panucci

Too many choices....We will take a train from Genoa to....Florence (direct train)stay for 3 hours, pick up car and continue to Pienza.If we do pick it up in Florence, Avis for example has 10 pick up locations and I don't know where any of them are located in relation to the train. We can go to San Gimignano (3 train changes), but I have always wanted to seen it. Siena (3 changes) but we could day trip there later etc...I am sort of worried that if we miss a connecting train the car rental will be closed. My experience two years ago. Also Do we need to go to a city to get an automatic? It seemmed like the smaller towns had less options? I do know we will drop it off in Orvieto. Nova doesn't have a drop off there or does it?

ira

Hi panucci,

> I do know we will drop it off in Orvieto. Nova doesn't have a drop off there or does it?<

If you go to http://www.novarentacar.com/
your question will be answered.

panucci

Ira you are fast. I did and they don't. I thought maybe someone knew something that wasn't on the site. Thanks though

CarolA

You can take the bus from Florence to Siena (Much easier then the train!) and pick up there. I did it and it was easy. My car was arranged by AutoEurope and I seem to recall it was with Avis. (We returned at the Rome Airport so I can't help you with Orvieto.

Marilyn

Avis has an office in Orvieto. AutoEurope uses Avis there. If you go to the website, it will appear that there is no option for Orvieto, but if you phone AutoEurope directly, you can arrange it. Hope that helps.

Mary_Fran

What areas do you plan to visit, and where are you flying out from? I checked the price of an automatic for one week in Italy on Nova and on Autoeurope, picking up in Florence. Autoeurope, which does have an office in Orvieto for dropoff, was $868, whereas Nova, which doesn't appear to have an Orvieto dropoff was only $549 - for a drop off at the Rome airport.

If drop off at the Rome airport would work for you, it would sure be cheaper.

Manual transmissions are much cheaper than automatics, but I wouldn't let anyone talk you into a manual if you're not used to driving one.

As to which town to pick up the car from, I suggest Florence. I think you are most likely to have a good chance of getting an automatic there. We cabbed to the car rental ageny office in town and really didn't have much trouble getting out of town, except that we didn't think the signage was very good.

janestuart

We got the best rates at Hertz. The garage where you pick up your car is around the corner and badly managed, but we got out quickly. Finding our way out of the city was very fast and easy. (We had a terrible time coming back in, but you won't be doing that.By the way, there is a great deli next to the Hertz office.) We took a taxi from our hotel. I'm not sure how far Hertz is from the train station, but I think it's fairly close.

panucci

Just knowing that getting out of Florence is easy helps. I am ending up in Rome, but we didn't want to drive in to the city and I heard Orvieto is really nice. I can check some other inbetween towns to see if Nova has a drop off.Thanks.

janestuart

`Orvietto is WONDERFUL. The cathedral is one of the most beautiful I've seen, especially the facade. There's an excellent restaurant very nearby. I'll look up the name and let you know. We parked up in the town, but the streets are very narrow and parking availablity is iffy, so suggest parking below the plateau. (There's transportation up onto the plateau.)Don't miss Patrick's well. By the way, I can only speak for the ease of leaving Florence from the Hertz garage.