Renting a car in Tuscany

Rental car offices in Tuscany are in Florence, Pisa, Siena, Arezzo. If you are in Florence visiting that city first, obviously that is the place to rent from. But it also depends on where you are coming from. If for example you are coming from the Cinque Terre and going to some small town or country villa in Tuscany, then you should rent it in La Spezia, next to the Cinque Terre. As a general advice it is not a good idea to have a rental car while staying in Florence as the entire historical center is forbidden to non resident cars. But you can rent it on your way out of Florence. While having a car it is a good idea to have accommodations outside of big cities like Florence. There are plenty of hotels in small towns or country villas all around Tuscany.

Thanks for your reply Roberto. We will be coming from the north, either Venice or Bolzano to Florence. Perhaps we can take the train to Siena and rent the car there.

If you are staying in Florence just rent it in Florence. Just make sure you return it to the airport or one of the out of center locations if you are scared to drive into the city.
If I am in San Francisco and want to rent a car to visit the SF Bay Area, I rent it in San Francisco I don't take the train all the way to San Jose in Silicon Valley (50 miles south) to rent one.

Thanks for your reply. We were going to Siena after visiting Florence. Yes, I agree that it doesn't make sense to go there with the only purpose to rent a car.

We rented a car in Siena and made it to a few other towns as well as Assisi which is not in Tuscany but certainly worth it. Rick maps out a drive in his book which we followed except we included Assisi. In town, Siena, we had to deal with commuters but we live in LA so no big deal. The car was underpowered so ask for a 4cyl at least. (Fiat 500 is what we had- I didn't check the engine everything was fine except stops on hills-we lived and loved it. )

Bill

Thank you Bill for the usefull info!