day trip by car from Rome
 

I am thinking about renting a car to do a day trip from Rome and would like some suggestions. I will be staying in the center of town.
1. Where would be the best place to pick up the car? I understand that Rome traffic is a nightmare and though we live in Chicago I do remember that Rome traffic is rough- could we take a train out to one of the airports and go from there?
2.
Where would you suggest we go to see the countryside? We will be in Florence before we come to Rome so do not need to head that way.
3. After the buildings - I always like to get out away from the crowds but do not know which area to head to or if this is a dumb idea?
All help appreciated. By the time I take this trip I will be so much smarter thanks to all the help from the forums!

Rome is crazy - I give you all the credit for wanting to drive but I prefer blessing that job on someone that is used to that.. We are taking a day trip with a company called www.projectnapoliservice.it from Rome to Pompeii, Amalfi Coast and Ravello.. For me observing the countryside and leaving that headache to the driver will be appreciated by no stress levels experienced by me. I drive to Chicago and that doesn't scare me but driving in Rome would. I have this book " Italy for Dummies" ( even though I have been to Italy before) this book is a wealth of information and has chapters on daytrips such as: Tivoli, Osta Antica.
Do you think we have enough snow here in the Midwest ????
I wish you safe and non-stressful driving if that is your pick. And I got the book at Barnes and Nobles or Borders..good luck !!

Hi BC - How far do you want to go?

You could take a drive into the Albani Hills area nearby and see some of the Castelli Romani:

http://www.initaly.com/regions/latium/castelli.htm

Or ... Tivoli? Subiaco? Lake Bracciano? Lake Bolsena/ Southern Tuscany? Umbria?

If you want to go further afield you could do a lovely drive into the Abruzzo mountains ...

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Hi BC,

How about a train to Orvieto?
http://gram.eng.uci.edu/~alberto/orvieto

You can also get a car and drive around Umbria, if you get bored.

((I))

Almost daily my husband now says - what's the latest from the message board on what we should or should not do in Europe - Gotta tell you that the responses are awesome and well appreciated. I have been reading about Italy and have been there before but want to get beyond the touristy and see the real Italy and yet leave some time for the touristy so we don't get home and say I wish we had....... The long and short of it is I am back to the books to do more reading now that I have some direction reading keeps me from looking out the window at all of the snow here in Chicago - it just keeps coming. Thanks for all of the help and I will look into more train ideas