Renting a car in Italy.

HardDrive · 07-05-2022, 08:42 PM

We are going to Italy in roughly 2 weeks. We have lodging, but have procrastinated on transport. Any thoughts on renting a car VS train travel? We are staying to the north, Rome, Florence, Milan.

jcwade · jcwade's Garage

Rent a car.
Go where you want on your own schedule.

Bill Douglas · 07-05-2022, 10:48 PM

Rent a car - much more fun. I recon it's the small villages that have a lot of heart and soul in Italy.

Do get the car rental place to acknowledge the scratches and dents in the car before you drive off and return it with a 100% full tank of gas. They can be quite dishonest.

Ducati country

berettafan · 07-06-2022, 02:40 AM

You can do all of those by train easily.

That said we drove from Florence to Verona and Brescia due to train disruption (some kind of labor dispute involving damage to major electrical systems) and it was very cool. You get a bit more feel for the area.

We had the car for two days on a two week trip. Wouldn’t really care to have it much longer and didn’t really miss it after turning it in. So much to do and see within the cities where the car is useless.

LWJ · 04:44 AM

Rent.

But, Rome? I have driven in Northern Italy. No big deal. Rome? It’s a war zone on the roads and I would be very reluctant to drive there.

Trains are great. But a car is ideal.

Paul T · 07-06-2022, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LWJ

Rent.

But, Rome? I have driven in Northern Italy. No big deal. Rome? It’s a war zone on the roads and I would be very reluctant to drive there.

Trains are great. But a car is ideal.

Agreed. Definitely rent a car for exploring northern Italy, but I would not drive in Rome. Trains are great, and easy to get the hang of. I used 2 apps - Trenitalia and OrarioTreni, depending on where I was going. We took a train from Rome airport all the way to Venice and it was fantastic. Then train back to tuscany area where we rented a car.

Seahawk · 07-06-2022, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LWJ

But, Rome? I have driven in Northern Italy. No big deal. Rome? It’s a war zone on the roads and I would be very reluctant to drive there.

Trains are great. But a car is ideal.

A good friend of mine lived in Naples, Italy for 4 years. He was the Transportation Officer for a large Navy Command. They traveled by car all over Italy and Europe.

He said once you get the hang of it, driving in the cities is a hoot: The laws of space and time do not apply, don't look at other drivers and use the horn like you are Herb Albert.

Enjoy.

stuartj · 07-06-2022, 06:11 AM

Driving in Rome is no problem, just dive in.

The trains in Italy, Europe generally, are great, and you don't have the problem of a car in the smaller places.

However. The roads in Italy are excellent, the standard of driving is excellent. The mountains. The valleys. The roads. Omg. Apparently theyve been doing roads for some time in italy.

Get a car. A really good car.

berettafan · 07-06-2022, 06:23 AM

you might want to check this place out. not a long visit kind of place but pretty neat if it's convenient.

Museo Mille Miglia

David · David's Garage

Driving in Europe is usually a non-issue and Europeans drive MUCH better than Americans but we did just travel Italy by train when we were there a few years ago.

I've had best luck setting up rental cars with my company account with Enterprise/National. Much cheaper than Euro only brands. Also check if credit card provides rental car insurance in Europe. You may still need to provide proof of insurance but you won't have to pay for additional insurance.

Expect your car to be a manual tranny. Even if you request an automatic. I never cared either way but I've seen American's freak out when handed a manual car.

berettafan · 07-06-2022, 09:19 AM

I want to say there was some requirement to get an international drivers license? IIRC it was a simple process at my local AAA. And when renting the car in Florence they didn't bother asking for it. So might not be needed but for sure i read somewhere you should have it.

908/930 · 908/930's Garage

Like others have said, I would not recommend driving into Rome, can it be done yes, will you enjoy it I doubt it. At least make sure you have good rental insurance. I remember sitting at a stoplight with three lanes it had four cars and two Vespa's lined up, just the way it is, most cars I saw were dented. But to see most of the cool small towns you will need a car, so take train in from outside for Rome. Are you ok with driving through NYC during the day?

MBAtarga · 07-06-2022, 09:46 AM

Can't offer hands on experience for the north end. We rented on our trip back in 2018. We had a Fiat Panda. Drove the car straight out of the Rome airport and headed south. The "highway" was marked for 3 lanes - but often became a "4" lane road with anxious drivers. That drove my wife crazy, until she realized there wasn't much for me to do. Stayed around the coast - drove up and down the coast daily to various destinations - had no issues other than sometimes finding parking. After the first week and return to Rome - turned the car back in. Took a taxi into Naples - I'd never drive in that city! Also did a lot of walking in Rome and used the metro a few times while there.

matthewb0051 · matthewb0051's Garage

I've driven in London. But Rome? Hard pass.

I would get a car for the rest of your trip though. When we lived in Germany we took the train a lot in our first year. Then we realized that once we got to our destination we needed a car and train trips usually took longer and cost more than the gas would have for the trip.

David Inc. · David Inc.'s Garage

Driving a car around Italy is an experience in itself, but if your focus is going to be on visiting cities and seeing the sights you're likely to be fine with just public transit. When my wife and I went we went to Amalfi so were forced to get a car (no thank you to taking a bus). Driving along that coastline was stunning and totally worth it, but it was also butt-clenchingly scary sometimes with the way the roads and other drivers are.

Actually I drove in Rome and it wasn't terrible, but we were fortunate to mostly stay to larger roads. I also had experience driving in cities in Mexico so Rome was really not so bad in comparison. Compared to US driving, though, yikes.

HardDrive · 07-06-2022, 11:20 AM

Ok, thanks for the input all. I think we are leaning towards using the the train, but renting a car if we need for day excursions.

Bill Douglas · 07-06-2022, 11:38 AM

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. That means drive flat out and keep up with the car in front of you. It's fine.

LWJ · 07-06-2022, 01:21 PM

Yes on the insurance. My Visa card covered me. I have driven all over the place. Most recently was Mexico. That was interesting.

But, I was in an accident in Slovenia a while ago. It was exactly as in the US. I was rear-ended by a Swiss motorcycle club. I thought I would be beaten, wasn’t. And, I just turned the keys over at the end of the rental. Never a bill!

matthewb0051 · matthewb0051's Garage

^^^

I put a very long scratch on a micro van in Ireland back in 2004. Long and wide, took a turn into a parking lot too tight and scraped the side against the entrance post that was brick.

To my knowledge it never was an issue. My FIL turned the van in at the airport and unless he ate the cost it wasn't brought up.

David · David's Garage

We did arrange to have a car pick us up at the Naples train station and drive us down to Positano. We got to the car and found a pretty new BMW 5 series with a well dressed 70ish year old driver so we thought this will be a nice ride. Wholly crap! It was like riding with me! When we got to windy stuff my wife made him pull over so she could catch breath.

Usually we'll start our trip in a big city and rent a car when we head to the little towns.