katiekc

Hello again. We will be renting a car in Florence this November for two days and dropping it off in Rome. We'd like to return it to the Termini train station to avoid a train trip back into the city from the airport, but are very concerned with driving in Rome. How easy is it to get to the station and return a rental car? Also, anyword on the car rental locations in Florence? How easy is it to get out of the city from the downtown eurocar rental agencies?
Thank you!

rex

<<How easy is it to get to the station and return a rental car?>>

With someone providing competent map-reading and navigational aid, I think it is really not all that different.

<<Also, anyword on the car rental locations in Florence? How easy is it to get out of the city from the downtown eurocar rental agencies? >>

Although you don't ask, I assume you understand that the car rental locations in Florence are generally NOT right <i>at</i> the train station (but less than six blocks away, as I recall. And I would not describe the route to drive AWAY from the city as difficult.

It might be that I assess city driving in Italy as less harrowing than some other Fodorites.

Best wishes,

Rex

Sher

I drove out of Florence twice, once with my daughter and once with my husband. I really did not find it difficult.
I think if I could do it, anyone could.

cf5657

Why don't you see if there is a location around the Villa Borgehese (however you spell it). It's towards the outer edges of the city and its easy to get a bus or the metro from there back into Rome. It's not hard to drive in Rome but some of the streets are a pain in that downtown area becuase they are one way. Florence is a lot easier to drive in and out of.

nonnafelice

There is a lot of information about this on the SlowTalk Italy board. Search there under Termini and car, and you'll find some very good advice.

nanb

There is a Autoeurope up on via veneto, close to the park,
at least there was in 2001

RJD

The rental agencies in Florence are in one area, a short walk from the train station. It's not difficult to get out of town but you'll need a decent map that shows the one-way streets. With that in hand and a decent co-pilot you'll be fine. I've done it half a dozen times, and I almost get it right each time.

DonnaD44

Because the Rome airport (FCO) is several miles away from the center, it's really not all that tough to drive there. Just stay on the highway, follow the signs and you should be fine. We rented a car there in June--no problems at all.

Ann41

I'm in Rome at the moment, and there is no way I'd ever drive here. What a madhouse! Drop it off at the airport. Do not drive into the city. You will regret it.

Giovanna

We picked up a car at Termini a few years ago and drove to Florence. Getting out of the city was reasonably easy, following the directions we were given at the agency. My husband drives and I navigate and we get along fine. We did get lost once, but rather enjoyed seeing a residential part of Rome we otherwise would never have seen.

Depends on your comfort level I guess, but we have had minimal problems leaving Rome and Florence (enroute to Venice). Airport would perhaps be easier (we've never done it) but would probably cost more.

ChadL

We've done similar one way rentals before, dropping off the car at in city and airport locations. I must say, we prefer the latter. Picking up the car at a train station rental office and driving out of town is a snap. But, driving through city traffic while trying to find a particular rental agency can strain the best marriage. I'd highly recommend dropping the car off at the airport then letting a train or cab driver get you into town.

stefanaccio

Not a big problem if you have two people and a good map. One to drive and one to navigate.

Casale-Affordable Rental in Abruzzo
http://www.angelfire.com/film/casale

Dolf

Florence is no problem, especially getting out. Rome is a problem if you are not used to it even with a partner with a map. Best place to return car --- Via Ludovisi off the Via Veneto. They'll call a cab for you.
Don't get frustrated if you hit an unexpected one way street or get off course. The Via Ludovisi is near the Villa Borghese and the Via Veneto is a main street.
Good luck,
Dolf

seaside1

We just got back from Italy - last night - and we rented a car. We also dropped it off in Rome. If you can avoid driving in Rome at all please do so. It is bedlam --- simply awful. Often you can not read the street signs until you are past them and the street names change although you are driving on the same stretch of road. Also, on one occasion we found ourselves driving on the tram side of the road and I am surprised we were not hit. If you can drop it off in Florence and then take some other form of transportation to Rome I would seriously advise it.

We drove in Florence and while it was also a little tricky we had a much easier time and actually stumbled on a nice garage within walking distance of the Ponte Vecchio. I would take driving in Florence over Rome any day.

verona

We recently rented a car at the FCO airport in Rome and returned it there. There very detailed directions on the Slow Travelers site. Please look at the &quot;Driving in Italy&quot; section. Print out the directions for returning a car in Rome. They were excellent, even telling where the last gas station is before you get to the airport. Without these directions we would have been lost!!

katiekc

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I found quite a bit of info on slowtrav.com also. In the end, I think we will drop off the car in Orvieto since that is really the last town we'll stop in before heading to Rome. From what I understand, the agency is easy to get to there and trains into Rome are frequent. Thanks again, I'm always glad to avoid tension in our new marriage.

NorCal_Jo

Good idea IMO to drop in Orvieto - based on our recent experience, we would have been much happier dropping in Orvieto! It was also really easy to pick up and drive out of Florence. My tip from our hard lesson - just make sure you know the rental office hours in Orvieto (or confirm you can drop it after hours). We intended to drop our car in Orvieto on our trip last month but got delayed (buying wine in Montepulciano) and ended up thinking, &quot;what the heck, let's just drive to our hotel in Rome - it can't be worse than home (San Francisco)&quot;. Ugh - talk about famous last words! It became a comedy of errors culminating in leaving a 3 bottles of awesome Brunellos (cost us 200Euro) accidently in the trunk of the Avis rental car by the time we dumped it in disgust at the Termini the next morning! Of course, when we called back, the Avis guy said &quot;Nope - I didn't see any wine in the trunk&quot;. Yeah right. So, hopefully, someone can learn from our stupidity as follows!
Error #1 - Got to Orvieto late and was convinced by my husband that we might as well keep driving to Rome rather than try to figure out how to drop the car late (he had wanted to drive to Rome the whole time);
Error #2 - Didn't have a good enough driving map of Rome but decided to wing it;
Error #3) Driving in the dark with no compass - somehow turned wrong way on Vio Veneto and found ourselves heading OUT of Rome;
Error #4) once we remedied Error #3 it was dark and we got ourselves lost in what we later realized was the Borghese park area so there we no main streets to navigate by. Plus it is very difficult to read street signs faintly chiseled into sides of buildings. But, we were still too stubbern to pull over and just find a cab to have us follow to hotel;
Error #5) Finally got to our Hotel (right next to Pantheon) and realized there was no open parking anywhere nearby so we parked illegally with plans to get up early to move car.
Error #6) Woke up late, rushed to move car only to find policeman starting paperwork - convinced him we were leaving and drove to Termini - finally with good directions from hotel.
Error #7) Got to Termini with no issues but didn't have directions to car drop off so just parked next to Termini and went inside to Avis desk - guy said we could just leave it where we parked it since we had a good spot. So excited to get rid of the stupid car that we forgot to do a final check of the trunk! Aiigghhh!
Seriously, driving in Rome wouldn't be that bad if you were really prepared with good directions and not in peak traffic times/darkness - alas, we were none of the above!