A group of four adults, not very experienced with scooters but comfortable maneuvering when we have rented before, were thinking of renting scooters in either Venice or Florence. We want to be able to travel leisurely and visit different sites along the way.

What are the experiences of those who have rented scooters in Italy and what advice would you give? I have perused other forums and it sounds like scooter accidents in Italy are quite common due to the aggressive nature of Italian drivers.

Thanks in advance for any comments ...

I have rented scooters in Berlin but scootering in Venice would not work well due to stairs and crowd

The hundreds of canal bridges have steps up & down. It would make a good James Bond movie though

Venice is pedestrian only. No need to rent scooter there. Based on more than two dozen trips to Italy, I would not rent a scooter even now.

I have perused other forums and it sounds like scooter accidents in Italy are quite common due to the aggressive nature of Italian drivers.>

scooters IME in places like Florence - which touts itself as having more scooters on its streets than any other Italian town - are driven chaotically by a mainly younger take no risks crowd. A nice thing about Venice is that it is car- and Vespa-free - most Italian towns IME suffer from loud obnoxious smoke-belching scooters running amuck.

You gotta be a bit daft to drive a scooter in a city like Florence, where everything most of interest is in a very walkable compact area.

Now in Venice if you mean going into the countryside such as along the river with many Palladian villas along it then that would be fine - rent a scooter in Mestre across the lagoon.

You gotta be a bit daft to drive a scooter in a city like Florence, where everything most of interest is in a very walkable compact area.>>

you've got to be daft to drive anything in Florence - the last time i went, 2 years ago, the driving was as bad as I've seen anywhere.

Venice doesn't have streets it has canals. You can't ride a scooter on the sidewalk and it will be difficult to propel them through water - which limits you to the Lido.

As for Florence - the center is pedestrian only - so what would you do with them while sightseeing?

Frankly I don't get it unless you are a young man who can't yet afford a car and needs something to haul his girlfriend on for trips to the countryside.

And Italian drivers are assertive - not aggressive - in the main. It's that scooter drivers rarely follow the rules (generally being young men often showing off and taking chances they shouldn't).

Thanks for the input ... I am not daft, nor a young, carefree, risk taking teenager. I was only "asking for a friend"!!!!

Will trust my feet on this trip ...