Our guests often need to figure out whether and how to rent a car for their Italian vacation. Auto rentals, gas and parking can be pricey so it worth giving some consideration to this question before you assume a car is essential. We strongly recommend you organize your car rental before you leave for Italy, you'll have the benefit of being able to price compare more easily, check to see what's covered by your auto insurance and get any other questions answered ahead of time rather than trying to figure all of this out once you are in Italy.

City: If you are staying in Rome or Florence a car will be more of a liability then a benefit. All the tourist sites are within walking distance or reachable by public transportation. In Venice it goes without saying that you won't need a car! (With that in mind, remember that everything you bring to Venice you'll personally schlep to your accommodations from the time you debark the water bus or water taxi since there is no ground transportation.) Driving in Rome is not for the timid; streets are not well marked, signs are confusing (a fun game is to have your kids count how many directional arrow signs they can spot for the Rome Zoo...it seems all roads lead to the zoo!). And Roman drivers are competitive and relentless! In our opinion Florentine drivers are more patient and courteous.

When you rent from us in the cities, we can provide guidance on parking garages nearest your accommodations; daily price is in the range of €35/day. To have a car for day trips to the countryside from Rome and Florence, try day rentals from convenient car rental offices located in the city centers. Venice has car rentals at the airport and at the large garage in Piazzale Roma very close to the central Venice train station that is right in the city. In Florence there are offices for all the major auto rental companies within a few blocks of the Santa Maria Novella station. In Rome rental offices on Via del Galoppatoio, which is a large public parking garage under the Borghese Gardens, is the easiest location to pick up or drop off a car. The other option is near the Rome Termini train station. The Rome airport is a handy spot for car drop off if you're arriving into Rome with a rental car and want to avoid driving in the city center. In that case we can recommend a reliable private driver who will meet you at the car rental counter to take you into the center after you've dropped off your car. Another clever idea if you're exploring Tuscany or Umbria before heading to Rome is to stop at the beautiful small city of Orvieto north of Rome, sightsee, have lunch, and drop off your rental car there and catch the train to Rome.

Country: If you are staying in the Tuscan countryside a car is essential. If you hope to rely on local busses or the train to get around then a stay in a country property is probably not for you and you'll do better to consider city properties where public transportation is readily available. While the cost to rent a car can add to the expense of a country stay, it is the only practical way to get from your accommodations to the grocery store, a pharmacy, sight seeing or to a restaurant. There simply isn't a convenient way to access these resources without a car. All of our country properties are in rural locations, but all have a town within a few minutes drive. The green Locale tab on each Tuscan property webpage on www.italyperfect.com provides driving distances. In some cases you can drive to a nearby town, park your car inexpensively and take the public bus into Florence or Siena. This is handy if you're worried about driving into Florence or you have only one car and a large group with some wanting to explore the country while others prefer to spend the day in Florence. Be mindful of the bus schedule which is limited at night so that you don't find yourselves stranded in Florence late at night without a bus in sight. Or you can drive to Florence and park in the center quite easily, if expensively, or you can park on the outskirts and walk into the center.

General Tips

• Pay attention to the hours the car rental office is open. You're probably used to 24x7 airport hours but in Italy Sundays, holidays and hours that fall outside of the standard business day are not staffed. If you are need flexibility beyond the standard hours the airport locations will have the longest hours but even then make sure you have instructions on what to do if you need to drop off a car very early or late at night, or on a Sunday or a holiday, when they'll be closed. If you use our recommended AutoEurope, I suggest telephoning them to get help sorting out locations and hours. Use the code EXCELLENT when they ask.
• Never, ever leave valuables in view in the car and never leave valuables in the trunk overnight! If you must leave valuables in the trunk for the day while you're sightseeing park only in a private garage or lot with a parking attendant on duty all day, don't park on the street or in an unattended self-pay lot.
• Before you drive your rental car off the lot make sure that the gas tank if full. We've pulled away more then once to find the tank low on fuel. If the car is hatch-back style with a hinged cover make sure the cover is there as this is the only way to hide valuables in a hatch-back. We rented a car once to discover the hatchback cover missing so insist on switching cars if this essential security cover is missing, otherwise whatever you put in the back will be in full view.
• A private driver will probably be more expensive than renting a car for the day for a countryside excursion but the expense might be outweighed with the relaxation of not having to navigate, deal with parking and a friendly driver who might show you some off-the-beaten path sights and trattorie.
• If you're a group of four or more people, renting a car to get from Florence to Venice, for example, might be more affordable then the cost of train tickets and you'll have the opportunity to make some interesting side trips. However factor in the added time to pick up, get fuel, get lost for a portion of the time, drop off the car and the increased time for these logistics might not be worth it.
• The trip between Rome and Florence or vice versa is fastest by the high speed train. If you're flying into Rome, arriving in the morning, and heading straight for Florence the train is faster and easier then a car. It's about 40 minutes to get from the Rome airport to the Rome Termini train station and only 1 hour, 40 minutes by high speed train from Rome to Florence where you can enjoy a nap after your overnight flight. The drive to Florence from the Rome airport takes 3.5 hours without adding the time you'll spend in line at the car rental counter, getting lost, stuck in traffic and the hassle of finding parking once you arrive in Florence.
• A GPS system is very helpful but not infallible. Country properties are in rural areas, often without a specific address along the lines of "Red Rooster Farm on Old Country Road". So GPS can only get you to the nearest little village. We recommend you take along a very detailed map, which won't be available at the car rental counter or the gas station. You can order maps before your trip at Maps.Com. The detailed maps will give you the level of detail you'll need for finding your property, whether it is only a tiny country road or to help you navigate one-way streets and roundabouts in the city.
• We recommend AutoEurope for car rentals. They are a North American broker that negotiates competitive rates with all the major car rental companies. Your price is firm, no strange charges after the fact. If you find a better price directly from one of the majors, call AutoEurope to ask for a price match. Use the code EXCELLENT when they ask.

One of the best things about staying in a vacation rental in Italy is the chance to experience daily Italian life. Part of that experience is shopping for food and supplies.

Your vacation rental kitchen comes with the pots, pans and utensils that you need to prepare a meal, maybe even salt and pepper, but usually not much else (although some will leave a welcome basket with local products). For supplies, there will be a roll of toilet paper in each bathroom, some cleaning supplies, and a few garbage bags.

So, you will rather quickly have to make a trip to the local stores. You may want to pick up some essentials before you arrive, so when you get "home" you can kick off your shoes, pour the wine, and relax. If you are driving to your check in and see a COOP or Esselunga sign within an hour's drive of your rental, pull in, experience Italy's large grocery store chains, and pick up your basics. If your rental is near a good sized town, wait until you arrive and then head out to your local stores.

Remember that food stores may close for several hours in the afternoon, but then stay open until 7pm or later. And they may be closed on Sunday.

Small Food Stores

There are plenty of grocery stores in Italy, typically much smaller than you are used to. But, to get a true cultural experience, try to shop at the single purpose shops where you are often dealing directly with the proprietor who is usually a neighborhood resident as well as an expert on his or her items. If you are there when the store isn't jammed, you have a chance for a personal interaction and some special advice on your purchases.

Here are the types of small stores that you will encounter.

• Alimentari - Small grocery store with foods of all kinds

• Drogheria - Grocery store with mostly dry goods (canned goods, spices)
• Enoteca - Wine
• Farmacia - Pharmacy
• Formaggeria - Cheeses
• Frutta e Verdura  - Fruits and vegetables
• Gelateria - Ice cream (gelato)
• Latteria - Dairy (milk, butter, cheese)
• Macelleria - Fresh meat, salami, and sausage
• Mesticheria - Hardware
• Panificio - Bread
• Pasticceria - Pastries, cakes
• Pescheria - Fish
• Pizzeria - Pizza
• Rosticceria - Take out and eat-in roasted foods, usually meats and vegetables
• Salumeria - Cold cuts, cheese, salami, some canned goods (also called a Pizzicheria in some regions)
• Supermercato - Supermarket (larger grocery store)

Food Shopping List

This shopping list is handy if your brain is jet lagged. Click for a printable version. Before you head out to the stores, check to see if any of these items have been provided in your vacation rental.

Basics         
[ ] Toilet paper        
[ ] Paper towels         
[ ] Dish soap        
[ ] Laundry soap *        
[ ] Bottled water         
[ ] Salt & pepper *         
[ ] Spices (basil, oregano) *        
[ ] Wine        
[ ] Beer

For Breakfast
[ ] Coffee
[ ] Tea
[ ] Milk and/or cream
[ ] Sugar
[ ] Bread
[ ] Butter
[ ] Jam and/or honey
[ ] Fruits
[ ] Breakfast cereal

For Lunch/Dinner
[ ] Vegetables
[ ] Pasta
[ ] Pasta sauce
[ ] Parmesan cheese
[ ] Meat
[ ] Fish
[ ] Olive oil
[ ] Vinegar
[ ] Flour

* Some travelers bring a few essentials with them to avoid having to buy them in a larger quantity than they need. For example, salt, pepper, spices, laundry powder (why buy a whole box when you can toss a ziploc with enough for a few weeks into your bag?). You can also bring a cloth napkin for each person (or buy them there) to cut down on use of paper towels and to make your dining elegant!

Quick Meals

Here are some of our favorite quick-fix items from Italian supermarkets.

* Antipasti from the deli counter - olives, zucchini in oil, eggplant in oil, little mozzarella bites, arancini (rice balls), regional specialties.
* Insalata capricciosa - sliced fresh mozzarella with sliced fresh tomatoes, drizzle of oil, sprinkle of salt.
* Frozen arancini, rice balls with mozzarella center.
* Packaged salads are excellent, drizzle with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.
* Prosciutto (cured ham) with fresh melon. FYI, what we call prosciutto is called prosciutto crudo (raw because it is cured not cooked) and cooked ham is called prosciutto cotto. You may also see spek - smoked, cured ham.
* Bresaola (finely sliced dried beef) with sprinkle of lemon.
* Frozen, pre-prepared soups. "Findus" brand is good. Zuppa di Farro, Minestrone, they are all great.
* Plenty of choices of pasta and bottled sauce or fresh pesto from deli counter.
* Pre-sliced, ready to fry veal, beef, port and chicken fillets.
* Frozen, pre-prepared pasta and pizza is usually good.
* Fresh bread. There is often a whole-grain selection, called integrale.

Shopping Tips

Random tips to help you on your food shopping expeditions.

Supermarkets

* Bring a cloth shopping bag. Most locals bring their own shopping bags. If you don't have shopping bags there is a small fee per bag.
* Produce at the supermarket is self service. Remember to put on one of the little plastic gloves provided next to the plastic bags before handling produce and weigh and price your produce (note the item number on the bin, weigh the produce on the scale by pressing the matching item number, affix the ticket that the scale prints out to the plastic bag).
* When buying anything over the counter, whether in the grocery store or in the open air market, be aware of the quantity you need. You can certainly gesture or tell them how many people you want to feed or show the size of the container you wish to fill. Measurements are by kilo (1 kilo = 2.2 lbs) or fraction thereof. A half kilo (mezzo-kilo) is about a pound. For small amounts you order by etto, or tenth of a kilo. One etto is close to a quarter of a pound, about the minimum weight you can order for anything.
* Bag your groceries. The cashier does not do it and there are no baggers.

Open Air Markets

* Find out where the nearest open air market is located. In smaller towns they are held once a week. There you will find the freshest produce, meat and fish. Also, it is a great experience.
* In an open air market, fruit and vegetable shops and stalls are not self-service; point to the produce you want and the vendor will show it to you for you to accept or not. You don't get to choose the items yourself.

Products

* Bottled water is popular in Italy. Frizzante, con gas or gassata is bubbly (sparkling) water. Naturale, senza gas or liscia is flat water. We recommend getting plastic bottles instead of glass because they are lighter to carry. Remember that the tap water in Italy is good quality so you don't have to buy bottled water.
* We love the Sicilian red oranges and red orange juice but most of the packaged orange juice in the stores is a "juice beverage" with a small percent of real juice. To avoid disappointment, read the contents. The word for juice is succo and for orange arancia.
* Butter is unsalted. It is hard to find salted butter but we have occasionally found salted French President brand butter in large supermarkets.
* We love perusing the pasta aisle(s) for unusual pasta shapes, always the most bountiful section of the supermarket. Some stores even have a dried pasta section for dogs.
* Paper towel 2-packs look deceptively like toilet paper 4-packs. Double check to make sure you have carta igienica for toilet paper.
* The laundry soap aisle is confusing. Look carefully to make sure you buy the right kind of soap for the washing machine and not bleach. Also look for a picture of clothes or dishes on the package; you don’t want to mix them up. If you do, you could ruin the appliance and have to pay for the damages. If in doubt, smile and ask a shopper nearby.

Written by Pat Byrne for SlowEurope and republished with permission.

Elevators in Italian apartment buildings can be quite unique and temperamental. We grew up in an apartment building in Rome that had two elevators, one for residents and one for deliveries and staff. We were often startled to find our neighbor’s old dog all alone in the resident’s elevator while the owner’s chaffeur, who was responsible for walking the dog, had to place the dog in the elevator, race around to the back of the building to take the service elevator and then hurry back to the front elevator with the hope of intercepting the dog just as the elevator doors opened! The dog, after all, was family, while the chauffeur was staff.

When a guest recently complained that the elevator in the Via Veneto apartment was like a cage we were taken aback by that comment because that elevator is actually relatively modern, clean and operates reliably based on our considerable experience with Italian properties. Residential elevators are small because when vacation rentals are in the center of historic cities the buildings almost universally pre-date electricity, so elevators are always tucked into the center of the staircases. Some really are like cages with wire mesh walls. In fact, the one we received a complaint about is totally enclosed, so not so much of a cage, actually. It never occurred to us that elevator aesthetics are a big factor in enjoyment of a vacation rental, but if you are claustrophobic, it could be an issue for sure. To us, having a working elevator of any size, is a big plus! With that in mind, we thought that providing more information on this topic would be helpful to our guests.

Below is a collection of photos of elevators we have recently encountered, including the one in question.

But, first, let us please give you the straight scoop on elevators in buildings in historic Italian cities:

1. Elevators are small.
2. Elevator entrances are narrow.
3. An open wheelchair will almost never fit.
4. They sometimes bounce a bit when you get in.
5. They can be relatively old and musty.
6. The ground floor is marked “T” for Terreno (Terra: Earth). The floor marked “1” is one up from the ground, and so on.
7. Because of the way they are retrofitted, you may have to get in one side and get out another side of the box. No gracious entrances and landings have been designed by architects.
8. You may have to travel up a flight up steps to get to the place where they managed to fit in an elevator entrance. And the elevator may not go all the way to your floor.
9. The door closing systems are tricky. External and internal doors must all be closed if the elevator is to operate. If you get out of the elevator and fail to close any of the doors, the elevator will not operate and people on other floors can’t call it and they may get angry and let you know. This is upsetting to the other residents, particularly elderly residents who rely on it.
10. Most apartment elevators have no memory. This means that if the elevator is already in use and you call it, nothing will happen. You need to wait and listen. When the elevator stops and ceases to be in use then you can call it. The same "no memory" applies if you push the button before the doors are closed, nothing will happen. You need to wait until the doors are fully closed before pressing your floor button. Again, the "no memory" principle applies if you want to stop on multiple floors. You can't for example push 3 and 4. If you do the elevator will go to the 3rd floor, and then nothing will happen. Once it is stopped on 3, then you can push 4.
11. Arrival & departure rule of thumb: one person, one suitcase at a time. Maybe you can cram in more but why risk it? Yes, it will take multiple trips but better then breaking a finicky elevator and schlepping your luggage up and down the stairs yourself.
12. All elevators break sometimes. When they break, call your greeter and the greeter will call the manager of the condominium and s/he will call the elevator repair person. The condominium association did not get a maintenance contract with the speedy repair company; they got a best-price contract with a thrifty elevator repair company that can fix any elevator in a few days. A few business days. They do not answer their phones on weekends or after hours and schedule repairs as next available and when parts can be found or manufactured. No matter how awful it is for you and how loudly you complain, the elevator repair company has been called and will fix the elevator in due time and probably not before you leave the apartment. We are very sorry, but this is the way things work in Italy.
13. Sometimes electricity fails in the building or in the neighborhood; it usually seems to have to do with construction works in the street. When the electricity fails, then the elevator doesn’t work. It usually comes back on within the day.
14. If you cannot live with the small chance that you have to climb some stairs, please reconsider your visit to an historic Italian city or choose an apartment or hotel that that has two or more elevators. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet a neighbor’s dog riding solo!

Here are some elevator pictures we captured, all within high quality central Rome apartment buildings.

The elevator that engendered complaints is the third one, fits three friendly people. We've ridden it with a neighbor and her Neapolitan mastiff dog, everybody fit. The final photo is of the narrowest elevator we have dealt with, our 14 year old family member's shoulders just fit.