Greetings:
My wife and I have to pick up some friends that will be arriving from Venice via train. We will be driving from Orvieto with a final destination of Greve in Chianti.

My question..... should I have our friends train from Venice to Sienna or train to Florence? From the train station, we will all drive to Greve. I wouldn't mind driving a bit farther if it meant less hassle.

Thanks for your help.

Your friends would have to change trains in Florence (at Santa Maria Novello) if they were going to Siena. The trip from Florence to Siena takes about 1 1/2 hours by train.

I found driving to the train station in Florence to be difficult. Maybe we're just bad drivers (!) but it was not fun. Narrow roads, road name changes in the middle of the block, one way streets, etc. Compare this to Siena - the train station is not in the main part of town so it was easier to get to and there was lots of parking. Florence is a larger town with lots more people and traffic compared to Siena.

I agree with cls2Paris; driving in Florence can be harrowing even if you know it well. It is also very difficult to park anywhere near the train station in a way that facilitates picking up passengers.

If you are reluctant to have yr. friends go to Siena (which apparently involves them changing trains in Florence), perhaps a suggestion? Arrive early (near Florence), park the car in Fiesole, a suburb of the city, take the bus into the train station (maybe 20 mins) pick up yr. friends and taxi back.

You might even want to stop for lunch in Fiesole before yr. drive to Greve.It is very pretty and has some lovely small inns and restaurants.

Thanks for the replies. I've driven in Florence and it's no fun. That is why I asked the question. I did a search on the Trenitalia web site and while my friends would have to change trains to get to Siena, I think it would be a hell of a lot easier on my wife and I to hook up with them.

Any more opinions, I'm all ears.
Thanks again,
Mark

Your best options it to have them travel on the several Intercity trains that from Venice go all the way to Orvieto. There is one at 9,20, one at 13,29 and 17,41. All these trains take slightly less than 5 hours. If your friends will arrive as you are already in Chianti, I suggest Florence, even though you may have to leave the car outisde the city and take a bus to reach the station.

Alice.. I didn't even think of that. I just looked on Trenitalia's web site and there is a train that leave Venizia Mestre at 09:20 and arrives in Orvieto at 14:11. There is no connection listed.

There also is a train that leaves Venezia S. Lucia and arrives in Orvieto at 16:11 with a connection in Bologna.

Are these two stations in Venice far apart? Is there any reason they shouldn't take the Mestre ==> Orvieto route?

BTW, we'll be staying in Orvieto the night before we meet up with them, so we can just stay there and explore Orvieto.

Thanks for the help.

The two stations are very close, your friends might take any train from Santa Lucia to mestre or a bus from Santa Lucia to Mestre station. IMHO the bst option is the direct IC train from Mestre, just make sure your friends have a seat reservation in either first or secondl class as they prefer. Also, food and drinks on Italian trains are both costly and poor quality, better to bring your own supplies, so tell your friends to buy a bottle of water and a couple panini in a bar or, even better, to buy a couple pieces of focaccia (and the water) in a bakery, so that they can have their luch on the train.

Thanks Alice (and everyone else). I'll pass your suggestions on to our friends.