Renting Cars in Rome to Sardinia/Sicily

Never ferried a rental to Sicily or Sardinia, although I ferried it from Sardinia to Corsica and viceversa.

Although many rental companies do not allow taking rental cars on boats, however they usually make an exception for ferries to/from Italian islands from/to mainland. You should check with the individual rental company you use in any case.

The other thing you and your hubby should know is that for Sardinia at least, it is cheaper to have separate rentals for the island, because ferrying a car across to Sardinia isn't cheap, therefore it makes sense for Italians and Europeans who ferry their own cars, but it doesn't make much sense to ferry a rental. Traveling to Sardinia via ferry is also very time consuming (about 12 hours from Palermo to Cagliari, or about 6-7 from Civitavecchia to Olbia). Consider also that the night ferry from Sicily (Palermo) to Sardinia (Cagliari) is only once a week. If you intend to travel to Sardinia from Sicily, you should consider flying to Cagliari from either Palermo or Catania (Ryanair has non stop flights between Sicily and Sardinia). Then once in Sardinia you would pick up a new rental car, which you would drop before returning to Rome preferably via air (from either Cagliari or Olbia or even Alghero), since the ferry ride to Civitavecchia + the transfer to Rome is also very long (and not that much cheaper than flying).

@ Jonti

April took two leased cars on the ferry to Sicily for 4 days,

Cannot offer specific legal advice as is outside the jurisdictional area of my country. but generally, read your rental and insurance contracts carefully and understand them. My sons had leased cars, and this was allowed under the contract. Do not know about rentals.

For Sicily, I suggest that you watch a number of Youtube videos as gantry signs on both sides of the strait are in Italian. There are attendants whom I noticed helping slightly bewildered motorists. The entry to the ferry terminal at Messina was a bit tricky.

Regards Ron