If I may pick your well-traveled brains - we are taking the train from Rome to Florence on our trip in July, then picking up a car for the Umbria part of our trip, then returning the car when we return to Rome. There are 4 adults on this trip, each with what I imagine to be a standard-sized suitcase (cannot pack any lighter I'm afraid). Rental agency person tells my husband that a sedan will not have enough trunk room for luggage (something I had tghought of already), suggesting a wagon-type. My concerns are having the luggage exposed when we stop. Does anyone have a similar experience or suggestions for us? As always, your advice is great.

Hi Marcia,

How big is a "standard-sized suitcase"?

Try this link to NovaRentaCar. It will show you the cars and how many passengers, suitcases they will hold.

I often read warnings about keeping luggage hidden. Well, if I was going to leave my fully laden car parked overnight in the centre of Naples or Rome, I'd think carefully about removing valuable objects - but for normal, daytime parking in normally touristed areas, then I suggest you do what most European travellers do: lock your car and leave it in a visible place.

I've just returned from driving the length of Italy, twice in 10 days. We took our wagon, because we had a lot of stuff to take down to Puglia, and then drove it back. Since it was the Easter holidays, lots of other European families were on the move, and over half the cars were wagons/people carriers of some sort. People have these cars, they drive them, they park them. And holiday luggage is visible. I'm not saying thefts never happen, but I think a locked, modern car with alarm fitted (and all rental cars will be like this) is secure enough for me, personally, to go off and eat my lunch contentedly!

Jonathan