I booked a car rental for pick up in Rome(at the trainstation), and return a week later in florence (at the train station). We will need a car for the time we are in tuscany (we are staying just outside of florence). Originally, we were going to take the train from Rome to florence.. and then pick up the rental car in florence, but I thought that we could take the whole day to drive from rome to forence, and enjoy the drive... then I did a search here, and everyone says it is a bad idea... now I don't know what to do.. has anyone done this? and how pleasant was it? we will be driving on a saturday, so, will traffic be unbearable?

I picked up a car in downtown Rome a little over a year ago and drove to Tuscany on a Saturday afternoon. The roads were fine, directions relatively easy to follow and the only problem we had was finding our agroturismo in the dark. If I had it to do over again I'd leave earlier but, other than that, it was a breeze.

If you are going to pick up a car at some point that day anyway, why add an additional transfer point and time (to the train and then to the car, vs. just to the car) unless the drive is too far or too difficult for you?

What sort of traffic are you used to? I find Italian traffic relaxing. But I'm used to much worse.

Maybe post the area you normally drive in so people can give you an idea of how bad it will be in comparison.

well.. I'm in St. Louis.. but don't have much expereince with bumper to bumper traffic. I did have an experience driving around the south of france, (cannes, nice, to monaco.. ) it was awful! slow.. bumper to bumper... cars, as far as I could see... that wouldn't be fun for me...

BTW... what are people paying on average for a car rental for a week? I'm getting a prius (figured go green, save on gas, right?) with auto transmission for about $349.00 eur.. is that a decent rate? or should I shop some more?

Why not get the car at the airport and drop it at the airport? What day of the week and what time of day do you plan to get the car and what time do you plan to drop it?

quote:

it was awful! slow.. bumper to bumper... cars, as far as I could see...

I have had traffic like that at the Roma Nord toll plaza, the Mestre toll plaza, downtown Naples, downtown Catania, and once in La Spezia when I was trying to drive to Cinque Terre while everyone was heading to the stadium for a soccer match.

Most of my driving in Italy has been pleasant and no different than most built up areas in the US.

Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Fibonacci:
Why not get the car at the airport and drop it at the airport? What day of the week and what time of day do you plan to get the car and what time do you plan to drop it?

Bill

I just had the same thought and then saw Bill's post. It's not clear from your post why you picked the Rome train station as a pickup point. If you are indeed arriving that day at the airport, why not pick the car up there and avoid the extra trip by train to the Rome train station?

oh, I'm sorry, let me clarify.. I will be in rome for 5 days prior to picking up car. I just didn't think it would be convenient to go all the way out to the airport to pick up the car, when I will be walking distance to the downtown car location.. as far as florence.. I'm dropping off the car downtown florence, as I will be then taking a train to venice..

Scarlet - just relax and enjoy the driving. Driving in Italy is really quite easy. Leaving Rome, you will see lots of signs pointing you to the Autostrades. In Tuscany, the only way you can see and appreciate the countryside is by car.

Driving back into Florence will be slightly more difficult, but by then you will be an expert on the Italian roads.

Scarlet - I LOVE driving in Italy, but Rome is no fun to drive in. The highways that circumvent the city are no problem at all, but the city itself is another story. If you are a first time Italian driver I would not suggest starting in Rome proper.

Scarlet;

Do you know about the ZTL's (zones of limited traffic) in Rome and Florence and Arrezzo?

You can get substantial fines at each of those cities for driving where you are not supposed to.

If you need more info on these, let us know.

Bill

Scarlet--

Who are you renting from? How do you know you are getting a Prius? That would be great given the gas prices in Italy.

Thanks,

jan

Yes, it's been in recent discussions: the ZTL and construction would discourage returning the car to central Florence. I'm curious if there's really a rental location at the Florence station, since Auto Europe doesn't list any. Florence airport would be an easy return location to find, and a short taxi ride into town.

For Rome, I would much prefer the Villa Borghese (via del Galoppatoio) location over Termini; the route out is relatively simple. To have even less city driving, there are peripheral locations such as out on Via Tiburtina.

The autostrada is far less stressful than any American interstate. The drivers actually stay to the right and let people at higher speed go by. City driving is city driving, but it will be only a small part of the whole day's trip.

It wouldn't hurt to spend some time learning the international road signs so that some of the mystery of Italian driving is removed.

Florence is so little
you wont need any car, just your feet!

see.. this is why I LOVE this site! I have never heard of ztl.. so.. I guess I need to do some research.

My car rental is from Hertz, and they confirmed a prius for me. I don't want to scare myself out of driving.. (we will need a car as we have a week in tuscany, which would be very difficult without a car.. ) So, I'll take your suggestion regarding international road signs..

I think most car rental places in Florence are on Borgo Ognissanti. When I picked up a car from there several years ago, it was pretty easy access and just a few minutes to the autostrada. You might want to search this forum for previous threads about returning a car in Florence.

Scarlet,
Have you seen the Driving in Italy pages on the SlowTrav site? They include Italian road signs and other tips for driving in Italy. (Be sure to get your International Driving Permit!)

Look in particular at this post with a map by Itarchivarius if you're thinking of driving to Borgo Ognissanti in Florence.

Now that we've taken care of driving, you might want to get some information on how to pay for city street parking

quote:

Have you seen the Driving in Italy pages on the SlowTrav site? They include Italian road signs and other tips for driving in Italy. (Be sure to get your International Driving Permit!)

Colleen
Unless I missed it, the "Driving in Italy" pages don't have any reference to the ZTL's which have become a BIG issue in the last several years.. It seems that section is due for an updated, expanded, edition.

Bill

quote:

My car rental is from Hertz, and they confirmed a prius for me.

I was just looking at the ZTL info from other cities in Italy and noticed that Bologna allows hybrid vehicles inside their ZTL. I looked at the Firenze ZTL pages I could find and there are some references to "electric traction" vehicles, but I didn't find anything that specifically said "hybrid". Maybe they required a completely electric vehicle.

If I find out more, I'll post it.

Bill

Bill, Jane's piece on parking and the ZTL is here--Traffic Cameras. If you'd like to write up additional content, just let me or another of the Italy mods know--our e-mails are in our profiles. We'd be delighted to add more, as there's obviously a need for as much concrete information as possible!

The drive out of Rome from the Termini is basically a straight shot to the north on via Salaria to the GRA. Just follow the green signs to the Autostrada/GRA (the more traffic there is, the easier it is to look for the green signs). From the GRA, follow the signs to the A1 in the direction of Firenze.

In 2006 I drove from Rome, about 9.30am start, up a secondary road through Lake Belsana, outside of Viterbo, stopping along the way for coffee at a quaint Tuscan village and on to Sienna for a three hour sightseeing. Then drove off to San Gimignanao. Had a good look around there and then found accomodation for the night there. It was a leisurely drive seeing plenty of sights and if needed we could have travelled the short distance onto Florence if we wished. Granted we travelled in the summer hours which gave us plenty oflight. If you take the main freeway you can doing very easily.