Assisi Travel Forum

We will be with a tour group in Assisi, but I have a childhood friend who lives in Lavello. I haven't seen her in years and can't imagine being this close and not getting to visit her.
I need to know what the easiest, fastest way to get from Assisi to Lavello . Train to Rocchetta, then rent a car? Rent a car for the entire trip? If I rent a car are there penalties if I return the car in Naples? We want to rejoin our group in Pompeii the next afternoon. If I drop the car in Naples, is there a good Metro to Pompeii?

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Can answer parts of your question:

Yes, you will pay more for dropping off a hire car somewhere else. That is normal.

Yes, there is a train (not a Metro at all; it's overground) to Pompeii from Naples. It's called the Circumvesuviana, it's a private line, it goes from Napoli Centrale station, trains are frequent, it stops at Pompeii Scavi (almost opposite the site entrance) and the timetables are here:

http://www.vesuviana.it/Reteeorari/Ferrovia/Orario

Maybe getting the train then a taxi to/from Rochetta would be more sensible and cheaper? Train times/fares on:
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

Perhaps you could also email/write to your friend and ask her advice...she might be happy to pick you up/meet you somewhere?

have rented quite a number of times in the last few months in Italy (and other countries) and theyve all been done as one ways with www.auto-europe.com who deal with europcar with no extra fees for one ways. the whole deal a lot cheaper than other comparisons too.

very user friendly website as well and quick replies. Go for it!

By train, it's going to take you a minimum of 7 hours from Assisi to Melfi (which looks like the nearest town with good rail service - much closer than Rochetta - unless you know something that's not obvious to me). Melfi is about 20-25 kilometers from Lavello, pretty much straight down one highway.

If you were to rent a car for the entire trip, it would take you 5.5 to 6 hours to make the drive, assuming that you can tolerate driving in Italy and that you don't hit any delays whatsoever - it's nearly 500 kilometers so a delay here or there would be not unexpected.

With the narrow timeframe that you have, you won't have a lot of quality time with her if you go straight to Lavello.

Is there any chance she can meet you someplace and drive you back to her home (or stay wherever you are for a while)?

The nearest bigger city is Potenza, which is the capital of the province, and which has somewhat decent rail service. You can get from Potenza to Pompeii on a direct train that takes about 2 hours (leave Potenza 12:19, arrive Pompeii FS 14:20). Note that this is the FS (trenitalia) station, not the Circumvesuviana that leics referred to, but since we don't know where your group will be, this may actually be better (or not).

Potenza is about 72 kilometers from Lavello (www.viamichelin.com estimates that it is a 1 hour, 12 minute drive). Can she meet you there one day to pick you up, take you home, then return you the next day for the noon train to Pompeii?

Unfortunately, the rail timings to Potenza aren't that great - minimum of 8 hours. The best routing appears to be
city dep city arr
Assisi 08:23 Foligno 08:37
Foligno 09:08 Ancona 10:40 <==13 minute layover in Ancona(!)
Ancona 10:53 Foggia 13:47
Foggia 14:11 Potenza Centrale 16:33

I see that even Avis has a car rental place in Potenza (as you would expect in the provincial capital), so you will probably have much better choices here than in the smaller towns already mentioned. So if she won't make the drive from Lavello to Potenza, you could rent the car and return it the next day...so long as you pick it up on a Monday through Friday and return it on a Monday through Saturday (because of the office hours).

Bill