Siena Provience, Tuscany
 

Four couples (in the 70's will be renting a villa near Chiusi for last two weeks of Sept. 2012 All have been to Italy before.....Wish to revisit Rome, Siena, Florence, Pissa again plus other new cities. Should we rent cars or relay on train or combo of both.. Any overnight suggestions

I would spend one week at the Villa and see Rome and Florence from those cities---and Pisa from Florence. You will want two cars during your week in Tuscany---you can rent right in Chiusi as you arrive.
Arrive Rome--train to Florence
Florence---3 nites
Get cars---to Villa[ should be a Sat.]
week in Tuscany
Drop car in Chiusi AM and train to Rome
last 4 nites in Rome

Have fun !

Most villas are in the countryside and require a car to get there. Is your villa close to the train station in Chiusi?

So you want to make daytrips from your villa to Rome, Siena, Florence and Pisa? We took a very memorable bus ride from the Chiusi train station to the Siena train station. The bus took us up and around the hills of Tuscany and gave us a wonderful introduction to the scenery of southern Tuscany. We fell in love and vowed to return -- which we did.

With a car you can go to Montepulciano/Pienza/Montalcino and the many sights around there. Or farther south in Tuscany to towns like Pitigliano and Sorano. Or tool around Chianti.

Chiusi is on the border of Umbria, so you could venture there by car or train. With the train there's Perugia and Assisi; with a car there's lots to see in Umbria.

I would really recommend a car for this area, or rather 2 cars for a group of 8. The driving and the scenery are so enjoyable. Just don't drive into a small hilltown and expect to find parking. The streets are very narrow and there were no medieval parking lots. Park outside on the edge of town and walk in.

What location is it advised to rent a car in Florence? I want to be able to get there by transit/train, but avoid the really crazy streets/restricted zones if possible.

Theer are two that are feasible---Borgo Ognassanti or the airport.

As long as you don't have to return the car to the Borgo location, it's OK for car pick up although the staff there isn't that helpful and you may end up waiting a good while past your pick up time to actually get your car and don't think that you'll be able to show up earlier than your appointed pick up time to get your car either. That doesn't work with that staff either.

Getting out of town from there is a slow process on clogged busy roads. Trying to get back there and avoid the restricted zones in Florence isn't possible and all of the one way streets make it difficult to get to their office for returns.

We rented from there last September and I vowed that, even though an airport pick up for car rental is more expensive, not having to deal with that office and the traffic would be worth the extra cost.

I also learned the hard way that some of the gas stations coming back into town on the main road back to that office are set up so you have to prepay and if you don't use all of the fuel you prepaid for, you only get a credit slip to use in the future instead of change back. Nice racket!