First time in Italy and have questions about traveling to(and around) Chianti

dcarter4

New member
Hi All!

GREAT forum! My wife and I will be traveling to abroad for the first time in Italy. We have done a lot of cruises, but this trip will be out of our comfort zone. I am surprising her with a trip at the end of April (4/25 - 5/5).

We will be flying into and out of Rome. We will be spending 3 nights in Rome, then Venice, and finally Chianti (specifically, we are staying at Hotel Le Pozze di Lecchi,Gaiole in Chianti).

We are big wine people, and would like to travel the wineries as well as check out some castles.

I really want to relax and the thought of driving a car...terrifies me! It looks like we will be taking a train from Venice to ???? Florence?

Questions:

1) Can a train get us closer to Gaiole (than Florence)?
2) Do most people just rent a car in Florence and drive to Gaiole?
3) If you've never driven in europe...will I die?
4) Is there a place in Chianti to rent a car?

That will get me started...but I have a lot more questions!

TIA

Dwayne
 
Living it up in Tuscany

Buongiorno,

Great surprise... Bravo!

Questions:

1) Can a train get us closer to Gaiole (than Florence)? - no trains will get you any closer to Gaiole than SMN in Florence

2) Do most people just rent a car in Florence and drive to Gaiole? Yes, most people prefer to just rent a car and drive to Gaiole. Though you could look into getting a private driver (have a read through this article for ore information: https://www.discovertuscany.com/tuscany-car-rental/tuscany-wine-and-drive.html )

3) If you've never driven in europe...will I die? :cool: There are never any guarantees, however I can tell you that the road into Chianti is pleasant, with some curves but fantastic scenery. I used to drive the road out of Florence into Chianti everyday after work... it is not dangerous.

4) Is there a place in Chianti to rent a car? There are a few places to rent a car in the Chianti area but, they are smaller private companies as opposed to companies like Hertz, Alamo, etc. Though I wouldn't want to persuade you not to rent a car through a smaller company - just trying to prepare you.

Buon Viaggio,

Donna Denise
 
Hi! I hope you will enjoy Chianti and Tuscany in general!

1) Can a train get us closer to Gaiole (than Florence)?
You can book travel surely from Venice to Florence by train and may be there's a train to reach Gaiole in Chianti, but on the website of Trenitalia I've found only a train from Florence Santa Maria Novella to Castellini in Chianti-Monteriggioni. So you can manage to take a bus or hire a car (also with english speaking driver if you wish).

2) Do most people just rent a car in Florence and drive to Gaiole?
May be is the best solution, even if you are terrified by the idea of driving in Italy :)

3) If you've never driven in europe...will I die?
And... why?

4) Is there a place in Chianti to rent a car?
Yes there are several companies hiring cars, but I can't suggest anyone of them (I don't know them). I can only suggest, if you like the idea, a great company hiring car with driver: Coave.
 
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