We arrive in Rome the evening of Sept. 16th, plan to spend the night and then the next morning rent a car and drive to a hotel just outside Perugia. We plan to use this as our base and stay here 3 nights -- visiting Orvieto, Assisi and other towns you recommend. Question is: do you think we should drive from Rome or take the train to Perugia and then rent a car. From Perugia we plan to spend 2 nights in Florence which is where we will drop off the car. We plan to take the train from Florence to Naples, spend 2 nights in Ravello, then off to Sicily for 5 nights. Any suggestions you may have regarding hotels and towns we should visit would be most welcome. Thanks!

My own personal preference is to drive to Perugia,It's less hassle than taking the train. Let's put it this way. Since you are renting the car anyway, why not take advantage of it right from the beginning?

How do you plan on getting from Naples to Ravello?

What is your hotel budget?

Consider taking the train from Florence to Salerno, then a bus to the town of Amalfi, then another bus up to Ravello. I think it may be easier and faster than going through Naples.

Check train schedules here-

http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html

We just thought it might be easier getting out of Rome by train rather than the hassel of a car -- traffic, and not knowing the roads. We plan to take the train from Florence to Naples and then have a car pick us up and take us to our hotel in Ravello.

To avoid backtracking and assuming you get an early start, I'd stop in Orvieto and/or Todi /or Deruta on the way from Rome to Perugia.

If the first night in Rome is "optional," I'd train immediately to Orvieto on arrival and rent the car there the next day. (You'd have to be able to board the first train at the airport by 8:30 pm.)

Besides Orvieto, Assisi and Perugia, I recommend Gubbio and the area around Bevagna. Just don't try to cover too much ground in your short time.

If Orvieto is on your touring list, why not go to Orvieto first by train from Rome and pick up the car in Orvieto?

We arrive in Rome at 8:10pm -- too late to get a train to Orvieto. Perhaps we should take the train to Orvieto in the morning and then rent a car? Or are there things to see along the way from Rome to Orvieto?

Take the train to Orvieto and pick up the car there. Spend some time in Orvieto before leaving. If you have time, stop in Todi on your way to Perugia.

Of course there are things to see along the Rome-Orvieto road - difficult as it is to imagine, things to see are everywhere in Italy. GREAT things to see. Every second small town in Italy has more and better sights than the joint output re art & architecture of an average 162 countries in the world.
To name but the most important between Rome and Orvieto (in rough, but not precise geographical order): Sutri (amazing!), Caprarola, Castel Sant'Elia (excellent), Civita Castellana, Viterbo, Bagnaia (excellent), Bomarzo (funny), Civita di Bagnoregio (overrated), Montefiascone (great!), Bolsena, Amelia, Lugnano in Teverina (one of Italy's most underrated sights - if I had to write one of those tiresome "must-do" lists, Lugnano in Teverina would certainly be on it!)... all in all, an extraordinarily interesting region, totally overlooked by those hordes of tourists heading towards (pretty & interesting but definitely overrated) Orvieto.

Another fan of Montefiascone, especially on a clear day.

md9444,

Now that I see your arrival time, what I would probably do is book near the airport your arrival night at a hotel with a free airport shuttle, and return the next morning to the airport to pick up a car, and then head out.