- When you rent a car in Rome, scrupulously obey no parking signs. The Italian police continue to crack down on illegally parked cars. Unpaid tickets will be passed on via your Rome car rental agency, including an extra fee for their own extensive troubles. In other words: ouch.
- With parking spaces so hard to come by, it pays to know that the biggest public garage in Rome is the Parcheggio Borghese, found below the Villa Borghese park and accessed on Via del Muro Torto. It is open 24 hours.
- Driving along the autostrada (motorway)? These are toll roads: you must take a ticket when you access the autostrada, and then pay when you exit. Avoid the Telepass lane and pay in cash (notes and coins) at a regular lane. Have some cash ready to avoid sweaty searches while the driver behind beeps impatiently. We’ve all been there.
Search for the best car hire deals in Rome
As undertakings go, car hire in Rome must rank among the most daring.
Anyone prone to tantrums or heart conditions is particularly encouraged to pass up the chance to drive here. It’s not just that the traffic in Rome gets famously stationary, but that parking is mostly impossible and chunks of the centre turn out to be restricted traffic zones (ZTLs) – ones monitored by fine-happy cameras.
If you do somehow stumble upon a parking space, then please, please keep it rather than try and upgrade. That better spot you’re imagining? It doesn’t exist.
Anyone prone to tantrums or heart conditions is particularly encouraged to pass up the chance to drive here. It’s not just that the traffic in Rome gets famously stationary, but that parking is mostly impossible and chunks of the centre turn out to be restricted traffic zones (ZTLs) – ones monitored by fine-happy cameras.
If you do somehow stumble upon a parking space, then please, please keep it rather than try and upgrade. That better spot you’re imagining? It doesn’t exist.
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Beyond Rome city centre
There are some benefits if you rent a car in Rome on a 2016 holiday. Most obviously, it is a means by which to escape the brouhaha and visit the wealth of sights fringing Italy’s capital without getting confused or slowed by the complexities of public transport.
Take Ostia Antica, found 16 kilometres (10 miles) south west of Rome city centre. A viable alternative to Pompeii and Herculaneum, this well-preserved ancient port – it once bordered the Mediterranean – is accessible via train. However, a car journey from Rome is so much simpler. Look out for the bar-restaurant’s menu still eerily frescoed on a wall.
Other potential day-trip destinations that make Rome car hire worthwhile include the unpretentious beach resort of Sperlonga, and Ponza, a small, charming island with yellow-painted houses and cutesy cafes. There’s also the hill town of Tivoli, full of leafy streets and upmarket shops.
Car rental at a Rome airport
For a hassle-free getaway on the outskirts of the city, rent a car at Rome airport in 2016. Which one, you ask. Well, the good news is that both Fiumicino and Ciampino airports are well stocked with vehicles and car-hire companies keen to get your business (which means low prices on car rental in Rome – bonus!).
As of 2016, nine companies are based at Fiumicino in the domestic and international arrival halls. For passengers that fly to Ciampino, the airport is home to several car hire firms, including Avis, Thrifty and Sixt.
The other obvious place to book car hire in Rome is the main station, Termini, close to the Colosseum.
You’ll find rental companies on Via Giovanni Giolitti, on its western flank. Avis has several additional locations spread around Rome. Use any of these and you can dodge the pick-up surcharges issued at Rome’s airports.
With so many Rome car rental deals available, it pays to compare and book online in advance. This nets you the cheapest rates, ensures the widest availability of vehicles and enables you to go over the small print in the quiet of your own home, without a queue forming behind you in a hot car-rental office somewhere in Rome.
Top tips for car hire in...
Rome
Find out about other forms of transport in the city on our getting around Rome page.