Umbria starting point from Rome airport?

Before I got to the end of your post, I was initially thinking start in Orvieto. But since that’s already the end destination in your plans, Spoleto is a great place to visit. Two years ago, in rainy October, we actually stayed for a week at an agriturismo a few miles outside of Spoleto, and visited the old town on a day trip. Having three days would’ve allowed more exploration. The parking garage at the foot of the town was a bit confusing at first, trying to find the long, interior escalators that lead up, up, and up into the town. Staying outside of Spoleto meant traveling on narrow farm roads to get to highways, but it ultimately allowed visits on other days to nearby wine region and hill towns, including Spello, Bevagna, and Assisi. We were far enough out of Spoleto, though, that we didn’t attempt to go into town for dinner, driving the tiny roads in the dark, with rain many nights, and having to consider whether one of us could have any wine if they were driving. We had dinner every night at the agriturismo.

I haven’t been to Todi for comparison.

Hmmm. It’s about 2-2.5 hour drive from Rome to Spoleto or Todi. After a very long flight, I wouldn’t then get into a car and drive, especially if this will be your first time driving in Europe. But that’s just me.

Have you thought about taking a train from Rome to Spoleto and start your car rental the next day from Spoleto?

My advice is not to drive at all after flying all night. Jetlag is no joke and is sneaky. We have driven in Italy many, many times and would not do what you are thinking of doing.

You could take the train from Roma Termini straight to a town called Terni in Umbria ---it's an hour and a bit. There are rental car places near the train station, but how about staying in Terni over night and getting your car the next morning. There are several nice churches in Terni and what look like some decent places to eat.

Terni is where we returned our rental car after spending a month in Umbria, although we did not stay in Terni in the days before we returned to Rome, but in nearby Narni for four nights, a small medieval town we liked very much with really good restaurants. So you could actually take the train from Rome to Narni (an hour) then a 10 minute taxi into Narni from its train station and stay in Narni for a couple nights. Train or bus into Terni to get your rental car.

After you get your car, you can drive it to your first real base. We sure enjoyed Spoleto, but also stayed in Perugia, Gubbio, Norcia, and Orvieto.

You could also take the train to Orvieto—-2 hours from FCO, including the transfer time at Roma Termini. Rent your car there the next day and head out to jSpoleto or wherever, then loop back to return the car at Orvieto at the end.

For all those reasons, I also recommend taking the train to Orvieto on arrival. Spend 2-3 nights there, then rent the car and drop it wherever you're flying home from.

Have you been to Italy? Have you driven in Italy? Do you know the pitfalls of driving in Italy?

Hi FM,
We started in Todi. But just be aware that Todi has a somewhat steeeep main drag. We managed OK, but wished that a flatter first-stop town had been our choice.
I am done. The end.

Hi there...I'm not sure when you are heading out on this trip but we are doing the same thing from the Rome airport. Our flight arrives at 17:00 so we are driving to Civittavecchia for the first night and then the next morning we are going to drive to Vitebro and Orvieto, ending up in Todi as our base for 3 nights. Hope you have or had a great trip.

For Michelle:

In 2022, we flew into Rome and planned to take the train to Civitavecchia --- there are frequent 1.5 hour trains, even some directly from the airport but we went to Termini. The plan was to take a taxi from Civitvecchia to Tarquinia, stay there 3 nights, and then back to Civitavecchia to rent our car. Excellent plan, except we failed to check on train strikes and there was one, so we ended up actually taking a taxi to Tarquinia as our best but most expensive option. Renting a car in Civitvecchia after three days worked out great, though, and we would do that again. Civitavecchia, although not the adorable Tuscan town of people's dreams, does have an old center with nice hotels and B&Bs and you could stay there one night after your flight so as not to be driving jetlagged and tired. There are several car rental agencies in town --- we always rent from Europcar.