Rome Travel Answers

Where in Rome do you need to return the car? A car is of no use whatsoever in Rome, imo. Apart from the difficulty of finding parking, and its expense, central Rome (in common with many Italian towns and cities, including Florence) has a restricted traffic zone (ZTL), monitored by CCTV cameras and with automatic fines taken directly from your credit card. If you can find a Rome 'resort' hotel with parking within your budget that might be a feasible option, although you may also find you need to take Metro or commuter train into the centre of the city. If you decide to stay in Civitavecchia you can easily get into and out of Rome, although the train journey is over an hour. Train times, details and fares in English here: trenitalia.com/homepage_en.h... Another possibility (and one which might appeal) is to find a hotel in Ostia Lido, Rome's 'seaside'. Commuter trains run regularly from Ostia Lido to Rome Ostiense station (takes about 30 minutes)...you won't find them listed on the Trenitalia site though. You can see the rail line on this map: atac.roma.it/docunet/file.as... and find the timetable here (click Roma>Lido): http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?p=2

What time do you "check in" to give the cruise line your lugage, and what time do you physically have to be on the ship? I have never taken a cruise, and I am wondering how much of a time gap there is between checking your luggage in and boarding (i.e., I assume that there is a mechanism for giving your luggage to someone who delivers it to your room...if not, well, nevermind)... There are hotels on the outskirts of Rome that have free parking and pools...if you tell me what chain you are looking for (i.e., Marriott, Holiday Inn, etc.), I can make some suggestions. leics is quite right that Rome has limited traffic zones that will be difficult for you to figure out where they are (they change day-night and also on weekends). Often, you find out that you were in one eleven months later when the ticket arrives (there are cameras that take photos of your license plate). However, you can reduce your risk by staying at a hotel that is on a bus or rail line into the City. The car is not of use IN Rome, but is of great use to go to places outside of Rome like Tivoli and Frascati and Tarquinia (itself not far from Civitavecchia). Anyway, let me know the process of boarding, and we'll see... Bill

Thanks for bringing this up. Yes I was planning to go to Tivoly gardens. The logistics of it quiet tricky though. Yes I am planing to drop off my luggage at the cruise ship and then if time allows go to Rome (I don't know when the ship is going to accept my luggage but it will leave at 6pm). But we will arrive to Rome 3 or 4 days ahead from Tuscany. The day of the cruise departure we need a transportation from hotel to the ship. That is why I thought staying next to the port in Cevitavecchia (and take 2 hour of train ride for 3 days) makes sense. Of course wasting 2+ hours while in Rome is silly. But then again whichever way we get to Rome is going to take time, unless we stay in Rome which is also problematic with 4 people and cruise luggage + transfer to port.

What I was thinking is that (1) you might stay in/near Rome for those 3 days, and (2) on the day you depart on the cruise, that you drive up to Civitavecchia with all your stuff, check it in, then take the car to the Hertz office and return it, then walk all of 5 minutes from the Hertz office back to the port entrance. Now that I think about it, unless there is a huge difference in the drop-off fee between Rome and Civitavecchia, why drop it off in Rome? Note that the port entrance is some distance away from the actual docks. There are free white buses ("navette") that take people from the port entrance to the ticket office and boarding area for the cruise ships; I don't know how luggage is handled there (the buses may have storage compartments in the hold - I forget) but in any case, I don't know if you can drive your car inside the port area...it didn't occur to me to ask when I was there. Bill

I'm glad Bill 9(macaplin) has joined in this discussion. You don't want to go to 'Tivoli gardens'. You want to go the the gardens of the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, which is not quite the same thing. It is fairly straightforward to get to Tivoli by public transport form Rome. and, of course, it's also a pretty straightforward drive but your problems with parking etc will remain. The Villa d'Este does not (as I recall) have its own parking area so you will need to find public parking elsewhere in Tivoli. Tivoli also has a ZTL: liberativoli.net/sito/conten... Basically, with all ZTLs you need to avoid the historical centre of the town or city (or village, in a few places).

Thank you! I did not think about it. There is Hertz at Via della Repubblica. So I can even return the car 2 days earlier and commute to Rome from Cevitavecchia. Does it make sense?

Certainly does, although it's quite a lengthy journey Civitavecchia>Tivoli by public transport. Perfectly possible though...there are umpteen train Rome>Civitavecchia daily.

I mentioned "Tivoli" at random. In fact, I haven't been to the Villa d'Este, but I have driven over to Hadrian's Villa which is some kilometers outside of Tivoli. Hadrian's Villa does have its own parking (free when I was there some years ago), and not being in a town, has not issues with ZTLs. Yes, of course, you can spend the 2 or 3 nights in Civitavecchia and commute to Rome (note to you: each second class ticket per person one way on the regional trains is 4.5 euro...that's 9 euro roundtrip...that's 36 euro for the four of you...compare that to the extra days of keeping the car). Turning in the car earlier is almost certainly cheaper, but I think you ought to price it out in any case... Bill

Mccalpi, You said: "There are hotels on the outskirts of Rome that have free parking and pools...if you tell me what chain you are looking for (i.e., Marriott, Holiday Inn, etc.), I can make some suggestions." Can you suggest inexpensive place with car parking that would be easy to drive into and from Rome towards Cevitavecchia. Thanks again.

Look for hotels on the Via Aurelia. This is the ancient Roman road that approaches Rome from the northwest and ends near the Vatican. For example: 1. a Holiday Inn - holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/... 2. another Holiday Inn - ichotelsgroup.com/crowneplaz... I have not stayed at either place, and I encourage you to check for things like transportation to the City center... Bill

After much research over the long weekend we decided to rent an apartment in the center of Rome near Spanish Steps (by the way, is it true that the Steps are closed for public now?). My main concern now is how to get to the rented apartment with our luggage in hand. The easy option is to pay around60 for transfer offered by apartment management company from which we rented the apartment. But I was wondering if we could drive our luggage before returning our car to Hertz. Do transfer people have some advantage in driving to that location that we don't. I am pretty sure they do have some special permissions. But since we only need to unload the car without parking it mat be feasible for us to do. Thanks again for your time.

The city center is off limits to non-residents, even for driving. While it's true that your hotel may be able to arrange for you to safely drive in the ZTL (the limited traffic zone), it's always a good question whether the hotel will actually get around to doing it and whether the City will actually record the information correctly. Thus you could be fined even if you thought that you did everything correctly. So, yes, the hotel transport does solve that problem. Note that a taxi on a fixed fare from FCO is 40 euro. If you were quoted60USD, then you are upcharged only a little, which is typical for private transportation. If there are several of you and you have lots of luggage, then this is not an unreasonable solution, given that if your license plate is captured by the ZTL cameras, the fine will be much larger... Bill

Agree with Bill. The transfer company *will* have the appropriate permissions and, to be honest, this is really the only sensibl; option for you to take (unless you want to use public transport, which would be feasible as long as you can anage your own bagsc). As for the Spanish Steps, I have heard nothing whatsoever about them being closed to the public, at least not from members who have visited within the past month or so. Perhaps they were just closed on one particular day for a demonstration or some other purpose?

Since driving the car into the center of Rome in not an option, I guess our best option is to drive from Florence to Cevitavecchia and leave our luggage at the train station storage, then take train to Rome Termini and walk to the apartment or take a public bus. May be we can even take our luggage on the train and to the bus, but I don't know is the bus stop is close enough to the apartment. Thanks for your answers.

There is no left luggage facility at Civitavecchia railway station, as I noted in my reply to your other post. You will have no trouble taking your bags onto to the train to Rome (assuming you can handle them yourselves..I hope so!). It is quite possible that your Rome accommodation is easily accessed by Metro, but if not you can always take a taxi (or two) from Termini station in Rome. There is a left luggage facility at Rome Termini, so perhaps you might leave some of your bags there before going on to your Rome accommodation?

Looks like we will have to take our luggage with us to Termini. Can we leave it there for 3 days? What is instead of taking train from Cevitavecchia we will drive to termini and return the car there. Is it also problematic to drive into Termini the same way as to other places in Rome?

I think you will have just as much difficulty driving to Termini as anywhere else in central Rome. The ZTL map here: agenziamobilita.roma.it/ztl/... *looks* as if Termini lies just outside the zone but I do not know how up-to-date it is. I certainly wouldn't do it...I'd take the train from Civitavecchia. Given Rome traffic it is likely to be faster and cheaper. Yes, there is of course left luggage at Termini. It is well-signed within the station. Here's the information about charges etc: grandistazioni.it/cms/v/inde...

leics is right that Termini itself is just outside the ZTL, but you have to approach Termini from the east and south to avoid the ZTL it is right next to. So a little mistake which driving could be costly. If you are adament about not paying the60, why don't you do this? Return the car to the Hertz office across the street (more or less) from the Tiburtina train station. This train staion is the second largest in Rome and is used for "through-trains". The Hertz office is at Via Lorenzo il Magnifico 154, which you'll see is on one of the streets that runs into the front of Tiburtina. Why do I suggest that you go to Tiburtina? 2 reasons: (1) it is well away from the ZTL. You'll come down the A1 from Florence, head around on the east side of the ringroad around Rome, and halfway down, you'll exit on something like the A24 towards Rome and turn right on the Tangenziale Est to run right into the station. Note that there are several roads you can use, including the Via Tiburtina itself that runs immediately south of the station. Unfortunately, I don't know that I ever drove on that side of town, so I don't have any advice on the "best" way...my advice, though is "Keep it simple"...so maybe the Via Tiburtina would be the path least likely to lead you astray, although surely slower because it is not a highway. The second reason (2) I suggest Tiburtina is that there are always taxis there. Rather than getting off at some suburban Hertz office and trying to convince the staff to call you a taxi, one of your party can just walk down to the taxi queue in front of the station and ask him to pick up your party at the Hertz office a few feet away. The distance from Tiburtina to Piazza di Spagna is something like 4 or 5 kilometers, so the fare will be (daytime, on a weekday) something like 8 euro plus 1 euro per excess bag plus tip. Still a lot cheaper than60USD. NOTE: this doesn't work on Sunday, as even the Tiburtina office is closed. "Hours of Operation: Mo-Fr 0800-1900, Sa 0800-1300, Su closed " If you want to travel on a Sunday and save a few euro, then go around to Ciampino airport which is right off the ringroad on the south side of town, and task a fixed fare taxi to your hotel/apartment for 30 euro. Bill

And what about Fiumicino, Bill? If the poster dropped off the car there then he could take either a fixed-rate taxi for 45 euro or the train into Rome.

I don't know how many people are in his party, but at 14 euro per person for the Leonardo Express plus to cost of a taxi up to Piazza di Spagna, I am guessing that this is not saving much money and is increasing the hassle factor a lot. I may be wrong, but it sounds like the OP is concerned about handling a lot of luggage, which means avoiding the trains and especially the Metro. If I'm right(?), getting to a Hertz office close to his apartment then taxiing it from there means that the luggage hassle is minimized without maximizing the cost...I guess we'll see... Bill

After doing more research I am back with bunch of new questions :-). Thank you for your kindness and patience with me! The first "big discovery" I had in a last couple of weeks is that we could take the "original" ancient roman Via Cassia road all the way from Florence to Rome. I read that there are even some places you can step on the original cobble-stone road. This seems as attractive opportunity for authentic history experience. In any case, since we are staying overnight in Montepulciano, we will take at least a part of that road passing through Buenconvento. But it is the second part that I would like your advise on. We were going to drop the car in Orvieto and take the train to Rome. But now I am thinking that after spending couple of hours in Orvieto in the morning we could continue to Bagnoregio and Bolsena, and arrive in Rome the ancient way via Sutri. We would still need to drop the car some place near Rome. What do you think? Another touch point is that we are staying not far from Spanish Steps and Piazzale Flaminio where I see a train station on the map. May be we can even walk from the station to our appartment with luggage on weels. Or take a short taxi ride. It looks like the train station is just outside ZTL. Can you suggest other options for us? It would be cool to arrive to Piazza del Popolo as people did for centuries before train was invented. Thanks again for your help.

I don't know the road you mention but you can walk (or bike on the Appian Way)on an 'original Roman road' (if you wish) by simply visiting the Forum, or the wonderful Parco Appia Antica in Rome (the Appian Way is the road along which the slaves of Spartacus' revolt were crucified...along with many others): parcoappiaantica.it/en/defau... The Archeobus will drop you off, or you can take bus 118 or 218 from the little bus station opposite the Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano (the pope's headquarters before St Peter's was built). Or at the excellent Ostia Antica, ancient port of Rome: http://www.ostia-antica.org/ Metro to Pyramide then cheap, frequent commuter train to Ostia Scavi/Antica station (about 30 minutes). Site is 5 minutes walk from the station. Termini is indeed just outside the ZTL, but is an incredibly busy area. I'm not sure how easy it would be to drop off your car there. I'd stick to the train, personally. Walking from Termini to Piazzale Flaminio will take you at least 40 minutes. There is a Metro station there, so that is an easy option if you do not want to take a taxi. The railway station serves a local line Rome>Viterbo. I'm not sure what you mean about people arriving at P del Popolo? Ancient Rome had lots of gates. Before the train, people arrived in Rome according to where they came from. If they came from the north on the main road, that road led to the Porta Flaminia, where the piazza is now. But it didn't look anything like it does now until the early 1800s.

Thanks for your answer. I think you misunderstood me though. I was not thinking about driving to Temini or walking from there to Flaminia station. I though that may be I can come to Rome via Flaminia station, if it is possible. From there to Spanish Steps is a shorter walk or ride. We would be coming from Viterbo direction via local highway retracing ancient Via Cassia. all the way from Orvieto, instead of using main highway. If that does not make sense we would go with our original plan to take train to Rome from Orvieto.

Hmmmn, well, let's see... The Via Cassia arrives in Rome and joins the Via Flaminia to cross the Tiber at the Ponte Milvio. The Ponte Milvio today is just a pedestrian bridge, so you can't drive across it. However, it's well outside the ZTL, so you could drive to it by following the Via Cassia to its end at Piazzale di Ponte Milvio, where I imagine you could park and get out and snap a few photos. Now, as for returning the car, if you are still using Hertz, there is a Hertz office at Via Flaminia Nuova, 211. This is near the intersection of the Via Cassia Nuova and the Via Flaminia Nuova. Yes, "nuova" means "new", so these two roads are modern roads near, but not on top of the ancient roads. Take a look at www.viamichelin.com for this street address, then move the map around a bit and see the new and original Cassia and Flaminia. If you have trouble finding the Ponte Milvio, just use the address Piazzale di Ponte Milvio. OK, let's say that you succeed in dropping the car off at that office (note: Mo-Fr 0800-1900, Sa 0800-1300, Su closed)...now what? I imagine that you'll have to get the office people to call you a taxi as you are too far away from Piazza di Spagna to walk with luggage. In a perfect world, you could get the driver to drive you south down the Via Flaminia (the Via Cassia doesn't cross the Tiber) until you pass under the Porta Flaminia on the north side of the Piazza del Popolo - the "entrance" to Rome (OK, as leics says, one of many, but this was the entrance to the north combining the traffic of two major consular roads). Your hotel is apparently not far on the other side of the Popolo. I said "perfect" world, because I am not sure that the taxi driver will be able to do this. Oh, the Via Flaminia part is OK, but the last time I was in the Piazza del Popolo, it was totally pedestrian...however, it was also on a Sunday, where parts of the town are made pedestrian-only, so I am not sure if this is every day or just Sunday. Or the taxi driver may have other reasons to take a different route - this is a funny part of town where it's not always easy to get from A to B through C. So, since you aren't sure that you can have the taxi make the last part of the trip the way you want, do you still want to try it? Hmmmn, well, you would have made nearly the whole trip through the countryside on the Via Cassia, so I guess that would be pretty cool all by itself. And you can always walk back to the Porta Flaminia from your hotel once you are settled in. Oh, the Flaminia train station is a commuter station that is part of the metropolitan rail system. The only trains that run through here are to/from Viterbo, as I recall. As commuter trains, their schedule would be skewed to rush hours and they might not run on Sunday (or, at least, not very often). But I guess that, in theory, you could drop the car off in Viterbo (if there is a Hertz office there), then take the train to Flaminio station. Note that if your hotel is near Piazza di Spagna, this will be a rather longish walk with luggage. You may find grabbing a taxi (if one) or taking the Metro down to Piazza di Spagna more fun... Bill

Sorry if I misunderstood. I've been researching because I may well take a Viterbo daytrip next week. You'll find the commuter train timetables here: http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?p=2 The Roma>Viterbo trains do not run from the main stations in Viterbo (Porta Romana and Porta Fiorentina): trains which run from there go to Stazione Ostiense in Rome. You can see the commuter train route map (and timetable) if you click the grey 'Rome-Viterbo (Tratta urbana) link on the page above. From what I can see this route ends at Montebello station, which is a long way from Viterbo proper. The link for Roma-Viterbo (Tratta extra-urbana) does not produce anything of use, other than a list of stations served. Any ideas, Bill?

What really confuses me is that taxi driver may not be able to drive to the place (we rented appartment for 3 days, not hotel). When I look at Google street view I see cars driving behind walking people. Does that mean that some vehicles can get there, but taxi may not? In that case I wonder if the appartment management company from which we rented can arrange our transfer right to the address. They gave us names of people who can pick us up. It is really important for me to understand the difference between taxis and private/commercial vehicles, because I assumed that taxi have universal access to everywhere. And another question I mean to ask is how difficult it is to navigate subway with luggage at hands. I assume there are stairways and escalators and possibly tunnels between stations (we are from New York). Is Termini station any better than the other train station in that regard? Finally, in light of all of the above, does it really make sense to take Via Cassia/Flaminia (how interesting is country side near Rome?). Because we will see Tuscani country side on the way to Orvieto. Is train from Orvieto to Rome just as much fun?

Google street view is not necessarily up-to-date. However, pedestrianised ares usually have specific time sin which access is allowed...for deliveries, residents, taxis and so on. I very much doubt that taxis (in Rome or anywhere else) would not be able to go where other vehicles go: that would be nonsensical. But it is possible that the area where your apartment is does not allow vehicles at certain times of day (and/or on certain days). You will need to check this with the apartment owner, I think. As for the Metyro, it is no more or less difficult to negotiate with luggage than any other Metro, subway or underground railway system. There are steps and escalators and tunnels between platforms, yes. And there may be crowds (depending on when you travel). So it's up to you: Rome Metro is certainly no more difficult than the subway in NY. I don't know what you mean by 'the other train station'? If you mean Flaminio, then I'm afraid I've not been there to look...and I'm still not sure you can get there from Viterbo anyway. But Termini is easy enough to negotiate with luggage; it is modern and largely unstepped. Can't help with your last question yet...I will be oing to Orvieto from rome next week. But, to be honest, countryside is countryside...and trains do not necessarily run through the most attractive bits. Railway lines need level ground, as far as possible, so there are embankments and cuttings...and, of course, lines are built to serve settlements in the most direct way possible, so landscape appearance was irrelevant when they were set out. Personally, I don't think I'd worry too much about arriving at a certain point. Really. ~I'd just get myself to Rome as easily as possible, and to my apartment ditto, and then soak up the atmosphere (and walk on real Roman roads and surfaces) once I'd arrived.

Hmpf, you're right that the Extra-Urbana link isn't useful. There were always two trains from Viterbo to Rome: the FR3 and the Roma-Viterbo. The FR3 is listed on the trenitalia website, so no problem except that it doesn't go to Flaminio station (it passes west of the Vatican on the way to Ostiense). The Roma-Viterbo train did go in the past from Flaminiop in Rome all the way to Viterbo, but at Sacrofano it hits the boundary of the urban zone. Hence the Urbana and the Extra-Urbana. However, I agree that the Extra-Urbana doesn't seem to be giving us what we want :-( I will have to investigate more...the tracks are still there, I just have to find the service... Bill

I didn't mean that the taxi couldn't drive to your hotel, I meant that it might not be able to drive on the path that you might want (i.e., through the Porta del Popolo through which the Via Flaminia enters Rome). But maybe it can...I just don't know...heh heh, actually, at this moment I don't know exactly where your hotel is anyway, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about :-0 As for scenery, well, the autostrada (A1) doesn't really have a lot of scenery either, so you haven't missed anything by taking the Via Cassia...plus you have the advantage on the Via Cassia of stopping and seeing interesting things, like Bagnoregio...if you have the time and your family will put up with it, I'd take the back roads... Bill

Bill, Sorry I did not mention that we will be arriving on Mon and our apartment is on Via Belsiana near Spanish Steps. We are not that picky about the route taxi will take (obviously taxi driver would know better). The question is whether we should arrive from the direction of Termini (Tributina) or via Flaminia Nuova (Piazzale di Ponte Milvio). Is there a difference in time and traffic?