Train to Rental Car logistics question - Manarola to Genoa

Why do you need to pick it up at the GOA Airport?
Picking up at airports costs even more.
Assuming you choose one of the major companies in Italy (Europcar, Hertz, Avis, in order of number of agencies in the country), all of them have offices in La Spezia, which would be only a minor backtracking from Manarola. But even going the opposite direction toward Genova, all of them have an office in Genova not far from the Genova Brignole station. If you want to pick up even before Genova, Avis has an office in Lavagna near the station. Hertz has one in Chiavari, Europcar has one in Rapallo. All of the above cities are between Manarola and Genoa.
Also I don’t know if you drive to Barolo via Savona. If so Europcar and Hertz have an office in Savona too. Europcar is also in Alba, 20 min from Barolo.
Personally I would probably choose one of the aforementioned towns in between (Rapallo, Chiavari, or Lavagna, depending on which company you select). They are not huge towns, therefore easier to navigate to get to the freeway.
I use these consolidators:
www.autoeurope.com
www.kemwel.com
They mostly work with Europcar, Hertz, Avis-Budget.
Check the opening hours in Saturday. Some offices open only till 1230pm.

The easiest is Avis in La Spezia, but they are conveniently closed on Saturday. Hertz and Europcar are open Sat. morning, but they are a taxi ride from La Spezia's Centrale. I'd go for Europcar in Rapallo as it's near the train station and you don't have to drive in downtown Genoa. Second choice Hertz or Europcar near Genoa Brignole. Stay away from Lavagna as it was listed as Maggiore last year, and it gets bad reviews. All these are only open Sat. morning, for Sat. afternoon you need to go to the airport from Principe or Brignole on the Via Bus. There's more info and maps here: https://www.apathtolunch.com/2015/11/where-to-rent-car-from-cinque-terre-la.html

Thanks for the replies.

The Saturday open times was one of the prime reasons I was thinking Genoa airport. My first plan was to take train all the way to Alessandria and have a really short drive to Barolo, but was worried about getting stuck without a car if there was a train delay and we didn't get to office before closing. Another concern is there are 6 of us travelling together. We are going to have to get a van of some kind to have room for all of us and our luggage. Was thinking the airport site would potentially have a better inventory of vehicles. I plan to reserve, but didn't know if we had the worry of getting to the counter at a place in a smaller town and them being out of cars big enough to fit our group. I know in the US, I have reserved a specific car type and then had that not available when I go to the counter. Didn't know if that is a concern in Europe.

Will definitely look at Rapallo or the other towns south of Genoa. So, is the rental place walking distance from the train station in Rapallo?

The Europcar Rapallo office is approximately 200 m. from the Rapallo train station, a 3 minute walk. That office closes at 12:30pm on Saturday. They are located at a car dealer called Autosalone Columbia.
Regarding having a car large enough for 6 people, if you have two adult drivers (over age 25) in your party, consider renting two economy vehicles instead of one van.
Check prices on www.autoeurope.com selecting the Europcar choice in Rapallo or anywhere else. You will discover that renting a van costs as much as renting three Economy cars (or 2 and a half compacts). If you can, having two vehicles (with 3 people in each), although smaller, provide more flexibility, more comfort, more space for luggage, and also more maneuverability in the ancient narrow Italian streets.
Economy cars rarely come in the automatic transmission option, so I count you all know how to drive a stick. Compacts and above have both manual and automatic transmission options (but you must specifically request it, because Europeans aren’t fond of automatic cars (they think they are for handicapped people) so rental companies keep few in their fleet as they aren’t so easy to resell.

Thanks Roberto,
We have talked about the 2 small vehicles vs 1 big vehicle option.

It is my wife, son and his wife (both under 25), daughter, and my wife's mom going with me. My wife and I are really the 2 main feasible drivers, particularly if we are in a manual transmission as my kids have never driven manuals.

We much prefer to all be able to be in the same car if possible/practical. First, we would just like to be together as we are driving across NW Italy and SE France. Second, my wife isn't crazy about having to do extensive driving in Europe. We do plan to sign her up as a second driver, but I would be the primary driver. Third, we will be doing wine tours in the Barolo area in Italy as well as northern Rhone area in France, so having 1 designated driver will be easier than having 2.

To add more details to our plan, we will be doing a one-way rental, picking up on our way out of Manarola and returning to Malpensa a little over a week later. Along the way, we will be travelling to Barolo area, Tain L'Hermitage in France, Chamonix and then travelling through the Mt Blanc tunnel back into Italy then spending our last night in Europe on the west side of Lake Maggiore before flying out of Malpensa the next day.

As I have been searching, it looks like the desire for a 6 passenger vehicle with a Saturday pickup may push us to a GOA pickup or La Spezia. Looked up info on Rapallo and Europcar only had 5 passenger and smaller there.

I have been a little worried about car size, primarily for parking purposes. I think we will be OK at our Barolo and Chamonix houses. A little worried about Tain L'Hermitage as we have an apartment with street parking and looking at streetview on google maps, the parking spots don't look very big.

One more question that is hopefully an easy one. I appreciate the feedback on the various questions I have asked over the past month.

I ended up reserving a car from Europecar to pick up in La Spezia Saturday morning. Obviously getting from Manarola to La Spezia via train will be easy. I assume I will get off at La Spezia Centrale. Looks like it is a little over 3km from Centrale to the rental office.

Will taxi's be readily available outside Centrale to get us from the train station to the rental agency?