We are flying from Chicago to Rome . We arrive at 0700 . We the plan to proceed by rental car to Tuscany . I have heard conflicting advice ...stay the night at the airport Hilton . Do a one day tour of Rome and start the drive the next day when we are fresh or have a car and driver take us to Viterbo. Stay the night and pick up our rental car there the next day . I've picked up a rental car at Florence Airport (after a few days in country and with the able assistance of my ace navigator did ok .But I have heard Rome airport is much more challengeing ...advice?

Does your rental begin the day that you arrive at Rome airport? If so then have a shot of espresso, pick up your car and go. Depending on where in Tuscany the rental is, the drive will take 3 - 4 hours. Make sure the rental agency/property owner gives you good directions, and have a navigator beside you. If you start to fade, stop for a bite or another espresso or juice - to get the blood sugar up - at an Autogrill on the autostrada. This is not your first time driving in Italy so you should do just fine.
Marie

Thank you , We arrive on Friday ,rental starts on Saturday . db

David, Pauline has a very nice write-up on picking up cars at FCO. Find it on the slowtrav website.

If you arrive on a Friday and your rental starts Saturday, you have three options as I can see it:

Call your rental and see if you can check in a day early. It might be possible, we have done so several times. If so, get your car and drive. I find a capuccino, an espresso and a panino al prosciutto will do it for me for the first 2 hours and another stop for the bathroom, 2 more espressi and maybe a bite of something else will let me complete the 4 hours you will need to get to Toscana. If you do this, take the A1. The Roma airport is not any more challenging than any other big city airport and the route to the A1 is oerfectly clear.

Stay somewhere on the way. If I were you, think about either Orvieto or somewhere around Tarquinia or Cerveteri. You could get to these destinations well before lunch and get your luggage dropped of at your hotel if not actually checked in. Lunch and then a leisurely walk, a nap before dinner and all will be well. The next day, more sightseeing and then a midday or after lunch drive to your rental. Orvieto is a pretty spectacular site still on our to do list and Tarquinia and Cerveteri have unreal Etruscan tombs. Either would be a nice first night.

Train into Roma and spend the night. But what are you going to see i half a day and half a day in Roma. Could be worse though!

I'd definitely pick up the car and go, stopping at the first AutoGrille for espresso and a panini.

Driving into/out of the Rome airport is really not a huge deal, if you can drive in Chicago, you can handle it.

You are the only one who knows how tired/disoriented you would feel after the flight, but if you do feel the need to stay a day before going to Tuscany, I would recommend something other than the hilton at the airport. Why waste a day in an expensive, boring hotel looking at the airport? Even paying for a cab ride, you can stay someplace nice in the city and enjoy a little bit of Rome for the day....and it will almost certainly be cheaper!

The other option of staying halfway also sounds very reasonable, I second Dean's suggestion of Orvieto- it is wonderful!

Hope you have a wonderful trip!
Kate

Thank all for the advice...Think I will stay in Orvieto the first night .

Another good stop-over, just inland from Tarquinia, is Tuscania, which has a lovely small hotel with a very good restaurant -- Al Gallo.

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Originally posted by katecoleman:
Driving into/out of the Rome airport is really not a huge deal, if you can drive in Chicago, you can handle it.

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Just be sure to get the ticket from the rental agent to get out of the garage! My husband worked off his jet lag hoofing it back to the rental area while I sat in the car and watched other people having the same problem of no ticket, no exit.

From the airport drive towards Roma, about 10 km. Exit onto the Grande Raccondo Anulare (GRA), the ring road around Rome and follow signs for Firenze, Autostrada del Sole (A1). Drive about 25 km to exit number 10 (the exits 8, 9 and 10 are grouped together). Exit 10 takes you to the E35, connecting to A1 north in the direction of Firenze. Drive along E35 for 20 km to the Autostrada A1, which is a toll road with frequent service stations, restaurants and coffee shops with clean restrooms. When you arrive at the tollgates of the Autostrada, go to an unmarked gate, or a gate marked Biglietto = ticket.

When you exit, the larger stations have several tollgates to go to, depending on your payment method. Look for the signs, you can also pay by credit card.

You can find more details about driving in Italy, the Autostrada system and tolls at SlowTrav.

Cheers,
Zak
www.tuscanhouse.com