drchris

We'll be flying into Milan Linate airport in late May and will spend the night at a hotel there before picking up a rental car to drive to Volterra and then around Tuscany. I've read about the trucks on the major highways and the challenges of driving through the mountains. It would be helpful to hear from people who have made this drive. All of the suggested routes go through hills or mountains. We have driven mountain routes in the USA and Canada and wonder if there would be any unusual challenges driving any of these routes.

Google Maps shows three possible routes:
1) E35 to near Parma; SS62 to near La Spezia; E80 to near Pisa; SR 206 and 349 to Volterra.
2) E35 via Bologna and Florence (bypasses both cities); SR68 into Volterra.
3) A7 to near Genoa; SS1/E80 to near Pisa; SR 439 to Volterra

Thanks in advance for your help.

PalenQ

Just be sure to get an International Drivers License as it is required in Italy.

J62

I can't speak to the best route, but if my objective was to get somewhere I'd want to take the Autostrada, not mess around with any local roads.

Also,
Make sure you get an IDP (International Drivers Permit) from your local AAA office (don't need to be a member).
Inform yourself of how both toll roads and speed cameras work, as on-the-job training isn't necessarily the best way.

whitehall

The trucks are most noticeable on the Autostrade. The bigger problem you will notice will be the aggressive Italian driver who will get close to your rear end on narrow roads. That used to bother us until we realized that those drivers generally have no negative feelings toward you (as a similar situation might in the US); they simply are trying to get ready for passing. In some parts of Italy, you need to drive as far to the right as possible because, even on not very wide roads, drivers often make a third lane out of a two-lane road. Drive the speed limit, and you won’t get surprise fines months after your trip, and don’t worry about who is behind you.

If you haven’t rented your car, most Fodorites recommend AutoEurope, a Maine-based broker. Their rates are great; their service is excellent; and they generally offer full coverage insurance on a prepaid basis that can be a fraction of what the same car rental company you might ultimately use will charge at the counter. Download offline maps, like google maps, to save on data charges, and you will get verbal commands and good directions just like home.

Traveler_Nick

When is this?

Bologna is the closest Italy has to what I'd consider heavy traffic. It's a traffic jam with an Autostrada built under it.

The other two are smaller routes (I think only two lanes) and while I'd consider them more scenic they end up being more challenging. Not hard but more curves and tunnels IIRC.

The fact you're asking about the least difficult leaves me to ask why aren't you taking the train? I can't think of a sensible reason to do this drive and want an easy drive. You either pick a spot in between to stop and visit or you take the train to Florence and pick up your car there.

drchris

Thanks for the reminder about using AutoEurope. We had reserved directly with Hertz but decided to check with AutoEurope and saved about $200 on a 5-day rental. Ironically, the car will still be provided by Hertz. The man who did the phone booking was very freindly and helpful.

drchris

We'll be leaving Milan Linate on May 23rd. Does that make a difference?

We are arriving at Linate in the late afternoon and the trains to Florence arrived there later than we wanted. We are staying in a hotel near Linate and want to get an early start to Volterra. We researched taking the train to Florence and picking up the car there but that option meant taking a taxi into central Milan, catching the train to Florence, and taking a taxi to pick up the car, which seemed like a lot of hassle. We used trains on our previous trip to Italy and loved traveling that way but also drove 2500 miles around France and found that easy and delightful. We've also driven thousands of miles through mountainous areas of the US and Canada so I'm sure we'll manag fine in Italy.

Falcio

How wasting vacation time and money sleeping Close to an airport is less hassle than taking a cab is beyond me, but I guess it's too late now. I also think you must have made something wrong in searching the trains schedules. If you think at both railway companies, there is an high speed trains departing to Florence from Milano Centrale every 20/25 minutes. Trains that run at 200 kms per hour through the mountains.

Google maps uses the E system to name European roads. Unfortunately nobody else does the same. You'll take the A1 from Milan to Florence via Bologna, for sure not the old A7 via Genoa. While Driving along the 3 lanes sections in the Po valley plains, trucks won't be a problem: they stay on the right lane like anywhere else in the world. The mountains section between Florence and Bologna splits in 2 divided motorways, each with 2 lanes per direction. Since most trucks take the newly built quick link, if you want to avoid trucks you just have to fill the tank and take the old "Panoramic" route. In short, less tunnels and more viaducts, but zero trucks.

drchris

First of all, the hotel is free for us and reminds us of one we stayed in that was hip and fun at Charles de Gaulle in Paris. Second, we rarely sleep on the plane and as we arrive at Milan Linate very late in the day (too late to take the train to Florence that night), it seems wise to get a good night's sleep before setting off on our touring.

Having a PhD in a field that requires advanced research skills and having planned several European vacatons traveling by rail and car, I am confident that my search of the ItaliaRail and Trenitalia websites shows that we can get to our destination as quickly by car as by rail without the expense of adding the rail tickets to what we are paying to pick up the rental car on the same day whether it is in Milan or Florence. And, as I already mentioned, we'll avoid the hassle of taking a taxi to Milan Centrale, catching the train to Florence, taking a taxi to the rental car pickup location that does not risk driving through ZTL's, and having to make our way out of Florence, which we have been advised to avoid driving in.

As I mentioned previously, we have driven many thousands of miles through mountainous areas of the US and Canada, and drove 2500 miles around France with no problems and loved the experience. Having read numerous posts that suggest that drivers in Italy are more aggressive than those we encountered in France, and that some of the suggested routes roads are major thoroughfares for trucks, my original post was simply seeking information from those who have driven the three routes given by Google and Michelin to get input as to which one might be the preferred route. If someone were to ask the same question about routes on which I have traveled in the US, I could give them the pros and cons of each rotue and make a recommendation as to which one to take. The question was as simple as that!

Thank you for the specific information about the route that passes near Bologna and on to Florence. That was very helpful. There are certain highways in the US that we try to avoid because the truck traffic detracts from the driving experience.

Falcio

I may be wrong, but I am afraid that, since you used your PhD to search only the site of Trenitalia and the site of the agency that re-sells Trenitalia's tickets, you missed all high speed trains to Florence run by Italotreno.

You made a simple question and you were told which route to take, what are you complaining about? The A7 is old, take the A1.