We are schedule to start our Tuscany road trip in Florence. We will be staying in Florence from 3/26 to 3/30/25. On 3/30 is when we are going to pick up the rental car to start the road trip. We are planning to pick the rental car at the main train station (Santa Maria Novella) and my concern is that it is inside the Florence ZTL. We will return the car on 4/13 same location so we can take the train to Venice. Our concerns picking up and returning the car is dealing with the ZTL zones and we want to avoid to be fined. Did anybody had this experience before and how you have handled the ZTL zones issues. In addition, what car rental companies you recommend taking in consideration that returning on 4/13 is Sunday and we will be driving from Pienza to Florence for the return. Your recommendations and suggestions will be more than appreciated.
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
7187 posts
Do a forum search
There are directions for driving in and out of Florence
Here us one thread, there are others
Look for posts by Roberto
All drivers must have an IDP ( along with your driver license)
Get it at your AAA
It is required by law and the rental agency may refuse to rent you the car if you don’t have one
We always rent with AutoEurope
I think most agencies are open Sunday ( possibly limited hours) at the train station locations-if not pick up at Florence airport
Posted by
130 posts
There are lots of discussions on this in various threads on this forum if you search for rental car florence so that maybe review some of those.
But here are some basics: from the train station parking garage where you pick up the car, you can exit and get out to the west and then south to head to Pienza without going through the ZTL. And then basically back track to do the same for the return. Roberto has previously posted some nice directions/ maps in various forum posts to help with this - they were very helpful to me. I suggest following the exit route in Google Maps street view ahead of time so you are a little familiar with the roads before doing it, and timing your exit not for rush hour evening traffic if possible (speaking from experience).
I rented through AutoEurope (aggregator) based on the recommendations here in the forum, and got a Zero Deductible rates to make sure we had no problems. We picked Europcar, in part because they also had drop off in Rome/FCO which we needed. Keep in mind that you have to walk to the office on Borgo Ognissanti, then walk back to the train station to actually pick up the car.
You'll have to check on Sunday hours, that might limit which operator you pick.