Question

I wish to drive from Rome to Florence, stoppping in the Chianti region along the way. I have heard about the horrors of driving in both Rome and Florence. My question is this: is there any reasonable place to pick up/drop cars in the city limits of these cities in order to avoid the traffic?

Wayne

Major rental car agencies such as Avis and Hertz, and many others, have rental locations within all the large cities. You need to call the agency and find out where those locations are. In many cases you can have the agency deliver the car to you (for instance, at your hotel) or even pick it up ---usually for an extra charge. And if you are careful about driving, and have a good city map and a sense of direction, you can drive into a city, or out of a city, when renting or turning in a car. Even Florence and Rome, both of which have caused many horror stories on this site, are manageable if you just use caution. But don't take this as advice to drive around willy-nilly in a city rather than taking local transportation. Know where you are going and how to get there, whether it's into a city or out of a city.

Marj

Access to the car rentals near termini station in Rome aren't too bad to access from the highway. If driving in Rome, try to avoid the area around the historic center. The tiny one-way streets are really tough to navigate.

Shain

Hi <BR>rome has indeed the worst chaotic traffic in whole europe. But the even if the italian drivers sound the horn all the time, it doesn t mean that you are wrong. Italians use for things like<BR>" hey attention I m here" <BR>"hello how are you"<BR>"I like your blue eyes"<BR>that seems sometimes silly, but italians are macchos and also auto-fanatics. So if you understand the italian soul a bit, and drive careful and don t let you with all the horns<BR>get you in a stressy situation, its ok.<BR>You just have to relax a bit, maybe try to watch the traffic on a freuented spot like around the Collossea or on the via Natzionale.<BR>I think just stay calm and ignore somehow the noise and concentrate on where you want to go, because the streets are confusing enough.<BR>I suggest anyway to pick up the car at the airport, so u got some time to get into the city and get used to it.<BR>More info - email me<BR>Shain/EU/germany/D&uuml;sseldorf

Traveler

Dear Q<BR><BR>Another idea is to take the train to Orvieto (check your map), pick up your car there and continue on to the Chianti area. Orvieto is a beautiful hill-top town and is well worth a stop or even an over night stay. The station (and the car rental agencies) are at the bottom of the hill. To get to the town, you take a funicular up the hill.<BR><BR>Dropping off your car in Florence is not too difficult and by that time you'll be an experienced Italian driver.<BR><BR>Check out www.autoeurope.com for good rates and no drop- off fees. I have no financial interest in this company, just a satisfied customer, as are many others on this board.<BR><BR>Bon viaggio

newt

Return the car to the airport in Florence and take a cab or bus into the city. There is an Avis opposite the train station in Chiusi if you don't want to drive out of Rome. From there you can easily amble through Chianti up to Florence. The airport is easy to find.

ed

If you should decide to pick up a Hertz rental in Orvieto I would advise you against it. We had made arrangements to do that last spring having prepaid. We were assured it was not a problem. Well first of all Hertz is not easy to get to and when we arrived they had no cars and were told they would get one to us by the next day. They then charged us for having to go get one in Rome. It really did not start our trip off well. Its a very small office . Just a warning.

ellen

I'd vote for airport to airport - less stressful. There's a quick train to Fiumicino from Termini Station in Rome and while I haven't done it in Florence, I'm sure there's easy transportation from the airport into town.

Dayle

We picked up in Siena & dropped in Orvieto. Drove all over Tuscany & Umbria doing day trips from Chianti & Orvieto. No problem, very easy. We used Avis, they had the best weekly rate of $265 TOTAL in May 2000. Rental agencies in these towns are not right at the train station, so we just hopped a cab (cheap & easy) to get us there.