My daughter and I are planning our Grand Italian Adenture, and on the top of her list is: Rent Vespas in Rome.

I think she's been watching too many Fellini films.

I have searched on line and can't find any info on Vespa rentals in Rome. Do you need a motorcycle license to do this? Will we need international licenses? Any idea what the cost is for this? Will we be kiled?

In the meantime, she is practicing on a friend's scooter...

Driving in Rome is nothing like driving in the US. Most intersections don;t have traffic lights, people freely park on the sidewalk and traffic regulations are more suggestions than laws. Unless your daughter is very good on a bike and experienced in heavy city traffic do not do this. (Do you have anywhere she can practice in heavy, erratic traffic to get a feel in advance if she can do this?) I'm a native New Yorker with a lot of experience driving in Manhattan with dare devil cabbies and, believe me, driving in the center of Rome is not for the faint hearted or inexperienced.

That said, if she can get some experience in advance (in HEAVY TRAFFIC) and wants to do it let her try. Just be sure you have fully paid up medical and vehicle insurance.

I can put her on the 405 during rush hour.

I expected driving in Rome to be quite similar to driving in Paris, or in downtown Tijuana. I am getting much better at getting out of the roundabouts. It only took me a few times around to get to the other side of L'Arc de Triomphe on my last try.

I think that what she really wants to do is rent the Vespa and then park it next to her table at a sidewalk cafe, where she will sit wearing large dark glasses and a scarf, sipping espresso until some handsome young man comes along and sweeps her off her feet.

I don't know about Tijuana - but Rome traffic is chaos as compared to Paris - frankly I've never understood the complaints about traffic in Paris - but then I'm used to New York. Rome can be much more challenging - everyone drives con brio and near missing vespas seems to be a national sport.

try a google search using just the words - scooter rental rome italy - I found the fee to average about $40-50 a day, but they're not necessarily Vespas. I thought scooter rentals would be wonderful experiences for my sons, but have heard since that it could be extremely foolhardy in Rome - even for the initiated.

..would not suggest actually riding a scooter in Rome unless you wish a unique opportunity to visit one of Romes's ERs

here_today,

Make certain that you buy a good health travel insurance, also dont forget to increase your Life Insurance and dont forget to make a will..
You are going to leave your wife a rich woman..
Driving in Rome with a Vespa? unless you grew up in the city and used to the chaos of the Roman traffic, is a very dangerous ways to spend your vacation..

Buona Fortuna or like We Romans say:
In Bocca Al Lupo..

Stop it. Now. Are you all a bunch of woosies?

Rome traffic is a bit tougher than Paris. Which really isn't anything anyone other than a total wimp would shy at (remember, where I live, we drive on the other side of the road. Most of you don't even have that to worry about)

Switch your brains on, remember that no-one in Rome or Paris wants to die, stop being a bunch of drama queens and drive.

Several million residents in Rome and Paris drive round their cities every day without making a scene about it.

Are the posters on this board really so totally lacking in moral fibre they're frightened by a few other cars on the road? Have your reflexes disintegrated? Or are Americans just a bunch of junk food-eating, risk-avoidance monkeys?

Rent your scooter and have a great time. And ignore this bunch of scardey-cats.

Or, as the only recent Western leader with real cojones (the Blessed Maggie) would havew put it: Frit. Every one of you.

flanneruk, how often have you rented and drove scooters in Rome and Paris?
I'm looking for some pointers. Have you had any near misses?

If you end up doing this, I'd love to hear what your experience is because we decided to go for it during our first visit to Rome but, on the day we had set aside, it rained and I didn't want to deal with Roman traffic and rain-slicked streets.

The price, per hour, wasn't bad at all. The shop we were going to rent from was east of the Vatican. We planned on riding primarily around that neighborhood, the Prati, because it seemed a lot less intense and confusing than anywhere in the Centro Storico.

If you do it, have fun, good luck and report back (if you live. )

when I was young I had a bad motorbike (vespa) experience - it wasn't until I went to Rome 3 years ago that I got back on one again (and I'm not young anymore) and I had a blast. Zipping around Rome was fantastic. You don't have to go exceedingly fast - except maybe on some of the major roads - which I would avoided anyway.

Here's a thread with some info for a scooter rental we did last summer (and yes it fun)

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34429219

oops that should be WAS fun.