I am renting a car in Spoleto to explore Umbria for a few days before catching a flight out of Rome. Should I return the car to FCO or forget the Rome traffic and get rid of the car in Umbria--then take a train to train station in Rome, then cab to airport? My flight is at 12:30 PM and we are staying about 15 km south of Spoleto.

"get rid of the car in Umbria--then take a train to train station in Rome, then cab to airport? "

If you opt for the train, at Roma Termini you can take the Leonardo Express train to FCO.

If I were you, I would drop the car at FCO. I would NOT depend on lengthy train travel on the day of my flight.

It is quicker and easier to drive and drop off car, you don't go into Rome at all--A1 to ringroad to FCO. We just did this from outside Orvieto, about a 2 hour drive. Someone who went home earlier took the train from Orvieto to Rome and then the Leonard Express to FCO and had to leave about 7 hours before their flight because of the train schedule.

Spoleto is lovely BTW.

If you are leaving Spoleto the day of your flight, I wouldn't depend on the trains because you never know if they strike. The road to the airport is no where near the traffic of Rome.

I agree that simply driving to FCO and dropping the car is the easiest way to go, but would just caution you that the "rental car return" signage at FCO is pretty bad. We took a couple of laps around the airport a few months ago before finding it, almost by chance. This site - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/drivin...ental_rome.htm - has a good discussion of how to find it (scroll down the page a bit).

We just turned in a car to Avis last week, and the instructions on our agreement about where the car return was were totally wrong! if it says level B of the long term parking lot, don't believe it. It's in parking structuret B right in the middle of the airport. It took us an extra 20 -- 30 minutes to find the right place because of the misdirection.

this is all very helpful--thanks!

On the other hand we had no problems at all; but we got explicit return instructions when we rented at FCO. That probably helped.

What about congestion on the Gran Raccordo Annulare (GRA) when you are trying to circle Rome to get to the airport?

When traveling on the west side from the A1 to Fiumicino (Circonvallazione settentrionale + occidentale) twice we've been stuck in stop-and-go traffic for ages.

Has anyone traveled that route lately? Are blockages still a problem?

I suggest the OP factor that into the planning -- it may go smoothly or it may not.

BTW: If you do need to gas up before returning the car: I seem to recall there IS a gas station just outside the airport grounds -- I've never found one on the airport property itself.

We drove from Orvieto to FCO on September 25th--no issues.

Driving from Spoleto to FCO should be easy--check out your driving time on www.viamichelin.com and add a bit of a cushion. Your last morning shouldn't include anything else, so give yourself some time to stop off at an Autogrill and top off the tank.

We recently drove from Bevagna to FCO, dropped off the car and caught our plane without a problem--its virtually all autostada and freeway speeds. The train trip from Orvieto or wherever has to include time to go into downtown Rome and back out to FCO--too many changes for me.

BTW-we had an easy time checking in and going thru security--July this year.