hallen

I have 3 months to drive around Italy beginning mid-May. Trying to put together a rough driving/flying itinerary that is the most efficient.

I would like to do 3 weeks in Sicily, 2 weeks in Sardegna and the rest of the time driving a rental car around mainland Italy for the remainder 4 weeks covering mainland Italy. (from only as far north as Bologna and as far south to the heal and foot of Italy, covering all the cool small towns and hotspots.) Note, I will not going to Venice or Rome, so I will be beginning or ending in Florence.

1) Any tips for a suggested routing?

2) Thinking about renting car the entire time but would consider some trains if that makes sense between certain points.

3) When going to Sicily, would you recommend driving from the foot of southern Italy and taking the car ferry to Sicily or should I just fly into Sicily.

Any tips from fellow Italy travelers would be so appreciated. Thanks so much for any assistance you can provide.

Traveler_Nick

Start by making a list and checking it twice.

Southern Italy really benefits from a car but the further north you get the less this is true. Florence is basically anti car. Bologna ? A car will limit you more than help for the city.

I'd fly to Sicily and pick up the car. No point paying car rental and the car ferry.

You only mention cool small towns. That's not a lot for people to suggest things .

Also if you mean this May the coastal beach towns will have been taking bookings for awhile now. May is just around the corner.

Michael

Get an old copy of the Michelin Green Guide for Italy (I am not sure that the most recent guides have as clear itineraries), and check out their suggested itineraries. They will cover the highlights of what to see, and you can just link the regional itineraries offered in the guide on your own.

hallen

I apologize for not mentioning places of interest on mainlaind Italy. They tentatively include the following but open to any additional suggestions on where to base in each region:

Starting from the South:
Puglia Region - Ostuni, Lecce, Monopoli, Bari
Calabria Region - Tropea, Capo Vaticano
Basilicata Region - Matera
Amalfi Coast - Salerno, Sorrento, Ravello, Cilento National Park
Campania Region - Procida Island & Ischia Island
Rome
Umbria Region - Perugia, Orvieto, Todi
Tuscan Region - Lucca, Livorno, Siena, Montepulciano
Florence
Forte del Marmi
Emilia Romagna Area - Bologna, Modena, Parma
Rimini & San Marino

Thanks in advance for any advice.

hetismij2

Make sure you get an IDP. A legal requirement for non EU drivers licences.

isabel

You can check car rental costs easy enough on line. Start with Autoeurope.com But I suspect you may be better off doing a few shorter rentals rather than trying to do it all with one. Perhaps fly into Palmero and rent a car for the rest of Sicily. Then get over to Sardenia and do the same there. Then back to the mainland and rent a car for southern Italy. You don't need (or really even want) a car for the Amalfi Coast, certainly not for Ischia and Procida, not for Rome. Then rent another for Tuscany and Umbria for the rural parts. Don't want one for Florence, Bologna, Modena, Parma. Obviously you'd need to check to see which is more cost effective - one long rental might be cheaper but you'd spend a lot parking it to just sit for fairly long periods of time.

whitehall

South to north would be the best way to avoid the worst of the heat. Sicily would be a good starting point. There are easy flights from Rome. I agree on a car in Sicily and also recommend AutoEurope and several shorter rentals. If you decide to go to Sardinia (and our trip report from last fall below says we loved it), but be aware it is a large island and driving can be slow going. If you decide to go there, there are cheap flights from Naples, Rome, Pisa, Bologna, among others; there is some limited RyanAir service from Trapani to Cagliari. There is also some ferry service. Sardinia trip report: Sardinia! You Gotta Go!! 8 nights. October

It’s easy to train from Sicily to Tropea/Scilla area. Then on to Amalfi coast/Naples/Ischia. You won’t need a car in that area. We easily got around Ischia on their bus that regularly loops the entire island. We gave up on Procida because it was not convenient to get to from Ischia.

I would then head to Matera, a must see, and Puglia. If interested here is our trip report for Puglia: 7 days/6 nights in Puglia

On to Rome, Umbria, Tuscany and Bologna. If interested, here is our trip report from last fall to Florence/Bologna: Florence or Bologna? 7 nights early October

A good way to find flights in Europe is to use skyscanner.com. You can input a country or even “everywhere” for a destination. If you put in Sardinia orSicily, it lists all the options as well.

We usually rent multiple vehicles when doing our longer stays in Italy and find that it hardly more than one long rental, and, of course, you can save on parking and serious inconvenience in most cities.

Michael

This is one instance when a car lease from Renault, Peugeot or Citroën might make sense as long as the car can be taken on a ferry. Here's the Renault web site: http://www.renaultusa.com/ To lower lease costs, one could devise a round trip with a pick-up in Nice and a return in Nice.

bvlenci

The order in which you've listed your destinations is not a bad order for the trip. The only place where a train would make a lot more sense is the part from Florence to Parma. For that reason, I'd visit Forte dei Marmi before arriving in Florence. In fact, it's a fairly easy drive to visit Livorno, then Lucca, then Forte dei Marmi, before going to Florence and turning in the car. After Parma, you might want to rent another car for the rest of the trip, although the rest would be possible by public transportation. A more sensible order would be Parma, Modena, Bologna. Rimini is closer to Bologna than it is to the other two. There are buses from Rimini to San Marino.

Siena and is easily reached by train or bus from Florence, so you might want to extend your stay in Florence and visit Siena as a day trip, unless you want to spend more time than that in Siena. In that case, I would also visit Siena before arriving in Florence. There are various places you could drop the rental car near Siena, although you should be aware of the hours of smaller rental agencies.

Bologna is definitely not a car-friendly city. It's a 2-hour drive from where we live, but when we go there, we almost always take the train. Florence is even worse.

You definitely would need an IDP, and you should also inform yourself about the limited traffic rules in Italy. Most cities and towns have limits on vehicular traffic. These zones are called ZTL, and you should read up on them and take all precautions.

Michael

If interested in a lease, this is what I just received from Kemwel: https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/15089
Click on various pick-up locations to see the price differentials.