Car Hire help - Rome to Tuscany

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Innes1983

Member
Hi!

First up thanks for all the invaluable information that is posted on here - we have just booked our first trip to Tuscany for my wife's 30th Birthday and cannot wait to put it all into practice! :)

Basically, we are heading to Rome / Tuscany for a week in July. Due to logistics we will be flying in and out of Rome....as it stands we will be having a couple of days in Rome before we head up to Radda in Chianti where we are booked in to stay for 4 nights.

The plan for travel when we are there is that in Rome, we will obviously be looking to use the public transport to get around, and then when it comes to leaving to go to Chianti we will hire a car. Now....I've looked online at car hire places and there are plenty within Rome - only thing I am slightly wary of is the fact I've heard driving in Rome can be a nightmare.

Is this actually the case, and would we be better arranging a car hire from somewhere outwith the city, or is it actually not that bad? I'm not too concerned with the drive in Tuscany itself as it looks ok - more just the Rome part that i'm unsure of -I'm quite a confident driver although I have never driven in Italy before!

Where would be best to arrange car hire through? There are so many places online but not sure who the best provider would be.

Thanks in advance and look forward to any advice....anything you have would be much appreciated. :)
 
Concerned about Car Hire

Buongiorno,

Rome is a nightmare even for the Romans ;-)

If you are really concerned you can train it to Florence and pick up your car rental there. Getting out of Florence is no where as near confusing as getting out of Rome.

Buon Viaggio
 
DonnaDenise said:
Buongiorno,

Rome is a nightmare even for the Romans ;-)

If you are really concerned you can train it to Florence and pick up your car rental there. Getting out of Florence is no where as near confusing as getting out of Rome.

Buon Viaggio
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Hi Donna Denise! Thanks very much for your response. Really appreciate it!

I had thought of that but we are very much looking forward to the drive from Rome to Chianti, so it would be great to pick up from somewhere outside of the Rome mayhem (it looks like what i've heard is true!! :eek:) and drive to our destination.

Also, we weren't really planning on doing anything other than a daytrip into Florence, so hiring a car there would mean we would need to do a couple of trips there and back before we leave, which will eat into our time exploring Tuscany, so isn't ideal.

We fly back from Rome (Ciampino), so we would be looking to drop the car on our way back to there on our last day. Had a look online but i'm really not sure where the best pickup point on the way to and from Chianti would be - can you think of anywhere suitable?

Thanks again!
 
Rome Pick-up

My suggestion is that once you have the price that you want, then speak to the car rental agency to see what they would suggest as the pickup place - and to check and see if they allow a Ciampino drop off. They should because it is an airport and most airports accept drop offs, even if they are from a different pick-up point. BUT it is not the main airport in Rome so they might not all permit the drop off.

If you have a GPS system (and ignore the honking horns) you will work your way out of Rome with no problem...

However I would like to point out if you are going to Chianti then you will most probably be taking the A1 (Autostrada del Sole) - which is the main paid highway in Italy - and getting off at Arezzo or most probably Florence and then drive into Chianti - which is where the pretty roads begin. This is why I thought a train to Florence, a pick-up in Florence and a drive into Chianti (via the Chiantigiana road with the vineyards ect.) might be less stress and optimize your time. Afterwards, you just go into Florece to pick up the car and then check into a drop off at Ciampino.

You could drive out of Chianti into Siena, Montalcino, Pienza, Montepulciano pick up the A1 going south and skirt around Rome to the airport - no need to go back into the city center.

Hope this helps,

Donna
 
DonnaDenise said:
However I would like to point out if you are going to Chianti then you will most probably be taking the A1 (Autostrada del Sole) - which is the main paid highway in Italy - and getting off at Arezzo or most probably Florence and then drive into Chianti - which is where the pretty roads begin. This is why I thought a train to Florence, a pick-up in Florence and a drive into Chianti (via the Chiantigiana road with the vineyards ect.) might be less stress and optimize your time. Afterwards, you just go into Florece to pick up the car and then check into a drop off at Ciampino.

You could drive out of Chianti into Siena, Montalcino, Pienza, Montepulciano pick up the A1 going south and skirt around Rome to the airport - no need to go back into the city center.

Hope this helps,

Donna
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Donna,

Fantastic - thank you so much. Looked into this a little more over the weekend and it looks like the express train between Rome and Florence is only an hour and a half in duration, so we could easily book tickets for that and pick up from Eurocar near the SMN Station in Florence, which also have the option for a Ciampino drop off. :)

I don't suppose you know what station in Rome the express trains leave from to go to Florence?

Gets me round the whole driving in Rome issue quite the thing!!! Really appreciate your help on this.

All that's left to do now is book a hotel in Rome for a few nights. I know this is a Tuscany forum so I don't want to muddy the water but we were looking at the Trastevere area - seems to be central enough with a nice mix of places to eat / drink.

We were looking at options of things do to when we are in Tuscany online yesterday and we cant wait to get there!
 
Train Station in Rome

Innes1983 said:
Donna,

Fantastic - thank you so much. Looked into this a little more over the weekend and it looks like the express train between Rome and Florence is only an hour and a half in duration, so we could easily book tickets for that and pick up from Eurocar near the SMN Station in Florence, which also have the option for a Ciampino drop off. :)

I don't suppose you know what station in Rome the express trains leave from to go to Florence?

Gets me round the whole driving in Rome issue quite the thing!!! Really appreciate your help on this.

All that's left to do now is book a hotel in Rome for a few nights. I know this is a Tuscany forum so I don't want to muddy the water but we were looking at the Trastevere area - seems to be central enough with a nice mix of places to eat / drink.

We were looking at options of things do to when we are in Tuscany online yesterday and we cant wait to get there!
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You would most probably be looking at the TERMINI train station in Rome.
 
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