Parking in Historic Center: Rome
 

Ok, I know the question listed below will sound like a bad idea, but we have a car leased for a months stay. We are travelling from France to Italy and will wrap up our trip with 3 days in Rome. We are staying in an apartment in the historic center and will return our vehicle to the Fiumicino Airport on the day of our departure. The problem: a car in the historic center....We have been able to get a vehicle into this area before, but were staying at a hotel that took our vehicle and parked it during our stay.
For this trip we are wondering how to find parking: we have searched online and haven't turned up anything. We also need to get from the parking area to the apartment with our bags. The apartment is just to the west of Piazza Navona. Any tips? Besides don't do it? :)
Thanks!

We just stayed 150 meters to the west of Piazza Navona. I wish I had an answer for you, if there is one. All we saw was street parking.

Thanks colduphere, thats what we are afraid we'll run into as well!

Why would you need a car in Rome? Why not return it to the airport before you go into the center of the city, take the train into Termini and a cab to your apartment, and avoid all that hassle?

:-)

Here is one website regarding public parking lots in Rome, klaybill, and the cost (assuming the website is up to date). If you Google Public parking lots Rome you will see more websites.

But I agree with nukesafe, I too would return the rental car and take the train into Rome. Are you thinking if you return the car three days early there will be an extra fee? If so, figure out what the parking would cost you at a public parking lot in Rome. Best regards.

http://www.mercuriusrelocations.com/guide/id184.html

Sorry, I failed to post the website, here it is.

You aren't allowed to drive in many areas of the historic center unless you have a permit. Hotels can get temporary permission by turning in your info if you are staying with them which is probably what your hotel did last time.

Mappy.com has parking maps. Enter Rome and then click car parks. You still may get a ticket if you drive into the ZTL. There are different restrictions for daytime and nighttime and for certain areas.
http://www.romealive.com/romes_ztl_l...traffic_z.html

Some of the metro stops have parking underneath such as Cipro. Where is your apartment?

Map of the daytime zone. As you can see, you simply cannot drive in this area without permit. There are traffic cameras where the zones start which will snap your license plate. They track you through your rental car company. The rental car company puts a small fee on your credit card for supplying the info to the police (may be as much as two months after you return). The ticket collection is done by an agency the Italian government contracts with and most fees are around 200€. Every time you pass a camera is an additional ticket/fee.
http://www.romealive.com/maps_3/rome...fic_zone_.html

Hi! girl from Italy here.

Simply don't go there by car. Traffic is awful, romans are impatient and always horn (beeeeepppp!!!). historic center is forbidden.

Leave it at the airport, and be back by train, it's more comfortable.

Why create a problem for your self at the end of your trip. I agree with dropping it off early and eating the extra cost. I actually dropped a car off in Rome 3 days really and got a credit from Kemwell. Thre are drop offs for most rental card COmapies under Borghese Gardens then get acab. Or do like Priscillotta suggests. You can get a great rate for the airport from Rome Shuttle for you return ($35 for one way)

If you take a normal train to the airport, and from the airport, same as the tourist one but with italian people on it,it arrives at the same platform at the airport, you spend 5 euros per person, and you arrive in Roma Tiburtina Station, which is also a Metro Station and is in central Rome.

Leave the car at the airport and take the train to Rome and back to the airport. We originally planned to have the car overnight and drop it near St. Peter's on our September trip to Rome, but decided to drop at the airport. Parking in Rome costs around E35 for twenty-four hours.

If you must drive into Rome, then stop at the hotel, check in and drop your luggage and all but the driver. Then the driver drives to LDV, drops the car and takes the train in.

I agree with the above. I can see your logic in just driving the car to the airport on the day of your departure but I think it's going to be way more of a hassle than it's worth. I've gotten a ticket in Salzburg for driving in a zone without a permit...it was kindly mailed to my house about a month after we returned from our vacation.

Tracy

Answering your question, if you do get into Rome by car, you could park it in Terminal Gianicolo. You can take Bus No. 116 which passes near Piazza Navona to reach your hotel.
We rented a car once for a couple of days while staying in Rome two weeks in Rome and parked it as per above.
What we usually do, and that is my suggestion, is return our leased car at the airport when we arrive in Rome and take a taxi to our hotel.

These are very helpful, thank you to all. We are leasing the car from Renault USA and picking it up in Paris. We are checking to see what the fees are for early drop off in Rome based on all the suggestions.

LoveItaly: I liked the mercurious site and will also check to see if Via Lodovosi is near to the apartment we are renting.

kybourbon: the ZTL zones and hours truly helped, and made us even more aware how careful we need to be. Last trip we had too little time in Rome to worry about this-- we arrived early, had our hotel park the car and left for the airport at 5:00 a.m. This time around I see we may just eat the cost if need be and drop off the car.

I was tempted to take the bus from Terminal Gianicolo as mentioned above but we are overseas for a month and carrying a bit more luggage than would be comfortable lugging around.

I was hoping to not have to drive to the airport and then come back into the historic center, but this may alleviate a lot of hassle in the long run!


Has anyone stayed near Via Arco di Parma, west of Piazza Navona?

I thought the Renault lease only had to be a minimum of 17 days.

kybourbon: right you are, having just reviewed the documentation we see this is not going to be a problem:)
We are thinking we may be able to drop it off to the drop spot (which isn't at the airport) and either take a cab to the apartment or perhaps get them to shuttle us there instead of the airport.

If colduphere says it cannot be done, it cannot be done: He is, as we say up here, "tres debrouillard".