Hi all,<BR>My wife and I are first time travller to Italy. We plan to rent a car from Rome and do a 3-day tour through Tuscany hill towns and returning the car in Florence. We heard driving into Florence can be a major nightmare (not too bad driving OUT of Rome?), so we thought it would be easier to return the car at the Florence airport, then catch a train back into town and continuing on with our journey to northern Italy. Is it worth the trouble? (vs just returning the car at the train station location). Or is there a nearby city other than Florence that is easy to navigate, which is also on the major rail route to Venice? Thanks for all your inputs.<BR>P.S. We do not plan to spend any time in Florence this time.

We picked up our car from the Termini in Rome last year and it was not a big problem drving out of Rome. No experience with driving in Florence though.<BR>

The cab ride from Florence airport is only about :10--I would do that.

There are no trains in Florence's airport. One would have to get a taxi or bus.<BR>If one doesn't have a map which indicates the one-way street senses, it may indeed be difficult to drive to a specific address in the old town. Locating the Sta. Maria Novella station, on the hand, shouldn't present a big challenge. And even if one gets lost, it's not difficult to get back on track. The old center of Florence is quite small. All you've got to do when driving in is to follow the characteristic signs for the town center and the signs for the train station. You'll be driving in straight from the south. If you continue driving north (actually northeast) all the way, there's no way to miss the Arno river. Cross it and you'l be almost there (most probably you'll cross the river over Ponte S. Trinit&agrave;; then straight on Via de' Tornabuoni, Piazza S. Trinit&agrave;, Via de' Tornabuoni once again, Piazza degli Antinori, a right on Via de' Rondinelli, and left on Panzani into Piazza dell'Unit&agrave; Italiana; Here you'll see the train station but that doesn't mean you may drive straight to it; Most probably you'll have to turn right and cross the piazza into Melarancio and Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini, then left into Faenza, left on Nazionale)

If you're touring Tuscan hill towns, you should definitely go to Cortona. My friend read about it in a book, Under the Tuscan Sun - it wasn't mentioned in my tour book, but it was great.