Foggia Travel Forum

How far is the rental car agency in foggia, from foggia's train station ?
How do I get there.By bus,train,taxi,or perhaps its close enough to walk.
Being a usa citizen with a usa drivers license is there any other requirements to rent a car in italy ?

You need a tranlation of your driver's license into Italian. The easiest and cheapest way to do this is go to AAA and get an International Driver's License. This has a translation into a gazillion languages. It's good for a full year if you are taking any other trips. You do need to have your own valid US driver's license with it. AAA will take the photos and issue the Intl. License while you wait and it's only about ten dollars. You can get one even if you are not a member but it probably costs a bit more.

BTW, if you rent your car before you arrive, it will cost less. If you require an automatic transmission, you must make arrangements ahead of time. Most European rental cars are stick (manual).

beausoleil has give you all sorts of perfectly correct answers. People may tell you that you need only a US driver's license to rent a car in Italy (I've done it myself), but Avis (to pick one agency) now says that they require the IDL in addition to your US license and the police certainly have the right to demand the IDL if you come to their attention. Not having the IDL would just give the police an excuse to hassle you, so follow beausoleil's advice and go get one.

Note that since this is Italy, I can't guarantee that the desk personnel at Avis or elsewhere will actually ask for the IDL, but both their website and their customer service reps (I called) say that it's a requirement now.

As for the car rental agency, I can't speak about all the agencies, but Avis has an office at the station:
Foggia Railway Station(s) - FOG
Stazione Centrale, Foggia, 71100 , Italy
(39) 0881-678912
Sun Closed; Mon-Fri 07:30AM-12:30PM
03:00PM-07:00PM; Sat 07:30AM-12:30PM

Note that this may either be in the station itself or (more likely) on the same piazza that the station fronts on - station personnel will certainly know.

Note the hours of the office. This is typical for rental offices in the cities rather than out at the airports (which are open all day)...

Bill

There is a perfectly valid reason for requiring a translation of foreign driving licenses. Most police officers do not speak English (nor many of the other foreign languages they encounter). If they speak it moderately well, it is difficult for them since they are dealing with legal matters and do not wish to be misunderstood nor to have someone else misunderstand them. The easiest way to be absolutely certain what you are saying is to speak your native language . . . so they do.

When you think about it, how many American policemen would be able to fluently speak Italian, German, French, Greek or possibly even Spanish or other languages to the people they stop on the road? It simply is not practical; ergo, the requirement to have a translation of your license. That way, at least they know you are legally licensed and may proceed accordingly.

You can avoid meeting the police by faithfully following all the driving laws in the country you are visiting, including sometimes obscure parking regulations. It's worth a search for parking instructions!