Am I insane, foolhardy or nuts, but is it possible to rent a car in Rome and simply drive up into southern Tuscany which is about 100 miles rather than doing the train to somewhere and then renting? Leaving Rome on a Tuesday in September, returning to late Sunday flight at FCO. Rent in Rome and drive out, is that nuts? Or rent at FCO and return there six days later? Has anyone done something similar? Are the highways clogged on Sunday afternoons with Romans returning from their villas?

I suspect it would not be terribly difficult. We're doing a driving tour of Tuscany this autumn but are driving down from Nice. We didn't want a car in Rome so just made a separate trip of Rome last March. It was really nice not to have to worry about the car while in the city.

FCO is so far out of Rome that you don't have to worry about actually driving in downtown Rome. Just head out around it toward Tuscany.

Perhaps topping this will get some "real" advice from someone living in the Rome area.

We drove from Siena to Rome on a Sunday in late March. The highways were busy, but no more so than driving out of Venice to Siena on a Wednesday morning. Our drop off location was the Borghese Gardens parking garage and we found it without too much difficulty. I think your plan to drive out of Rome on a Tuesday and return on Sunday is very doable.

No problem, travel buoy! I rented a car in Rome and drove to Siena, kept the car for a week and dropped it at the Florence airport, then grabbed a taxi into Florence. The only difficult part was driving out of Rome. With your itinerary, I think I would pick up the car at FCO and avoid the city driving entirely. (There is a ring road that goes around Rome.)

Last year we returned our rental car to FCO and found it very quick and easy to do. We were driving from Orvieto, through rush hour on a weekday morning, and it still wasn't too bad. I can't imagine Sunday afternoon would be any worse.

We did it...we rented from Auto Europe (Avis) and picked up the car from their location near the main train station in Rome. It was relatively easy to navigate right out of town and to the autostrada. They gave us a good map and it was only a 5-10 min drive to the autostrada. We drove to Orvieto, Siena and on to Chianti and Florence.

If you are flying into FCO and planning on going directly to Tuscany once you fly in, then I would pick up and drop off the car at the airport, this should be no problem. If you are staying in Rome before heading to Tuscany, I would pick up the car in Rome rather than the airport, and drive out of Rome to Tuscany.

During our honeymoon in Italy last October, my husband and I decided we liked the idea of driving rather than taking trains. We too rented through Auto Europe. Our last day in Rome, we picked up a car from Auto Europe, drove out of Rome to Positano, then to Ravello, then to San Quirico d'Orcia (Tuscany). We then spent our last night in a lovely place just outside Rome, and dropped off the car at FCO.

Everything went very smoothly, I would recommend it.

We drove from Montalcino to FCO taking the coastal route this May. Easy drive and no problem coming into FCO area.I personally like this more than the autostrada.

Hi tb,

Very doable.

You might want to consider http://www.novarentacar.com/

I'd second Travl3773's suggestions.
Just keep in mind you'll meet slow traffic towards Rome on Sunday afternoon/night.

There are major works on the city belt around Rome.
You may find easier to plan to drive to Tuscany , from FCO, direct along the coast to Grosseto and Siena.
Scenic route, no doubts.

You will have no problem renting at the airport and driving up the autostrada to Tuscany. You will completely avoid downtown Rome and the traffic will not be a barrier. You will waste time if you do it the other way - taking the train. We rented at Rome FCO, drove to Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast, and returned in Rome without issues. We used Autoeurope.