Car Hire in Italy - Advice

[Conscript]

It's generally caring over there. Very few can actually drive, few can park; It's weird as for me it's the spiritual home of cars - it's like the whole of Detroit not being able to drive, or the whole of Detroit not being being able to sing / play soul music.

What a place though, great roads, great driving, just be careful in the cities.

Funny thing is, despite being the home of some of the most exotic manufacturers, in the 5 days I was there, the most exciting car we saw was a Lotus Evora in Pisa.
On the evening we landed, just after we dropped one of our friends home on the way back from the airport, we pulled out of his road and passed a Ferrari 458.

 

[wez130]

Don't do what i did when i drove to Venice, after the 4km bridge, there is a roundabout, i missed my turn and too the exit back onto the bridge, had to drive al,l the way back across the bridge then back again lol. There's a multi storey car park once you get on to Venice, from what i remember, it was reasonably priced too. We stayed at an airbnb overnight.
Driving wasn't bad in Italy on the normal roads for us, we drove from Riva Del Garda to Venice and back. It was the motorways that had all the lunatic drivers on! We were driving at the speed limit (130kph iirc), and you'd have big 4x4 come flying up behind you at massive speed then brake hard behind you and sit up your arse until you got out of the way! I was fine with it, but it could be intimidating to some people.

 

[Hilly]

Majority of the trip will be around Tuscany, avoiding major cities and taking local roads, so I'm hoping it should be stress free and scenic!

I need to navigate out of Pisa airport and over to Montecatini Terme first though, it's about an hour of autostrada so shouldn't be too bad.

All my driving is in and around London though, and people drive pretty bad here, so hopefully it's not too much of a shock.

Enjoy, have a great time. My favourite country

Funny thing is, despite being the home of some of the most exotic manufacturers, in the 5 days I was there, the most exciting car we saw was a Lotus Evora in Pisa.
On the evening we landed, just after we dropped one of our friends home on the way back from the airport, we pulled out of his road and passed a Ferrari 458.

Agreed - I don't think I've seen many 'decent' cars in Italy. I Zurich however, they're everywhere.

 

[Jamesyboyjim]

Make sure you get damage insurance; The Italians are a mad, mad bunch; and the majority drive around in cars which are either dented, or have a scratch on every panel.

This for sure!

When we went to Italy we were advised not to bother driving in cities. Went to Rome and discovered why! We saw people nudging cars out the way with theirs in order to create enough space to fit their cars in, and basically the whole city is just a free for all in regards to driving!

It was hilariously mind blowing sitting in the back watching our taxi driver, on the phone, also writing in a notepad as well as negotiating this crazy traffic, they just don't give a stuff there!