I'm wanting to know the level of difficulty in renting car at Rome airport and heading to Tuscany so I can tell if I want to do that right after long flight. Appreciate any thoughts.

We recently rented a car at the airport and drove to Umbria and had no problems whatsoever. Its extremely easy to get out of the airport and Rome; much easier than I imagined it would be. I think that your ability to drive will depend mostly on how you handle jetlag. We tend to handle jetlag pretty well and can drive two-three hours immediately upon landing with no problems.

Tracy

Me too.

Go to www.slowtrav.com and with some digging around the site you can print our exact directions for leaving Fiumicino airport, also how to get to the car rental area from baggage claim. This site could be a great help to you in planning your trip. Try auto europe for great rental rates...they are a consolidator.

Thanks so much folks. Sounds like it will be fine.

Just watch out for the signage on the roads, the signs appear to be at the intersection itself, so you have to be quick. You can easily end up heading to the city itself if you are not careful. Easy to do after a long flight. (I speak from experience here, but we did get back on track relatively easily)

Where are you returning the car? Find out from the hire place where to go to return the car. We spent an hour driving around Rome airport (a few years after the time we had picked up from the airport so had forgotten) and finally found the hire car return in the multi storey car park.(of course why didn't I think of that)

Other drop off points may be tricky so it could be something to check if you know where you will be dropping off the car.

Thanks for your tips, Schnauzer. They'll be helpful.