Driving in Rome?
Mar 6th, 2010, 05:02 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Driving in Rome?
Wiil be spending a few days in Rome and then driving to Cortona so, Should I :
1)Rent a car at the train station in Rome and brave driviing out of Rome? or
2) Rent a car at the airport which would mean taking a train/taxi back to the airport and drive to Cortona from the airport? This would also mean paying the higher airport fees for renting the car.
Any advice?
1)Rent a car at the train station in Rome and brave driviing out of Rome? or
2) Rent a car at the airport which would mean taking a train/taxi back to the airport and drive to Cortona from the airport? This would also mean paying the higher airport fees for renting the car.
Any advice?
Mar 7th, 2010, 02:01 AM
#5
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,422
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Chiusi is closer to Cortona than Orvieto is, and you take the train there as well from Rome.
Some Fodorites always advise Orvieto because they like the town and think all tourists should spend time touring its beautiful cathedral before picking up a rental car (or eating lunch in a restaurant popular with Fodorites, I Sette Consoli, but not always as well reviewed elsewhere). With or without lunch, it can be a rewarding town to visit and it produces a famous white wine (called Orvieto) locally.
But if you are planning to simply switch your luggage to your car and drive on to Cortona (rather than stow your luggage at the train station to see a town), you'll have less autostrade driving to Cortona if you pick up your car in Chiusi.
If you are interested in Etruscan history, wine cellars and untouristed Tuscan hilltowns, you can also stow your luggage at the Chiusi station and see Chiusi, which is charming, has one of the best-organized and compact Etruscan museums in Italy, and a fascinating wine cellar is the tasty restaurant, Zaira.
I would only drive out of Rome very early on a Sunday morning.
Some Fodorites always advise Orvieto because they like the town and think all tourists should spend time touring its beautiful cathedral before picking up a rental car (or eating lunch in a restaurant popular with Fodorites, I Sette Consoli, but not always as well reviewed elsewhere). With or without lunch, it can be a rewarding town to visit and it produces a famous white wine (called Orvieto) locally.
But if you are planning to simply switch your luggage to your car and drive on to Cortona (rather than stow your luggage at the train station to see a town), you'll have less autostrade driving to Cortona if you pick up your car in Chiusi.
If you are interested in Etruscan history, wine cellars and untouristed Tuscan hilltowns, you can also stow your luggage at the Chiusi station and see Chiusi, which is charming, has one of the best-organized and compact Etruscan museums in Italy, and a fascinating wine cellar is the tasty restaurant, Zaira.
I would only drive out of Rome very early on a Sunday morning.
Mar 7th, 2010, 10:32 AM
#14
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,893
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Getting out of Rome with a car rental is easy. I have no idea why anyone recommends taking a train to some other location when the drive from Rome's Europcar 24-hour Via Ludovisi (38, 00187 Roma, Italy) location to anywhere in Tuscany/Umbria doesn't get much easier. One simple left and then a right at Piazzale Brasile, you'll quickly find yourself on the outside of Rome's city center, and once you're on Via Pinciana, the ride to A1 is a piece of cake.
Go to Google maps and click car directions to see just how easy this trip is.
Go to Google maps and click car directions to see just how easy this trip is.
Mar 7th, 2010, 10:45 AM
#16
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 45,322
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Kfoster, so did my late husband. He often said he felt safer driving in Rome than trying to walk across some of the streets as a pedestrian, lol. He also drove in Milan and Naples etc. A fun story. After one trip to Italy we were having a drink with a couple that stopped by to say hello and hear about out trip. Great fellow but his wife was rather an irritating "know it all". We shared some stories about our time in Italy including a few funny ones such as my husband almost getting a ticket in Milan etc. Did I mention that the wife had never been outside of the US? Anyway she loved mosaics so we had given her some brochures regarding Ravenna as we still had some from a previous visit. When my husband said we had a nice drive north to Venice until we got to a somewhat traffic jam he was so glad to park the car at the Piazza at Venice and be carless for a week. The wife looked at him and said rather snarky, "And WHY didn't you drive in Venice since you drove in the other large cities? I really don't understand.". LOL, she sure didn't. We didn't know what to say but her husband chimed in and gently said to her "because D Venice has canals instead of streets". She did have the grace to rather sputter and be embarrased. That gave us a lot of amusement for a long time.
Sorry to hijack your thread, Highlander! Wishing you a beautiful time in Italy and I am sure it will be. And if you do decide to pick up your rental car at Orvieto I hope you have time to at least see the Duomo. It is beloved not just by tourist but by many Italians throughout Italy.
Sorry to hijack your thread, Highlander! Wishing you a beautiful time in Italy and I am sure it will be. And if you do decide to pick up your rental car at Orvieto I hope you have time to at least see the Duomo. It is beloved not just by tourist but by many Italians throughout Italy.
Mar 7th, 2010, 12:48 PM
#17
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,513
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Loveitaly: Again, sorry to divert from the posting, but.. It is sad that people don't know anything about the world. Our friend's daughter was 20 at the time (a high school graduate and some college) and asked us if Europe was on the other side of the Pacific or the Atlantic. AND her sister had just spent a year studying in London! Ahh yes, and our county is laying off teachers for the second time in a year.
Mar 7th, 2010, 03:35 PM
#18
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 45,322
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oh Ann! It is amazing is it not. Thanks to my dear father before I started kindergarten I knew where Europe was, where Africa was, where the countries in the Pacific were. I didn't know how far apart travel time but due to maps I knew where most countries were in relation to the SF/Bay Area where I grew up. This during WWII when I was a little one.
Ann1, I cringe when I read daily about the cutbacks in our school district here in California and it seems to be the same throughout the US. We are beginning to become a third world country it seems regarding educating our children. All I can suggest is that families take their children to their local library, to have a world atlas, maps and a world globe in their home and to constantly talk to them about what is happening in the world, where the various countries are located etc. But I don't think that is going to happen sadly in most homes.
Ann1, I cringe when I read daily about the cutbacks in our school district here in California and it seems to be the same throughout the US. We are beginning to become a third world country it seems regarding educating our children. All I can suggest is that families take their children to their local library, to have a world atlas, maps and a world globe in their home and to constantly talk to them about what is happening in the world, where the various countries are located etc. But I don't think that is going to happen sadly in most homes.
Mar 8th, 2010, 03:36 AM
#19
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,513
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
LoveItaly: That's what my parents did and that's what we did with our daughter. We always had a globe and encyclopedia and discussed the world. My daughter's 3rd grade teacher was amazed at how my daughter would immediately go to the reference material before she had to say anything to her.
I worked in school offices and it is sad how much parents do not take the time to enrich their children. I have stories that would curl your hair.
I worked in school offices and it is sad how much parents do not take the time to enrich their children. I have stories that would curl your hair.
Mar 8th, 2010, 03:48 AM
#20
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,026
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My daughter is a bit like me, she loves to plan her trips as much as going. Last year I sent her to Paris for 10 days, solo. She was staying at a youth hostel and was amazed at how little the others around her seemed to comprehend what they could do or what they were seeing.
In one example, while having a beer with a group of 20 somethings, she asked what all they had seen while in Paris. One remarked that they went to the "big museum with the pyramids and saw the picture of the lady that everyone was crowding around." Another was amazed by the "really old church next to the river", he was pretty sure a book had been written about it.
Oh, and these were mostly young folks from Scotland and Brazil, not the U.S..
dave
In one example, while having a beer with a group of 20 somethings, she asked what all they had seen while in Paris. One remarked that they went to the "big museum with the pyramids and saw the picture of the lady that everyone was crowding around." Another was amazed by the "really old church next to the river", he was pretty sure a book had been written about it.
Oh, and these were mostly young folks from Scotland and Brazil, not the U.S..
dave
