Rome by Fiat

Getting around Rome, Italy, by rental car

Don’t drive in Rome. Seriously. Avoid it at all costs. Not only are Italian drivers even more manic in the city, and parking is nigh unto impossible—and terribly expensive where you do find it—but the system of one-way roads seems specially designed to keep you from driving anywhere near your intended destination.

Much of the historic center is pedestrian-only (Italians call this "ztl," which stands for "zone of limited traffic"), but you're allowed to drive to your hotel to drop off luggage.

 

For the most part, you definitely want to rent a car before you arrive through a discounter such as Auto Europe (www.auroeurope.com). You'll pick up the car at the office of one of the major rental agencies, which all have offices in and around Stazione Termini and at the airports.

However, there is one nice little service in Rome called Happy Rent (Via Piave 49 (tel. 06-4202-0675; www.happyrent.com), which runs tours and rents vintage Vespas and Italian mini-cars, such as an Alfa Romeo Spider convertible or everyone's favorite cute-as-a-bug (and about the same shape and size) Fiat 500.

If you plan to rent a car in Italy and are starting your trip in Rome, wait until the day you set out into the countryside to pick up the car; if you're flying home from Rome, drop the rental off the instant you drive into town and spend your days in the capital blissfully car-free.

Your hotel might have a garage or an arrangement with one (though it'll be expensive—on the order of €20 to €40 a day), or you might be lucky enough to be staying in one of the few scraps of the historic center that hasn't yet been designated a zona blu—most of the city's parking spaces have been painted with blue stripes, meaning you must pay a parking meter (often a box at the end of the block; you feed it coins—usually €1 an hour—and it gives you a slip to leave on the dashboard).

The cheapest and biggest public garage is ParkSi (tel. 06-322-5934) under the Villa Borghese park in the northeast corner of town. Its entrance is on Viale del Muro Torto, which leads off into the park from the traffic circle at Porta Pinciana, the top of Via Veneto. Rates run €1.15 per hour (€0.90 each hour after the fourth hour) to €14.45 per day.

Even cheaper—€2 for 12 hours, or €3 for 16, plus €2 to leave it overnight—is to park in one of the massive commuter lots at suburban train stations (on Via Cipro, at the San Pietro train station, and at the Tiburtina train station).

Getting around: subway | bus | taxi | bike/scooter | car | foot

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