gino

i drove through france two years ago and loved it. my wife and i will visit italy in the first two weeks of september. considering driving rome to sorrento, sorrento to florence, florence to venice then dropping the car off in venice and training back to rome.

any suggestions,warnings,details, positive input.

thanks
gino

Joanne

Gino: It seems to me you would be better off to either start in Venice or Naples (Sorrento), drive to the other and fly home from there (open jaw ticket).

We haven't driven as much in Italy as we have in France, but the toll roads (Italy--Autostrada) are much the same, with good signage, frequent rest stops (some with gas stations) and similar fees. Country roads also seem similar and much more interesting and fun for us.

We will be returning to Italy in May, flying into Rome (2 days), picking up a car and driving to Florence (2 days), driving to Venice (3 days) where we will drop off the car. We will then take the train to Milan and fly home from there.

The route you describe seems rather "zigzag" doing excess driving and traveling, going through the same areas.

You might try to the Michelin site for maps, mileage, travel time, etc.

I think you will enjoy the Italian counryside as much as you did the French.

j

Marj

We've rented a car twice in Italy. The highways are great, the big cities are horrible. If you have a good navigator and and patient driver, it could work out very well. Also avoid rush hours in the bigger cities. Stopping in the smaller hillside towns along the way is generally pretty easy. The scenery is spectacular. Some of the hotels will drive the car to a parking garage for you (which comes in handy in places like Florence and Rome). I personally like to explore so the freedom of a car is worth the aggrevation of the city.

gino

1

Mike Miller

http://www.mappy.com/ is the European site you want. Florence to Venice is listed as 258 KM, about 155 miles with a driving time listed of 2 hours 45 minutes.