Tuscany Driving Adventure - Need Your Help

I have never been asked for an additional or Intl. license while renting a car in Italy. I have rented in Florence several times from three different agencies. I had never heard of that provision until visiting this forum. Maybe I am just lucky! (Or stupid as I read around - it does seem you need to have one - but the rental agents have never asked me for one. I have never been stopped on the road here though either so I have yet to learn the hard way).

1. Parking

Yes - the blue square sign with the white "P". And then read whatever signs are around as to street cleaning days and times (good to be familiar with the week day names). You will probably also have to put money into a centrally located machine, where you buy parking time (depends on the town - but perhaps a euro an hour) - the machine usually takes notes as well as coins, and spits out a piece of paper with the time you can park to - you put that inside your car where the meter readers can see it. If you see the round white sign with red border - stop and turn around. The page on the Slow Travel site has a good list of the signs and driving - start here:

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/introduction.htm

1. Do you 'need' a car reservation

Rent on-line or on the phone before you leave for sure to shop around for the best price. And dropping off in another town will most likely cost more, yes.

If you want to sight see definitely get off the A1 - but then it is going to take you much longer to get to Gaiole of course. Maybe driving up to the SP326 and then across (heading west) to Montepulciano, Pienza, and San Qurico would be fun before heading north again. This map hits many places:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=orvieto&daddr=montepulciano+to:pienza+to:san+quirico+to:siena+to:Castellina+in+Chianti+SI,+Italy+to:Gaiole+in+Chianti+SI,+Italy&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=43.373112,11.509552&sspn=0.263536,0.578156&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=9

Question 1. Do we still need international drivers license in Italy in 2009?

Answer: Yes, get an int'l driver permit (IDP) from the AAA for $20

Question 3. Do you 'need' a car reservation in Orvieto (or any other town you guys convince me to rent from), or can you just show up and get a fair price?

Answer: You cannot show up and be assured of a fair price. Standard advice given here is to save significant money by booking your car rental online in advance from the US.

Added note: Don't attempt to drive your car into the historic center of Florence, where the sights and most of the hotels are. Get back to us if you need to know why.

1. Yes. Do as Kent suggested.
2. If you have a GPS you can have it send you to public parking lots. Or go old school and just look for blue signs with a 'P' and follow the arrows. Most of the hill towns are small enough that you can find parking with ease.
3. Yes make a reservation. When you make your reservation you'll be able to find out what the extra fees may be to leave the car in Pisa.

As for taking a route. We stayed and drove through Tuscany & Umbria for a week. We really just made it up as we went. Didn't plan too much, and when we saw a hill town in the distance we would make our way over and check it out. We stumbled onto some local fairs that way.

From above post: "I have never been asked for an additional or Intl. license while renting a car in Italy. I had never heard of that provision until visiting this forum. Maybe I am just lucky! (Or stupid as I read around - it does seem you need to have one - but the rental agents have never asked me for one. I have never been stopped on the road here though either so I have yet to learn the hard way)."

Comment: Whether an IDP is required by Italian law has been much discussed on this forum. Let's go over it again:

In general, an Italian car rental company will not ask to see your IDP when you're at the counter picking up the car. That does not mean Italian law does not require you to have an IDP--there are two separate issues here. The rental company not asking to see your IDP only means the rental companies (apparently) aren't required to enforce Italian law.

One more time: What rental companies ask to see, and what is required by Italian law, are two different things.

When people ask, on this forum, if they need an IDP in Italy, the standard advice given is to give them an accurate answer according to what we understand to be Italian law, which is:

1. Italian law requires you to have an IDP.

2. It's unlikely your rental company will ask to see the IDP when you're picking up the car.

3. Statement #2, above, does not mean you're not required to have an IDP in Italy.

If someone asks the different question of: Have people gotten away without having an IDP in Italy, the answer is, yes, we frequently get posts from people that were either unaware of Italian law on this point, or were but decided to save the $20 and the trip to AAA, since they figured they could get away with it.

But the advice given here is to tell you what we understand Italian law is on this.

And we've had reports from a few travelers who were involved in accidents in Italy and were then glad they had an IDP.

Brian,
Some places that are difficult without a car in southern Tuscany and would be a long drive from Gaiole: Sorano, Sovana, Pitigliano and Saturnia.

Yes, an IDP is required by Italian law see http://www.patente.it/codice/135.htm
because most of us have a state license not fedreal.

Take a look at Autoeurope for car rental.

The Slow Travel link you were given is a good one for signs.

I have rented a car to drive around Tuscany a few times and always loved it. Some towns we like are: Pienza - delicious pecorino cheese, great views
Montepulciano - great for wine tasting in the fortress, don't miss the Brunello
the tiny Celle sul Rigo with a great resturant, La Primavera (tell Fabio hello!)
San Casiano dei Bagini - great pizza at Blue Eyes
Lucca is great, but don't drive into town
In Umbria, some bigger & busier ones:
Orveitto
Asissi

I strongly suggest reserving the car in advance and having an International Driver's License, we got stopped in a road block type thing, they were stopping everyone who drove into town, and showing it and being polite got us waived on while others were pulled to the side.

www.gemut.com is the site I use. They specialize in Germany, but I always use them for all of Europe. They have great prices and will beat any lower if you can find one.

Enjoy!

Brian,
First, I am not an expert, most of the ladies and gentlemen above are, so if I conflict with something they have said, go with their statement.
I rented from autoeurope for our upcoming trip. 4wheels 2doors and not much more for 317.00 USD for 7 days. Pick up in LaSpezia, and return to Chiusi. I thought that was probably better that I could do in the states. That rate included Ins as well, 900 deductible I believe. I have read everything I can find about hilltowns in southern Europe, and most all have been mentioned in this thread. Study the signs. Have a great time. Jeff

Don't forget Montalcino! Very close to Pienza and Montepulciano. We loved driving in Tuscany, it's very easy and very enjoyable.

While you are waiting at the AAA for the processing of your International Drivers Permit; in my case, my third IDP at 23 dollars per, you might want to check out the excellent selection of Rick Steves endorsed travel items conveniently available in the AAA travel store.
While there, I was able to purchase a complete set of plastic eating utensils, including a cork screw, in a nice round packaged cylinder, with the Rick Steves signature on the side, for a mere $15. :)

Brian,

We rented a car in Siena last week. We were required to produce the International License as well as our California Driver's License to get the car, so you need both if you want to rent a car.

Be sure to request a GPS--we neglected to do so when reserving, so one wasn't available on pick up, and we drove around in circles just trying to get out of, and then back into, Siena! We purchased the additional CDW coverage for 8 Euros a day's worth of peace of mind.

We drove to Greve and Panzano in Chianti one day, and to Montepulciano the next. Places to park in all of these towns were clearly visible; i.e., public parking lots outside of the historic centers.

Rick's book, the guys at the car rental agency and our hotel were all very helpful regarding where to park and how to avoid the ZTL (in Siena, just stay outside the ancient wall circling the historic center).

Kathleen or anyone else ...

When you rent in Siena, how far of a walk is it from the train station to the car rental offices?

We want to arrive by train in a town where we can easily get to the rental office, because we are towing a lot of luggage with us.

Do we take a cab in Siena instead of walking?

Brian,
The closest car rental to Siena train station is Hertz. I would guess it is about a half kilometer away and up hill. You would have to cross two very busy roads.

Hi Brian, just returned from Italy & we rented a car in Orvieto. Yes, you DEFINITELY need to have an Intl Drivers Permit and yes, you definitely need to have a reservation for the car rental. I had a reservation (through Auto Europe) & unfortunately there was a mix-up when I arrived at Hertz in Orvieto & they didn't have my reservation or have a car for me to rent. We tried Avis (right next door)& they also had no cars so you definitely need a reservation. We ended up taking the train to Siena (because we were staying in an agriturismo near Siena) & the next day I picked up a car in Siena. Both Hertz & Avis are very close to the train station in Orvieto so it won't be far to walk with luggage. We visited a number of hill towns & we always parked outside the walls in public lots. Very easy to identify.

Brian, sorry this reply is so late, I haven't been on the site during the work week. We took a taxi to the Avis office, as it was across town from our hotel.