Greetings, all. Looking for advice or thoughts from those who have rental car experience in Tuscany.
We have not previously driven in Italy, so far our trips have been in the urban cores of the three major cities and in the RS Sicily tour so we have not needed to drive.
But this time we are traveling from Florence to the Borgo Argenina agriturismo near Gaiole, Umbria, 20 minutes N/NE of Siena. A rental car seems a near necessity for exploring the area in the three nights we have booked there. This section of our trip is June 2-5. We have not seen the Tuscan countryside and are thinking that in early June it will be green and lovely.
My research on Kemwell shows two alternatives for car rental:
1) pick up in Florence on Sunday June 2, return in Siena on Wednesday June 5. Should we view the drive from Florence to Siena as a welcome opportunity or as a burdensome necessity ? Google says it is 90 minutes which seems doable but I assume the bit around leaving the Florence metro area will be the most confusing for us, how difficult is it ? Thought we would leave at 10AM hoping to feel rested and avoid congestion. And are we better off picking up at the airport or the center location on Borgo Ognissanti ? The center location is a 5 minute taxi ride whereas the airport is more like 25 minutes, but I wonder if the airport would be less confusing/congested/closer to the arterial route we need for the drive towards Siena ? The one-way drop off fee is quoted as a reasonable $60 for a Panda, total cost $319 for extended cover no deductible which is a reasonable ~$105/day.
or 2) pick up in Siena on Monday the 3rd and return there on Wednesday. Car rental not open on Sunday in Siena, so we would travel Florence-Siena by bus and then take a taxi to the agriturismo on Sunday and back into Siena on Monday. Monday is a national holiday but car rental seems to be open that day. This is obviously less efficient but is there an advantage to limiting driving to greater Siena and the countryside, no driving around Florence ?
I did consider the alternative of skipping a car rental and using guides with cars, but decided that for this part of the trip a car gives us the ability to tailor our own itineraries and timetables.
Other points we should be thinking about ? I know we need to get to AAA for an international driving license, what else ? Thanks !