Renting a Car in Italy

Families planning a trip to Italy often wonder if they should use trains or rental cars to travel between cities.  We are definitely big fans of train travel in Europe and definitely prefer to travel by train between large metropolitan areas due to the convenience and cost.  However, there are situations where train travel in Italy is impractical.  During our July 2018 Italian family vacation, the Lamborghini Museum and Ferrari Museum were high on our must-see list.  Both museums are in the Modena area and very challenging to reach by train. The cost of long taxi rides to and from the Bologna train station and in between the two museums was pretty staggering, and with a family of five, we would need to hire two taxis.  Additionally, we were skeptical that we would be able to store our luggage at the Bologna train station for this excursion.  We decided that by renting a car in Italy for a day and a half, we could visit the Italian car museums with flexibility, spend a night in Pisa and then visit a few Tuscan towns before returning the car upon our arrival in Florence.

View of San Gimignano from the outskirts

Booking an Italian Rental Car

Manual transmission vehicles are significantly less expensive to rent in Italy, but we chose to stick with an automatic transmission and reserved our intermediate, five passenger car through Alamo/Enterprise.  The daily charge for the rental was €43.47, but with taxes and the rental of a car seat for our daughter (€45), the grand total for our two day rental came to €245.39.

Renting a Car in Italy – Requirements

An international driving permit is required to rent a car in Italy.  My husband obtained his permit from AAA before our departure, and the process was relatively painless and cost only $20 and required two passport sized photos.  He was actually never asked for his driving permit in Italy, but we did not feel it was worth the risk to not get it in advance.

Renting a Car in Italy – Car Seats

One of the trickiest parts of renting cars is figuring out how to handle car seats.  We chose to rent a car seat for our three year old daughter because she was less than 30 pounds and needed a convertible car seat.  We were traveling very light and definitely did not want to lug around a heavy car seat throughout our 18-day European vacation when we only needed it for a day and a half.  We considered purchasing the Ridesafer Travel Vest, but she had not yet reached the lower weight limit for use in the US, we were concerned that the vest would not be permitted in Italy.  While the €45 rental fee seemed pretty exorbitant, we thought it was the best option, and the seat we received seemed satisfactory.  We also carried two Bubble Bum booster seats with us to use for our eight and ten year old boys.

Renting a Car in Italy – Insurance

Worldwide car rental insurance up to $50,000 is a perk of our Costco Citi card for any car rental 31 days or less that is paid for with the card.  This coverage means we can decline the additional collision loss/damage insurance that is always offered through the rental company.  Because our rental included a car body package to limit liability to €1,800 in case of damage or theft at no extra fee, we verified with Costco that this included insurance would not negate our coverage in advance and did not have to pay extra for full rental car insurance.

Renting a Car in Italy – Pick Up

We were departing from Venice the day that we planned to pick up our car.  However, picking up a rental car in a car-free city seemed unnecessarily complicated.  We chose instead to take a train from Venice to Bologna and pick up our car there.

Picking up a rental car always seems to take longer than we expect, and our experience in Italy was no exception.  It’s important to research the exact location of the rental car company as the descriptions online might not be reliable.  “Train station” could mean near the train station, and “downtown” might near downtown.  We thought that the Enterprise/Alamo desk was at the Bologna train station, but it was actually about a block away, and finding it was a bit of a challenge.  After completing the registration with the clerk, we were directed to a garage several blocks away.  We were offered a six passenger vehicle that was larger than we expected but manageable.  As always, we made sure to thoroughly inspect the exterior of the car for any damage and make sure any dents were properly noted before leaving the garage.  We then had to figure out how to install the car seats before setting off.  Our grand plan included a lunch in Bologna, but we knew our time was tight, so we headed out of the city without seeing even the Towers of Bologna.

Renting a Car in Italy – Logistics

After spending 10 days driving the Ring Road in Iceland in June 2017, renting a car for a day and a half Italy seemed like it should be no big deal.  However, it was significantly more challenging than our experience in Iceland.  We used our GPS with international maps in both countries but found that we were constantly being directed into restricted zones (zona traffico limitato or ZLT) in Italy.  Traffic, which is nonexistent in Iceland, was often heavy in Italy.  Road rules were also confusing, speed limits were often hard to determine, and Italian drivers are particularly aggressive.  As a result, I was really nervous that we would end up with a huge fine to pay at the end of the trip and generally nervous the entire time we were in the car.  Dropping the car off in Florence was particularly a nightmare as we had to do several U-turns before determining that the rental car return was located within a limited traffic zone; however, it was a huge relief to drop it off.

Renting a Car in Italy – Benefits

By renting a car in Italy, we were able to visit the Lamborghini Museum and Ferrari Museum, Pisa and San Gimignano in a day in a half, all without worrying about luggage storage.  The Lamborghini Museum, Ferrari Museum and San Gimignano are not easily reachable by train and were particularly enjoyable parts or our trip.  We would have been able to visit other Tuscan towns between Pisa and Florence as we had originally planned if we hadn’t decided that we needed to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa and tour the Pisa Cathedral.  If we were traveling by train, we would have likely booked a mid-morning train journey and would have regretted not having enough time at the Field of Miracles.  So, we did enjoy the flexibility to easily alter our plans.

Pisa Cathedral and the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Our Italian car rental also allowed us to have the most authentic, non-touristy experience in Italy, lunch at Glamour Caffe e Cucina near the Lamborghini Museum.  After skipping lunch in Bologna, stopping for a meal before touring Italian car museums was non-negotiable, and we happened upon the Glamour Caffe.  We were definitely the only tourists, and none of the servers spoke English.  Our order for fixed price lunches was complicated, and we were not clear on how much the meal would cost.  However, the food and authenticity of the meal was top-notch, and the price ended up being quite the bargain as well.  Because our trip focused on large metropolitan areas, this was really our only opportunity to get off the beaten path and a huge benefit to renting a car.

Renting a Car in Italy – Recommendation

We recommend traveling by train in Italy unless there is something on your must-do list that is completely impractical to do via public transportation.  However, it is possible for adventurous families to rent a car in Italy and truly explore the countryside.

The Lamborghini Museum and the Ferrari Museum each hosted our family’s visits.  As always, all opinions are my own.