As I've mentioned in posts before, My husband, son and I are taking my parents to Europe. My Mom wants to see as much of Italy as possible in the days we have.

We're at the part now where we're trying to decide if it would make for too long of a day to rent a car in Florence (after we've been there a few days) then drive about 30 miles to Vinci (my Dad wants to see the museum) then maybe take them to one hilltop town along the way then drive all the way to Rome and drop the car off at the train station.

Is that just too ambitious? Can someone give me an idea of how long it takes to drive this?

Hi sandi,

Driving times, routes and maps can be found at www.viamichelin.com or www.mappy.com

Does anyone have a thought about if this is just too much for one day?

That doesn't seem too long to me. A 30-45 minute drive to Vinci and then 3 1/2 hours to Rome. I guess it would depend on how much time your father wants to spend in the museum. I would plan to be there when it opens, spend an hour or two and then head south. Select a hill town on the route to detour to for lunch and sightseeing.

Hi Sandi,

You might want to drop the car off in Orvieto, see the town and then take the train into Rome.

Driving in Rome seems to be something of an experience.

What we'd like to do is drive to Montalcino, get some Brunello see the city and leave the car BUT there's no train station. What's the closest train station to Montalcino?