We are driving from Nice to Florence in a rental and would like to stop at either Cinque terra, pisa , or lucca on the way. but I am worried about leaving our luggage in the car? does anyone have any ideas to secure my luggage, or do you think it will not be a problem?

Thanks

I have left my luggage in cars in both Italy and Spain. I do make sure to rent a car with a trunk, not a hatchback and make sure that ALL the luggage is in the trunk. I have never had a problem.

The one time I left luggage overnight I did leave it in a garage with an attendant. While I know he would not have done anything the car had an alarm and I hoped that having an attendant to hear the alarm would scare off the potential theif.

My French friends have had problems in
Europe with luggage stolen from trunks. Their advise, get to the next hotel and check in and then sight see. A trip with no clothes is a drag..take it from Europeans!!!

I ,too, have had friends in ITALY get their trunks broken into- they went shopping as they were going from town to town- someone was following them--then when they got to a 3rd town and left all the new goodies AND their luggage in the locked trunk, the car got broken into-IN BROAD DAYLIGHT....

Advice-LEAVE nothing unattended in your vehicle--in either the trunk or backseat

If you have to stop then park in a pay lot that is in the open. Leave nothing showing in the car. One old trick is to have a local news paper showing in the rear window. But as you can see from the posts if someone is watching the lot, looking a mark, then you could have problems.

We have never had a problem (may be just fortunate based on the above). In Venice we left luggage in a Ford Mondeo wagon with the cover over the luggage in a parking structure, no problem. In Prague, Budapest, Beaune, and Switz. we left it in a hotel secured car park or garage.

For our currently planned trip in
Sept we are revising our luggage requirements. We will have a 22" rolling and tote for each person so we will never overnight leave luggage in the car. Now this does not help for stopping for lunch.

From your post I cannot tell if your stop is an overnight or a lunch (but Cinque terre would be hard, if not impossible from what I have heard for just a lunch).

We have stopped for lunches where the parking is secured (garage) with limited access without a problem.

Have a great trip, Mary Ann