You do not want to drive in Naples. Driving there is crazy.

In summer, there is also an afternoon bus (Marozzi) at 5 pm if that works for you. www.marozzivt.it

It's really not difficult to change trains in Naples as long as you can get your luggage up a flight of stairs in the train station. I don't see much advantage to returning a car at Rome's airport. You would then have to train into the city or taxi.

Thanks kybourbon. Do you know if the bus runs on Sat & Sun? Do you need to make reservations in advance? Also, where does the bus leave you in Rome? I have some mobility issues so I don't want to have to carry luggage up stairs. I looked at the marozzi site-all italian! Denise

The bus leaves you at Rome's Tiburtina station which is a major metro/train/bus hub.

On the Marozzi website, if you first get a pop-up just click ok. Next click "prenota Marozzi" in red on the left side of the page. It may take a second for the next page to finish loading. When it does click "prenotazione". Select your travel date (upper left - data partenza - down arrow for calendar to appear). It helps to know the days of the week (Sunday - Domenica)in Italian. Select departure city under localita partenza and destination under localita destinazione (make sure you click on Rome to highlight in red or the schedule won't appear on the right). Click on the bus time you want to highlight in red and the prices/seat availability will show. Your ticket will be "corsa semplice". During summer they are showing the early morning bus and the 5 pm bus every day except Sunday. Sunday only the 5 pm bus.

Marozzi early bus is 6 am, but Curreri is 6:30 if that helps any. Curreri doesn't have a bus on Sunday. Click on English and then bus routes. www.curreriviaggi.it

The best thing about the bus is just putting your luggage underneath and not having to worry about keeping an eye on it or any changes. It only makes a couple of stops on the way to Rome and they are between Sorrento and Naples before the bus gets on the autostrada. You will need to check departure location in Sorrento. I think it picks up two places (Piazza Tasso and the train station), but check while you are in Sorrento to make sure.

Thanks again kybourbon. I followed your steps for the Marozzi bus for 8/29 @5pm and saw available seats on the bottom right of the screen as small black squares. I clicked on 2 squares but then what do I do? I see a spot for what I think is an email address. Is that how I reserve a spot? Do I pay on the bus? Thanks for your patience.