Blacksea

Hello Everyone! And in advance thank you for your help!
I am planning my first trip to Italy(Tuscany) this August.... where I will rent a house near San Gimignano for a week to meet with my girlfriends. I will fly to Milan and planning on renting a car. Hope I can handle driving in Italy, can it be worse than driving in NYC?
1. Is there anything I need to know about driving in Italy to avoid unpleasant surprises?
2. I am not sure how much time do I need to do Milan's highlights?
3. Before going to Tuscany, I am planning to stop in La Morra, Piedmont area for a few days. From there I will drive to San Gimignano...There are two route options : E-80 ( along the coast), how difficult is to drive there? Or take A21-Piacenza and E45 through Bologna is easier?
4. While in San G., of course we want to visit Cinque Terre. Had anyone travelled to Cinque Terre from San. G. by a car? What town in CT should I go first? Is it too much hustle to drive there? How else we can get there from San G.? I found a plenty of guided tours to CT from Florence(quite pricey) and am not sure we want to do the organized trip.
5. Also, how much time to do I need to give myself to drive from San.G. to Milan? According to Google map it's 4 hours, is it right? I need to be at Malpensa airport by 14:00 (2PM), at what time do I have to leave San G.?
Sorry for too many questions, hope you were able to follow...
Thanks again

asps

Driving times on Google and Viamichelin are always understated. Milan to Florence is 300 km, google gives 3 hours driving time but in the real world I got close to that only driving on a Xmas morning with absolutely no traffic. 3 hours 30 min is more realistic, make it 4 hours if you have a small stop. Le us add 1 hour on both ends - to get from SanG to Florence, to get from Milan to MXP, so I would leave at 8:00am, but 7:30am would be more cautious. The point is: when you are arriving, a delay is not a problem; you think you will take 5 hours, you meet a queue and you need 6, but the rental home is waiting for you and won't move. In the opposite direction, the airplane will leave so it is better to be safe than sorry.

Michael

When in towns, watch out for ZTLs. These are areas where only locals are allowed to drive. You will get a ticket if you enter such a zone, and multiple tickets if you enter such a zone multiple times.

If taking E80 you might as well stop along the coast on your way to San Gimignano. There is a road access to Levanto, north of CT proper.

Blacksea

Thank you! I actually thought that depart at 10 am will be ok, but you are very right i need to plan for much earlier...

Blacksea

Thanks for your suggestion! I want to do a one day trip from San Gimignano to Cinque Terre. It seems that Levanto is located on the north of CT ( 2,5 hrs drive from San G.?). I am wondering what would be the closest town to drive in to access CT from the south?

bvlenci

I really don't think it's worth doing a day trip to the Cinque Terre, with a 2 1/2 hour drive on each end, which could easily become a 3-hour drive or more if you find traffic. I wouldn't recommend going there unless you could spend two nights, because both getting there, and getting somewhere else afterwards, are time-consuming.

To answer your question, Riomaggiore is at the southern end of the Cinque Terre, but it doesn't make a lot of difference in driving time.

I wouldn't recommend renting the car until you're leaving Milan; it's only a nuisance in the city. I don't know what you consider highlights. My husband and I once spent five days there, but didn't get to see all we wanted to see, so we returned this year for four more days. And even then, we still have things we want to see, so another trip to Milan is probably in our future. I would at the very least see the Duomo, one of Europe's greatest Gothic style cathedral, and don't miss going up to the terraces, which are an amazing forest of Gothic sculpture. Nearby is La Scala, the famous opera house, which has tours. In between the two is the Galleria, which is a covered shopping arcade with lots of expensive shops and restaurants. I also recommend that you visit the Castello Sforzesco, a huge castle in the middle of the city.

If you're interested in historic churches, or just historic buildings of any type, you'd probably love the Basilica of Saint Ambrose, which dates from the 4th century, although it was greatly enlarged in the 9th century, and restructured in the 11th century. Another place I like is the Grande Naviglio, a canal that's lined with lots of trendy bars and restaurants. If you spend at least one night in Milan, you might like to go there in the evening.

Since you'll be there in August, I should warn you that Milan can be very hot and muggy in the summer.

You'll save a lot of money if you can drive standard shift. Cars with automatic transmission cost a lot more, and often they're not available at smaller rental locations. I've even heard of people ordering one, only to be told when they arrive that only standard shift models are available.

You need an IDP (International Driver's Permit), which has to be carried along with your regular license, to drive in Italy. You can get one for something like $15 at your nearest AAA office, even if you're not an AAA member. If you bring along two passport-sized photos, you'll save a little money; otherwise they'll take the photos, but charge you for it.

Driving in Italy isn't difficult. As already mentioned, nearly every city and town has a limited traffic area (ZTL), where only residents, service vehicles, and emergency vehicles can drive. It's very easy to stray into these zones in larger cities, and you'll eventually, usually months later, get a large fine mailed to your home, along with a hefty charge to your credit card from the rental agency, which they charge you for helping the police find you. In smaller towns, it's easier to avoid the ZTL by parking outside the walls, in a designated parking area, and walking in.

You should also familiarize yourself with the international road signs used in Italy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Italy

AAA will give you something like that when you get the IDP, but it's not specifically for Italy, if I remember correctly.

Also, when parking, spaces designated with white lines are free parking, but often they are time limited, and you're supposed to leave a "disco orario", which is a little watch face with one hand; you use it to indicate the time you parked, so they can see how long you've been there. Your rental agency should give you one with the car. If you don't see it, ask for one. Parking spaces delimited by blue lines are by payment. You get a ticket in a little machine, and leave it on your dashboard.

On all parking signs, whether for free time-limited parking or for paid parking spaces, two crossed sledgehammers mean Monday-Saturday, except holidays; and a cross means Sundays and holidays. If you see a sign near paid parking spots with "7-19 X"(pretend the X is crossed hammers) it means you have to pay to park there on Monday through Saturday, from 7 AM to 7PM. If you see nothing else, it means that you can park free at other times. If you also see a sign that says, "13-19 +", it means that you also have to pay on Sundays from 1 to 7 PM.

This article has some useful information, but not exhaustive, on parking:

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/parking.htm

kybourbon

>>>I need to be at Malpensa airport by 14:00 (2PM), at what time do I have to leave San G.?<<<

What time is your flight? You need to allow enough time to return you car (there could be a line), get from the rental return to the airport and check in time for your flight. If it's a flight to the US (no changes in Europe), they typically start boarding about 1 hour before departure time.

I would put my Milan/La Morra time at the end of the trip. Take a train to Florence from Milan and pick up a car there to travel on to San G.

klondike

Great advice above. Agree with kybourbon about being in the Milan area the morning of your flight...so many unexpected things can come up--a flat tire, a major traffic jam (it is August after all)or work on the road.

We once were driving 3 hours to get to Bologna for a Ryanair flight and got caught on a viaduct for over an hour due to unannounced road work--no way to get off and find an alternate route! It was touch and go but we made the flight.

Blacksea

OMG, thanks so much for all these info about driving and parking in Italy! I already found a local AAA office to get my IDP. Since I realized that CT is not a one day trip, I decided to spend there two nights on the way from La Morra to San G. I am not sure in what town in CT should we stop but i still have time to figure it out

Blacksea

OK, thanks Klondike and Kybourbon but you just made me nervous ahead of time ...
My flight from Milan to NYC departes at 16:00 /4PM. Do you think it's too far and risky to travel to Milan's airport the same morning? As per my itinerary, I am flying to Milan on August 18 and leaving on the 29. And the house in San G. is rented for the end of the trip. That's why I cannot move La Morra/Milan time to later. But may be I should leave the house the evening before the departure day and spend a night around Milan, just to be on safe side...

klondike

Well, when I have driven that route it breaks down to just over 1 1/2 hours San G. to Pisa and Pisa to Milan in the neighborhood of 3...so without any stops you are at 41/2 to 5 hours of driving + time to return the car and check in for international flight= another +2 hours. Plug your trip into viamichelin or mappy and see what it says then add 3 hour (one for stops to refill gas tank/traffic delays+2 for airport checkin/security).

What we have done in the past when we need to be at Milan for late morning is to stay at a way-point along the route, i.e. the Parma area (and it's a beautiful drive). Here is where we have stayed before and really enjoyed it...just outside of Parma so you don't have any real backtracking or big-city issues. Should anyone stay here, be sure to reserve a table in advance at their gourmet restaurant! http://www.relaisfontevivo12monaci.com/

klondike

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...a_Romagna.html

Blacksea

I like this idea of staying around Parma the night before departure from Milan...and 12 Monaci restaurant looks very fascinating. Thanks again for all your suggestions. You guys are awesome!

kybourbon

>>>Pisa to Milan in the neighborhood of 3<<

3 hours to Milan or to Malpensa?

It doesn't sound like the flight is to the states since it's leaving that late so it might not require as early of a check-in and wouldn't be boarding so early if it's only going to somewhere in Europe.

sandralist

The flight is Emirates, Milan>JFK. It leaves Malpensa at 4pm.

Hi blacksea,

You shouldn't try to drive from San Gimignano to Malpensa on the day you are scheduled to depart.

Spending the night in Parma is a nice idea, but since you want to see the highlights of Milan, why don't you spend your last day in Milan? You can drive in the morning to the Florence airport from San Gimignano, drop off the car there, take a shuttle bus or taxi to the Florence train station and be in Milan in time for lunch. You would have all the afternoon and early evening to see the highlights.

If you don't want to get off your flight and drive to Piemonte jet-lagged, then spend your first night in Piemonte in Torino (go there by train or bus from the airport), rent a car the next morning to drive to La Morra.

If you prefer to have Milan at the top of your trip, what would be even easier than overnighting in the Parma area is to spend the night in Bologna and get rid of the car there, and then take a morning train to Malpensa. If you leave Bologna between 9 & 10 am, you will be at Malpensa in plenty of time. The simplest way to get rid of a car in Bologna is to drop it off at the airport and take a taxi into town, or a shuttle bus.

Or you could drop off the car at the Florence airport late in the afternoon and spend the night in Florence, early train to Malpensa the next morning. That is really simple if you want to maximize your time in the Tuscan countryside and not have a slog to Malpensa.