My 24 y/o daughter & I will be spending 15 days in Italy in June, first time ever in Europe. The flight is into Milan Malpensa, basically because it was a good price and direct (not booked yet). Initial plan was to rent a car, drive to Florence for 2 nights, then out to Tuscany for 5 nights. Now I'm told not to drive in southern Italy so I'm looking at the train pass options to reach Rome, then Naples/Pompeii & climb Mt. Vesuvius! Then a fast train to Venice for 2 nights before heading back to Milan. I'd rather fly into Florence but too expensive.
So how or where can I drop the car and get a train to Rome?
Should we take a train from Malpensa airport to Florence, or drive?
If taking trains, then we could stay close to center city in B&Bs.
Looking at the Euro Rail, they have options for passes, discounted for 2 people and flexible with when and where to go. And fast.
So much to learn and any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks! & Happy New Year!!

We traveled on trains starting in Zurich, into Lugano, to Milan, to Florence, to Rome and then returned to Zurich for our flight home.
We did a day trip to a friends in Tuscany by train. I am not sure, but think you could probably rent a car in Florence (maybe at the hotel) just for the Tuscany leg.
You can definitely train from Rome south as well. The trains were an easy way to travel. We booked directly on Trentalia's website. I also picked my seats ahead of time, which I highly recommend. The trains are crowded and if you have seats, people have to move. We had 4 traveling together, and on the longer legs, I am glad I had us all together. You will have a great time!
In Florence, we stayed at the Hotel L Orlogio, which was two blocks from the train and easy to walk around the city. It is a boutique hotel, but has a/c and some nice comforts!

Drive as little as possible. Italy has a great train system and can get you almost everywhere. The only place you'd probably want a car is in the Tuscany countryside. You should be able to rent it/return it in Florence. (You won't want a car in Florence itself - you have to be careful when driving into some Italian cities, they ticket you if you don't have a permit to drive in the city!)

You don't need a rail pass - you can just buy tickets as you go. A Eurorail pass may not even save you any money in Italy. There are different classes of trains in Italy, some faster and more expensive, some cheaper (regional) and slower. You can buy tickets after you get to Italy.

Have you considered flying into Milan and out of Rome or vice-versa? Flying into one city and out of another is what most experienced European travelers do. It saves you time not needing to backtrack and it may not cost much more (if anything) than a round trip ticket. You could fly into Milan, train to Venice, train to Florence, detour to see Tuscany with a car, train to Naples, light rail train to Sorrento (base for Pompeii), train back to Rome, fly out.

15 days isn't a lot of time for all of this. Make sure you're not trying to do too much. Don't forget travel days.

Southern Italy is not the worst part of driving in your case. It is the first day that you will have the most problem for three reasons.
1. You are likely to be jet lagged, and you plan to drive a quite long distance in this state in a unfamiliar driving environment?
2. You, as a non resident, is not allowed to drive into Florence at time you are most likely to be driving. They enforce this vigorously using video cameras and hit you with multiple fines exceeding 100€ each.
3. Don't count on easy parking space in Florence. Even if you have dodged prohibited zones, it is difficult. And even if you find it, your car will be collecting rental and parking fee while it sit there during your stay in Florence.

You are also not allowed to drive into the medieval sections of many Tuscan towns you are likely to visit. Experience drivers know where and where not to stay with a car.

You do not have go back to Florence to return you car. You can return to Chiusi, Orvieto, etc, depending on the company.

A couple quick thoughts - - have you looked into flying to Milan, then back from Rome (then you could do Venice first before heading south). If it were me I would not rent the car till Florence (jet lag/ orientation / parking in Florence - - or train it Milan/Venice/Florence then do Tuscany and later fly back from Rome). I would also skip the idea of train passes and simply get train tickets up to 4 months in advance for best prices on www.trenitalia.it . Lastly, renting a car in Italy you need to get a translation of your drivers licence (called an International Driving Permit) which can be done at AAA.

On a 15 day first trip to Italy I would not rent a car at all.

You definitely don't want to rent a car in Milan and drive to Florence! Florence has very strict rules as to where you can drive in the city and fines are steep. And you don't need one in Florence.

You can see every place you mentioned easily by train with the exception of small villages in Tuscany, and you can get to some of them by train/bus if you really want to see one.

Your main problem is too many places in two weeks. It's going to be a lot of moving around. Doable, but quite rushed.

One itinerary is first train to Venice (better still would be to fly into Venice -unless it is MUCH more expensive than Milan it will save you almost a whole day and the cost of the train). Anyway, Venice is a wonderful introduction to Italy and the perfect place to be when you might be jet laggged (no comparison to that versus getting in a car and driving Milan to Florence). Spend three nights.

Then train to Florence and stay 5 nights doing day trips on a couple of days to smaller towns. Siena is not a tiny town but it's wonderful. Some people combine that with San Gimignano which is a smaller hill town. These can be easily done by public bus. You could also look into day tours that take you to a couple of towns and a vineyard. This would eliminate the need to rent a car at all. You did say five days Tuscany so if this is a very high priority then I would rent the car as you leave Florence and keep it only to visit the small towns.

Then train to Rome (if you go with the car rental, then perhaps return it at Orvieto, itself a town you should consider seeing, and train the rest of the way to Rome). Allow at least five days in Rome if you want to do a day trip to Napoli/Pompeii. Fly home from Rome.

Trains in Italy are very easy and not that expensive. You can get very discounted fares (19€) if you book a trip 90 days in advance but even if you don't know the exact day/time you will want to travel the fares are not that high (versus say Amtrak in the US). Also if money is more scare than time you can get a slower train for less money (same route). Sometimes only a few extra minutes can save you significant money, sometimes not. In most cases booking just the day before you want to travel will be fine.

I usually try to stay fairly close to train stations without being right next to them (the streets right next to stations tend to be less pleasant, but just a couple of blocks away is fine). Go to booking.com, pick the city and then click on show map. That will show you which hotels are close to the train (in the direction of the city center). There are usually lots, in all prices ranges.

If you do need a car park in Florence then come in through the Porta Roma and take the right (funny little round about style area) up against the wall through a barrier gate at 43.760876,11.241805 about the cheapest place to stay just out side the DZN

Thank-you all. I have reconsidered the flight into one and out of another. Into Venice and out of Rome. We have a place in an old village in Tuscany, Montemanero south of Florence. So I'll find the towns you recommend and plan the trains between. This sounds wonderful!
Thanks again!
Tina

Tina56, When you look at the into-Venice/out-of-Rome flights, be sure to use the "multi-city" option on the airline website. Sme people make the mistake by looking at two one-way flights, which have much higher prices. The multi-city option should find you flights that are about the same or slightly more than round trip in and out of Rome. As others mentioned, a slight difference in price is worth it because you won't spend time or money on trains to loop back to Rome.

Are your travels days to and from Europe included in your 15 days? Just wondering, because if you are traveling from the U.S., your Day/Night 1 will probably be spent on the plane to Italy, and your Day 15 will be all about traveling to the airport to fly home. This gives you about 13 days to see the five locations you've named--a fast paced trip. also, every time you change cities, whether by train or car, it will take at least a half a day to check in and out and travel between cities. Here's how your propose itinerary begins to look, but in my opinion it allows one day less than the minimum time I would allow for each location.

Day 1: depart home
Day 2: arrive Venice; sleep Venice
Day 3: Venice
Day 4: train to Florence; sleep Florence
Day 5: Florence
Day 6: travel to Tuscany location
Day 7: Tuscany
Day 8: Tuscany
Day 9: travel to Naples/Positano
Day 10: Naples/Positano
Day 11: Naples/Postano
Day 12: travel to Rome
Day 13: Rome
Day 14: Rome
Day 15: fly home

In her OP she didn't mention Positano, just Pompeii so in this short time frame I wouldn't go all the way down to the AC (even though it's probably my favorite place in Italy) but rather do Pompeii as a day trip from Rome. So if you add one night each to Venice, Florence and Rome the itinerary just posted makes for a pretty nice into trip.

isabel, You're right! I was reading another similar plan in another thread and must have mixed them. With that in mind . . . and the original suggestion of 5 days in Tuscany . . . I'd balance the itinerary this way:

Day 1: depart home
Day 2: arrive Venice; sleep Venice
Day 3: Venice
Day 4: Venice
Day 5: train to Florence; sleep Florence
Day 6: Florence
Day 7: Florence
Day 8: travel to Tuscany location
Day 9: Tuscany
Day 10: Tuscany
Day 11: travel to Rome
Day 12: long daytrip to Pompeii
Day 13: Rome
Day 14: Rome
Day 15: fly home

June/July 2013: We also had a flight to Malpensa, pick up our rented car and left for Parma which was a very nice place to see and also not to far after a long flight. Next day we started our journey to Paciano in Umbria where we stayed for 6 nights. Amalfi with a car was not as bad as expected, but you do NOT need a car, depending on your accommodation. We stayed in Praiano, close to a bus which had a route between Praiano and Positano. BUT, the Sita bus can take you everywhere along the Amalfi coast. We used our car only one day to Pompeii, just because we had the car and it was more convenient. We dropped our car at Salerno(station, not downtown) and took the train to Rome. There may perhaps be a better option for this, but it worked for us. From the station we took a Taxi to our accommodation without any problems. Enjoy!!

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Thank you all! I lost track of this thread when my PC crashed and burned.
The trip is May 13-28 flying into Venice & out of Rome. Same price as round trip one city! And if we stayed an extra day over Memorial Day it was actually cheaper. How can you turn down an extra day in Italy & save on airfare?

Well after much planning we are flying into Venice on a red eye from JFK. We arrive in Venice at noon their time, spend 2 nights there (on the mainland) 5 min. from the station.
Take the fast train (1.5 hours) to Florence on day 4 (counting the travel day) and stay 2 nights there (10 blocks from the station).

Now this is where I need to complete my plans. We have a place booked for 4 nights in Tuscany so I must rent a car. The only option is the Florence airport because it is a Sunday (didn't think that one through).
To get to Montemanaro we will drive past Siena, to Grosseto, then 50 min. SW to village. Spend 3 full days & depart on Thurs. 5/22 for Rome. I can drop the car at a different location, at least with Hertz, Sixt, etc.

So, do I
1. find the closest drop off point and take a train to Termini?
Or
2. drive to Rome airport to drop car off & take the Leonardo Express to Termini?

Our host says that is mostly coastal highway driving, about 2 hours.

Also, We haven't completed the last 6 nights booking in Rome, but I've narrowed it down to a few places close to Termini (San Lorenzo, Pigneto, or Monti neighborhoods) so we can take the train for a day trip to Pompeii & Vesuvius & see the center city sites close to there over 2+ days.
(Actually, 4 nights in that area. The last 2 are booked just blocks from the Vatican). Transfer from one place to the other by bus won't take too long & the host will keep our bags until check in time. So the Vatican tours will be Mon. & Tues. & our flight out of Rome is Wed. 5/28 @ 1245pm.

So one more question;
How do we transfer from Naples train station to get to Pompeii and Vesuvius. I really don't want to take a tour bus from Rome & pay $$$$.

Thank-you so much! I truly appreciate your advice and expertise! I feel like I've backed myself into a corner.
Tina & Marlo (Thelma & Louise)

Are you staying in Montemerano? You have spelled your location as "Montemanaro" but I don't know of any such place.

If you are staying in Montemerano, then dropping the car off at Grosseto is the shortest drive but you need to see how convenient it would be to take the train from there to Rome. I am not sure the trains run all that frequently. Dropping it off at Orvieto would be the next choice (and the most interesting in terms of a drive plus seeing Pitigliano en route and Orvieto itself) as it is slightly closer than dropping it off at FCO.

If you rent through AutoEurope you should definitely be able to drop off the car at any of the places I just mentioned.

I am not sure I follow your post but if you are breaking up your hotel stay in Rome into 2 separate locations, I wouldn't recommend that. The subway line that runs between the Termini area and the Vatican is speedy, and I would suggest picking one place to stay near a subway stop on that line so you can get to the train station and the Vatican easily.

Regarding switching trains on your way to Pompei, you do it in Napoli Centrale station so you can get on the commuter train to Pompei. Any up-to-date guidebook will have this information in it. You need to have a good guidebook for Rome.

I've stayed at Hotel Quirinale when I wanted to be close to the Termini. It was quite nice and convenient for walking just about everywhere. The building has a historic feel and the rooms are enormous with modern plumbing. Also very clean.

Are you sure you want to stay near Grosseto? You will be very far from most places people want to visit in Tuscany. Is there a reason you picked a location so remote? You are a good hour and half or two hours from what most people want to visit in southern Tuscany.

>>>Take the fast train (1.5 hours) to Florence<<<

The fast train is about 2 hours.

If you stick with your location in Tuscany, you could drop your car at either Orbetello or Vierbo. Both should have Hertz offices. Both have trains to Rome.

I would not base my hotel choices on proximity to the train station. You should stay more central and book your hotel for the entire stay instead of moving around which wastes time. It's not that difficult to get to the station by bus/taxi/metro/tram.

You take the train from Rome to Naples. The train to Pompeii is the Circumvesuviana which is downstairs from your arrival train from Rome. Look for the signs and follow them (you'll come to a ticket booth downstairs eventually). It's the Naples/Sorrento train. Get off at Pompeii Scavi Villa Misteri) and the entrance is across the road. Ticket is about 2€ one way.

http://www.eavcampania.it/web/

There's a bus you can catch at Pompeii to Vesuvius if you really want to do that.

I wouldn't recommend dropping off a car in Viterbo. It is not an easy place for driving. Orvieto is the same amount of time when it comes to driving, the town is much easier to navigate, and prettier to see. It probably also has more frequent train service to Rome.

Orbetello might work if you check train frequency into Rome and the hours that the rental office is open.

Thanks everyone.
Yes we are staying in a very remote area. Just in part, to enjoy the peace & quiet and enjoy the 14th century medieval village. We have a car and will venture out for at least one of those days.

I feel much better about a car/train transfer to Rome now.
And especially thanks for the Pompeii destination info.

The apartments we are renting did not have all 6 nights together (& are cheaper). Plus I have a photography hobby & plan on some early morning walks at sunrise (while my daughter sleeps in).

The check in at the last apt. is arranged to leave our bags there upon early arrival and head out to the Vatican.

I will get a current guide book, & if anyone has any more advise for our trip, I welcome it all with gratitude.

Thank-you again!
Tina