I'll be spending a few days in rome before heading out to Cetona in Tuscanny for a week. I was wondering if I should pick up/drop off the car in Rome. The alternative would be to take a train to somewhere in Tuscanny and then rent the car. Any advice would be appreciated.

when i went on my contiki trip in the summer rome was by far one of the most busy and crazy cities. attempting to drive there would be a bit of an adventure to say the least. Of course rome is huge, but at the same time experiencing it by foot is nearly the best mode of transportation given every where you go youll be experiencing history

Hi Oy,

Many folks prefer to take atrain out of Rome rather than negotiating the city by car.

Orvieto is 1 hr by train from Rome and on your route to Cetona.

You might want to pick up the car there.

PS,

There is only one "n" in Tuscany.

We visited Rome in November (which is certainly not peak tourist season). Prior to our visit, we'd considered renting a car in Rome and driving into the countryside. Upon arrival, we quickly determined that unless we picked up the car on the edge of town, we would not be renting a car in Rome. Mind you, I drive in DC traffic every day, and have tackled NYC traffic often, and the Autobahn, all with ease and success. But Rome? Not by choice!
The central part of the city is a crazy mass of cars and pedestrians in some crazy, tenuous balance, and I wouldn't want to try it in a rental car. Our cab from the airport seemed to swerve in and out of intersections and down tiny side streets. Many roundabouts seem to be more like free-for-alls; locals and tourists cross streets any and everywhere (and there are lots of them in many parts of town); and the central part of town features the narrowest little alleys, where cars, taxis and motorcycles scoot along inches from walls, pedestrians and parked cars.

Either rent once you get to Tuscany, or at the edge of Rome only.

Chiusi is close to Cetona and very easy.

We picked up our rental car in Rome for the purpose of driving out of town. All we had to do was to go about 8 miles to the ring road. We had a wonderful GPS locator hooked to the laptop with wonderful maps. We are plenty familiar with driving in all kinds of large cities.

That said...got lost at least 4 times, doubled back several times, ended up in several parking lots and took us about an hour to finally find the Ring Road.

Rome driving is a HOOT!!!

Thanks so much for all the advice. I think I am definitely going to take the train and rent outside of Rome.

We rented a car at the Termini and found it rather easy to leave Rome on a Sunday morning. It was quite a bit more difficult returning, in late afternoon weekday traffic.

Actually the traffic, while rather crazy, wasn't that much of a problem. Not knowing where we were going was. There are signs to lead you to the ring road when you leave Rome but not many to direct you on your return. We had a Michelin road atlas of Italy and a road atlas of Rome but neither covered the area between the ring road and the Termini.

It will be more relaxing if you either find a map that covers the whole area, or return the car outside Rome and take the train if you must return to Rome.