We are planning on renting a car in Orvieto for our 7 days in Tuscany, then driving to CT for 4 nights. I'm not sure if we should keep the rental car and park it for the duration of our stay in CT, then drive it on to Venice. Or just drop the car off altogether before CT and then take the train to Venice. Based on your experience, what would you recommend?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

I suppose you might enjoy a car ride to Venice but I certainly wouldn't keep the car once there.

Is it more economical for you to keep the car long enough to drive to Venice or would ultimately taking a train be cheaper and perhaps more enjoyable?

I assume there are no drop charges involved sinceyou aren't dropping it in a different country.

Where would you park it in CT? Parking is limited in some of the towns. Not sure I'd want to park a car and leave it for 4 days, and not check on it or anything ... I guess it depends on where you're staying.

Thank you for your input so far. I had friends who recently traveled to CT and they left their rental parked in La Spezia, then taking the train into CT. I had the same trepidation about leaving it for four nights unattended, however...
The cost difference btwn the two options would be worth it to us if driving to Venice was a much better option than taking the train. But it certainly wouldn't be worth the added worry of wondering how the car was doing.
The idea of driving to Venice appealed to me, so that we could enjoy the towns between the two destinations...
I've confused myself again...

I've driven between the two. If there aren't other factors that require a car, I'd choose a train.

If you do drive, I parked near the Navy base in La Spezia. Much safer than near the train station and free.

I parked in Venice. It was too expensive and time consuming getting in and out. Park on the mainland and take the train into Venice.

Take the train is much easier although that you must change few times..

I would drop the car in La Spezia or the Pisa airport, train to CT, then train to Venice. No need to pay for 4 additional days of a car rental while the car is parked.

Can't use/park a car in CT. Use legs.

Can't use/park a car in Venice. Use vaporetti.

Can't sightsee/drink while driving from CT to Venice.

So....Why on earth would you take a car? (Only reason I can think of: You've got eight people in a van and are trying to save money over train tickets....)

Points well taken! Train it will be.

Thank you!

The car is a nuisance to you in both the Cinque Terre & Venice - parking costs, car hire costs and other problems.

My son (11yrs) and I stayed in Vernazza and we took the 7:16am train out of Vernazza to Venice and the journey took a little over 6 hrs.

It was a lovely comfortable journey and seemed to go quite quickly. I thought he's be bored but he wasn't. He loved seeing the 'snow' on the hills in Carrara, until I told him it wasn't snow it was marble lol!!!

And you have easy access from Santa Lucia station to the Vaporetto.

I'd definitely travel by train given the choice.

cheers,
Melissa