Perche

Florence is a city in Tuscany. As worded, this is like saying you are going to take a taxi from Detroit and drive to Michigan. Tuscany is a huge region in Italy, and its capital is Florence.

747FC

Are you staying in Florence, or just picking up car there? If the latter, why don't you just rent a car in Rome and drive to whatever area of the Tuscan countryside interests you?

Word to the wise: Wherever you pick up your car, make sure you check it thoroughly before driving off. One Rome vendor (Hertz or Avis, can't remember) gave us bald tires on a car we were driving on normally anxiety-provoking roads

detroit1010

I understand this, which is why I said the Tuscan countryside. I suppose I was not clear so my apologies. We are thinking about staying at Villa Bordoni in Greve in Chianti.

We've though about taking a car from Rome but as I understand it this would not resolve the issue of getting away from the ZTLs and additionally would require a significantly longer drive (~3 hours compared to ~1 from Florence).

Perche

I second this idea. It depends on if you are in a rush or not.

You plan a 1.5 hour train ride from Rome to Florence, then a cab to the airport. That's at least two hours, figuring that once you get to the train station it will take time to disembark, get your bearings, and get outside, then possibly deal with traffic on the way to the airport. Then at the airport, depending on what day and time you arrive, figure on waiting at the rental ticket counter for maybe 30 minutes to get a car, then a one hour drive to Greve. It will take at least three hours when all is said and done.

Or, you can pick up a car in Rome and drive to Greve in 3 hours. Just stay out of the Roman historic center and you won't get a ticket. That will take about the same time. Some rental companies will even bring the car to your hotel, which would make it even faster.

Instead of a mundane 1.5 hour train ride, followed by the drudgery of going to the airport, you can make a Rome to Florence car trip be quite nice.

If not in a rush and if you leave early you can stop off at Civita di Bagnoregio or Orvieto, and then drive through some nice countryside in Tuscany on the way to the Villa. Who cares if it takes six or seven hours? It will be beautiful, and you can still arrive before check-in time. As long as you don't drive into Florence you don't have to worry about ZTL. It's not a big problem in Rome.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/civita/
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-rea...town-should-be

Perche

If you are going to be in Greve, Lo Spela is rated as one of the best places to eat pizza in Tuscany.

PWMTrav

Rent the car at the Rome airport and drive to the Tuscan countryside. There's really no practical advantage I can think of to landing at FCO, taking the train to Firenze SMN, then a bus out to the airport just to get a car and drive another hour.

Can confirm. I just rode this bus. They're on the newer side, plenty of luggage space, clean and comfortable. Finding the bus itself isn't necessarily obvious, so I'll give these directions. If you are facing the main entrance of the train station, the bus departs from the covered area on the left side of the building. Not from the front, and not where the city busses pick up on the street.

PWMTrav

It'd be a 3 hour drive, but you'd also avoid waiting for a train and a bus, plus the 90 minute train ride. It'd add up to the same, and you'd see far more scenery in the car, plus the option of stopping at whatever looks interesting.

As far as ZTL goes, you'd be getting on the highway from FCO. No ZTL on that end. I have no idea if Greve in Chianti has ZTL, but you'd be contending with that regardless. You wouldn't be driving through Florence unless you intended to do that.

I'd drive from the Rome airport in your instance.

Perche

I don't think there is a ZTL in Greve. To find out if there is one you google "mappa ZTL" then the city you are going to. For example, mappa ztl lucca, mappa ztl firenze, mappa ztl brescia, mappa ztl roma, mappa ztl torino, etc. It will take you to a page where you can download the map of each city's ZTL, if they have one.

There's also an app for that and you can download it into Google Maps and it will warn you if you are approaching one. There's a website where you can punch in the region or city to see where the ZTL is and where the cameras are, called Accessibility' Centro Storici. I tried putting in Greve, and there's nothing. The website is below. Just type the name of the city on the left where it says, "cerca citta":
http://www.accessibilitacentristorici.it/Default.cfm

If the OP is going to drive to Greve the bigger driving danger is getting caught on camera while speeding. There are cameras called Autovelox that detect if your car is speeding planted throughout Tuscany and other parts of Italy. In all cases, there will be a sign a reasonable distance beforehand that will warn you that up ahead is a camera. It's not like they are trying to catch you speeding, they are trying to slow you down. The problem is, the signs are only in english, so you need to know about them.

Some have a picture of a policeman under which are words, "controllo elettronica della velocita," or sometimes just the words, or just the picture of a policeman and underneath it says Autovelox Polizia Stradale. Some signs have other wording. In any case, if OP sees a sign that looks like it has to do with traffic, he needs to make sure he's under the speed limit.

detroit1010

Ok, I think I like the idea of renting a car in Rome and driving to Tuscany. I think we are switching things up and planning on staying at Siena House (which is in Torrtia di Siena) and therefore is closer to Rome than Grieve in Chianti.

It seems everyone's saying to get the car at FCO - is that easier than renting somewhere from within the city in terms of ZTLs and getting up north?

Perche

Not at all. I think people were assuming that you were going to land in Rome and not visit the city, just go straight to Greve from there. If you are in the city, there is no reason to go to the airport. You'd be adding well over an hour in travel time and waiting at the airport. For example, there are car rental agencies at Termini, the central train station. Termini is not in the ZTL. Villa Borghese is outside. Vatican is outside. Just pick up the car and head away from downtown and towards the highway.

Perche

PS: you might find this helpful in figuring out where to pick up a car in Rome without having to go all the way out to the airport, while avoiding ZTL fines.
http://www.roninrome.com/%20transpor...ations-in-rome
http://www.roninrome.com/%20transportation/ztls-in-rome

KLouis

When used, the Autovelox/radar/policeman warning signs usually follow a series of closely spaced speed limit signs, often with decreasing values. Unfortunately, the radar is then posted about 10-20 m after the Autovelox/radar/policeman warning sign. This means that if you see it and break, a) there is a very big risk that the car following you will bump into your derriere and b) the chances that you manage to slow down to the legal speed are effectively zero, unless your reaction time is that of a fly that you try to catch. Thus, when seeing the Autovelox sign, it is usually too late. The conclusion is to not drive faster than allowed if you don't want to receive mail from Italy a year or so later.

detroit1010

Ok well that settles it! We'll pick up a car in Rome and drive to Tuscany. The last thing to figure out is where to return the car. We will likely be staying at Torrtia di Siena and then spending a night in Florence.

As far as I can tell, there are three options for returning the car:

A) return the car somewhere in Tuscany outside of Florence - like Siena - and take the train to Florence
B) return the car at Florence Airport and then make our way into the city
C) return the car in the city

Ideally we'd do whichever is quickest but I want to avoid stress (and fines) as much as possible so it seems B is probably the best choice?

PWMTrav

Both A and B will put you at Santa Maria Novella - one by train, one by bus. Take whichever is most convenient.

Personally, I'd probably drop off at FLR and take a taxi into Florence. It's fixed rate from the airport, 20 euro plus 1 euro per bag. The bus is 6 euro each, if I recall, so might as well just take a taxi.

http://www.aeroporto.firenze.it/en/t...port/taxi.html

Perche

Siena is too far away to use as just a drop off place. Only do that if you are planning to spend a day seeing Siena, as there are far more convenient ways to drop a car off when visiting Florence, such as in Florence, but outside of the ZTL.

I say this because Siena is almost a two hour train ride to Florence. It is a walled city and the train is way outside of the wall and the famous part you would want to see, Piazza del Campo. No cars are allowed inside the walls and it's almost a mile and a half from the train station to Piazza del Campo, mostly uphill, where you'll be dragging wheeled suitcases over cobblestones, or taking a cab.

Siena is definitely worth seeing, and it's an easy day trip from Florence, but it's not a place to go to just to drop off a car, then go to a train station that is just a typical, run down, shoddy train station area.

If you want to drop off the car to spend an afternoon in Siena in Piazza del Campo, have lunch, climb the bell tower, there's nothing wrong with that. But going to Siena just to drop off a car outside the walls is a mistake.

There are many places in Florence to drop off a car outside of the ZTL. Most rental car companies place their drop offs just outside the ZTL on Borgo Ognissanti, near Ponte Vespucci.

For example, from Hertz on Ognissanti outside of the ZTL it's just a 5 minute walk to the train station, or a 10-15 minute walk to the Duomo, or you can take a cab. Most of the car rental agencies have a drop off on Borgo Ognissanto.

You can certainly drop the car off at the airport then take a cab to the Duomo and waste an hour and 20-30 euros, but it's cheaper and faster to just drive to Florence and drop if off just outside of the ZTL and walk a few blocks.

Also, if you want to drop if off at a place inside the ZTL, if you call ahead to the rental agency at the drop off place they will call in to the police and give you a pass to drive into the ZTL with a two hour window, but most places are on Ognissanto. Just call them and ask if they are outside of the ZTL, and don't get lost on the way there.

Stopping a two hour train ride outside of the city in Siena to avoid the ZTL isn't necessary. The airport is a reasonable, fail safe, but is not time or cost-effective. As long as you prepare yourself with some basic knowledge there's no reason to do it that way. It's up to you, but there are lots of ways to avoid a ticket without wasting time and money in Siena or at the airport.