We actually rented a car in Florence. If possible find a place in Rome that is on the outskirts so that you don't have to drive in the city. Then we drove around Tuscany, to the Cinque Terre and then to Venice. There is a place to return the car by the train station then you catch the vaporetto to whichever stop you want to go to. I think they told us where to leave it when we rented the car. Also, try to become familiar with their road signs. It is doable and fun.
Happy travels.

We are renting in Rome when we arrive, and spending two weeks about 90 min north of Rome, touring the hill towns and Florence. Then we'll drive to Venice and return the car, spending two nights before we fly home.

You will first need to find a rental company that has locations where you want them. I rented from Budget, a VERY good rate, and will pick the car up at the Rome airport when we fly in. However, their only location in Venice is at the airport so we will have to drive PAST Venice to the aiport to drop the car and then backtrack to Venice to spend two nights. I would rather have dropped the car off in Piazzelle Roma, where you can easily catch the train right into Venice, but we'll deal with this inconvenience for the HUGE savings in price.

Just be sure to check locations out.

Train to Orvieto to rent and drop it at Piazzale Roma.The Hertz outlet is very near the train station, but rent via Autoeurope or Kemwel.

>......I would rather have dropped the car off in Piazzelle Roma, where you can easily catch the train right into Venice,.........<

Hmmmm. I thought that the P Roma was in Venice.

The Piazzale Roma is indeed IN Venice. It is across the Grand Canal from the Santa Lucia train station. Perhaps the poster was referring to the Mestre train station?

We are doing the same. Our rental is with Avis where we are picking up the car in Rome, at a location close to the GRA and then heading to the Chianti region and dropping the car in Venice at the P Roma. Avis has a drop-off there, although they close at 12:30 on the Saturday that we do our drop off so we will be leaving Tuscany very early in the morning to avoid using a drop box.

For return in Venice your only choice is Piazzele Roma - the end of the causeway - cars can;t go any farther than that. Otherwise you would need to return at the airport and then trek into the city. I would check to see which rental agents hav offices there and then who has the best deal.

Driving around IN Rome is a nonsense, but picking up a car inrome and leaving is not a big deal. You just head from a main office straight out to the nearest highway and go from there. (I hate the idea of taking a train to pick up a car in a smaller town which may well have fwer cars/choices as well as shorter opening hours.)

You can always turn the car in at Marco Polo Airport in VCE. I see Hertz is open 8AM-Midnight 7 days a week, as is Avis.

You might follow the recent threads of i_am_kane

Pondering Rome Train Stn. http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/car-rental-at-roma-termini.cfm

Deciding on Airport. http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/car-rental-at-rome-airport-fiumicino.cfm

Checking Insurance Costs. http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/mandatory-car-rental-insurance-in-italy.cfm

At Venice, either Piazzale Roma or the airport will do as a drop-off point (assuming the hire company you use offers the choice). Personally we've always returned cars at the airport which IMO is less depressing than Pizzale Roma - and you then get to arrive in Venice by boat across the lagoon, which is more romantic.

You can return the car to Piazzale Roma or the airport. Be sure to return by 7 pm or they charge for an extra DAY. Also, most car rentals use one of the Euopean brokers, review your bill closely We returned the car to the airport. They charged 100 euros for an extra day, we returned car at 9:20 pm. Just 2 and 1/2 hour after the return time. No one told us this when we rented

Depends on the hire company. Generally we've found it works on a day being 24 hours; so if we've picked a car up at 9am, we've needed to return it by 9am on the end date - although I think we've been let off the odd half hour or so.

Piazzale Roma is the last "drivable" spot for Venice. From there you take the vaporetto into the city.

No one has asked where in Rome you are staying.

That, surely, is key in deciding how and where to exit the city.

If I were staying near Termini, I would be sorely tempted to go by train to Orvieto, as suggested above.

But if I were staying, as we normally do, on the Tiber near Corso V E, I'd take a bus down via Gregorio VII to the Hertz dealer, which is quite close to the ring road/ GRA.