave Rome and rent the care we went to the airport to do it. We were going to leave from the Rome airport and we found that picking up and droping off at the same location was less expensive. 3- The drive to Florence was nice. However, once in Florence we found a garage and parked the car. YOu don't want to drive in Florence. 4- I have a Garmin and bought the chip for Italy from them. It saved hours and probably a divorce. 5- It you don't drive a manual transmission be careful not to get one. Reserve well in advance. Lot's of manual transmission rentals. 6- Leave plenty of time to return the car to the airport if you are dropping it off before a flight. Finding the rental locations and drop off can be a hassle.

For what it's worth, Americans might remember that most airport car rentals charge extra, over the rate charged by agencies in town. In Italy it has always been 20% more at the airport. Maybe it has changed, we rarely rent a car, but it is sure worth it to check.

We spent two weeks driving around Tuscany and rented a farmhouse near Siena. Flew into Rome and rented the car at the airport. Getting on the Autostrata was easy and the highway system is very much like ours. Rent a small car that is easy to drive and park. Parking can be a real problem when you go to some of the small hill towns. Florence is a nightmare. Take public transportation into the city. Expect long drive times on country roads that are very narrow with no lines. We returned the car at the airport. GPS is a lifesaver.

Charles, I rent often in Italy, and I found that the "surcharges" have largely disappeared if you use an external agency like Autoeurope to quote. But still, usually the best rental rates are found at car rentals in train stations.

Lisa, Just did this 5 weeks ago. Our cruise ended in Barcelona so we flew into FCO on a Sunday morning. Since we can't drive a stick we had a reservation for an automatic. We picked the car up and drove into Tuscany with our Garmin GPS and road atlas. It was very easy to get on the autostrada and we found our farmhouse very easily. We drove back to FCO on a Thursday afternoon and dropped the car off then went to the Hilton for the night. It cost us almost $600 but we got the super CDW as I didn't want to take any chances.

Lisa, I have to agree with Nigel and Andre. Its a "piece of cake" to pick up your car in Rome, and then head to Tuscany. But, it depends on the location, and the time of day. One year we picked up our rental car at the huge underground rental lot under the Bourgesee Galley, right next to the Spainish Steps. (all of the majors use this lot..and the rates are generally much less here than at the airport or Termini. See Rick's book about how to acess this lot. and it is easy getting out of town from this location) I have also heard great things about picking up a car at Termini. We also had no problem picking up a car at the airport. But...if you decided to pick up your car in cental Rome during rush hour, , and you don't have your GPS, all bets are off.

We picked up our car in Orvieto - made it an overnight stay (as recommended by other on this site) and left the next day with our rental car - easy!

I have taken the train from Rome to Florence and picked up the car at the airport and just headed directly to the freeway... easy. I took the train simply because I wanted to have the train experience along that route. I would definitely not drive in Rome and I am pretty good at European driving, but downtown Rome....I don't think so. Rent at the airport and head out of town.

Not sure what your itinerary dates are, but we picked up a rental care at Leonardo da Vinci Airport on a Saturday in July. Big mistake! We had about a three hour wait and those behind us waited even longer. It seemed they could not get the cars back early enough to get them back on the road. We noticed the same delay the following Saturday when we dropped the car off. Other days and months might be better; I don't know. I'm just reporting our experience.

Take the train to Tuscany and rent when you get there. Rome's a bitch to drive in; not recommended. Where are you staying in Tuscany? Most people would make their arrival point Florence. You also don't want to drive in the Florence city center to avoid ZTL entanglements (unless you know what you are doing and have made arrangements with your hotel and their assigned parking garage). Generally, I like picking up and dropping off at a train station or airport location as they have longer hours and are sometimes open on Sundays. I rented a car in Florence this last September, and we did stay in and drive around the ZTL. We had made arrangements with the hotel and with their assigned parking garage. In this case, the rental agency was just a block away from the parking garage and we returned the car in France, so we did end up renting from one of the in-town locations.