Nice to Cinque Terre
 

My wife and I, plus another couple, are driving from Nice to Rome with a few days in CT and then Florence.

What would people recommend for the drive from Nice to CT?

What recommendations are you looking for? Food, hotels, sights?

Parking is scarce or nonexistent in the Cinque Terre, so you might want to stay outside the area and visit by train or boat. You can get a daily boat ticket, with departures from Lerici or La Spezia, that will allow you to stop over where you please and get a later boat.

In Florence, only residents and emergency/delivery vehicles can drive in most of the center, and parking is very expensive. Rome is similar. In both cities, you might want to stay in a peripheral area, preferably in a hotel which provides parking, and take buses into the center.

I'm not sure about the best places to stay in Florence, but in Rome, there are hotels on the Via Nomentana that have parking (for a fee). This is an easy entrance into Rome coming from the north, and there are express buses into the center. I wouldn't want to stay very far north of Viale Regina Margherita.

It sounds as though you'll be using the car almost entirely for transportation, not touring. If that's the case, and if you're renting the car, the train would be faster on these routes, and even for four people, if you buy discounted tickets in advance, the train would also be cheaper.

If this is a rental car, are you aware of the large surcharge for cross-border dropoff?

If it is not peak season the fairly new parking lot at Monterosso may well have space for day trippers and there are parking lots on the edge of towns - - yes and beware of drop off charges - rent your car in Ventigmilia, the Italian border town to avoid stiff surcharges for picking up in one country and dropping off in another.

If you book a hotel they will provide parking passes for you.

Tons of tunnels on that route---drive carefully.

Have lunch in Camogli.

Check out the car drop charge---could be big.

Do not drive in Florence.

Have fun !