first of many questions

garpar

New member
hello, this is my first post/ questions. we are planning to be in Italy the last two weeks in Sept and in Tuscany for 3nights. i have been watching other posts on this site and getting as much info there as i can. we would like to rent a car for our visit to Tuscany ,and wondering if it would be best to go into Florence to do this.we will be coming from cinque terre by train and then leaving by train and heading to Bologna.i know not to rent a car at train stations because its more expensive etc.we are thinking on staying around Greve in Chianti area,we would like to experience some grape festivals and events ie;Tunisian week or festa dell'uva. is there a site that i can get a list of events and dates that far out (Sept)? would like to book a bed and breakfast fairly soon and thinking maybe this could influence where we stay. thanks for any help at all.
 
rent in Florence and enjoy the Tuscan countryside

Ciao garpar,

Hope you're finding the forum useful in answering any questions and doubts you've had so far!

You are absolutely right in planning to rent a car once in Florence and then dropping it back there before heading up to Bologna. There aren't car rentals at the train station but there are several locations nearby toward Borgo Orgnissanti and the Arno to the south of the station. Do a search on Auto Europe as they'll give you results for all car rental companies and the locations to choose from. They are convenient to get to just a few blocks away from the station.

As for events in September, as you've already seen there are recurring events every year in each area. Greve is in the heart of the Chianti wine region and there is likely to be the same events in September in the area as there were last year (take a look at the events calendar and click on the dates and then scroll back to September 2010 to see past events) but definite dates will not be published until closer to the month. Last September most of the festivals were on the weekends and late September / October is better for the wine-related events. Harvest is from August-September, the "novello" or new wines come out in early November. The "festa dell'uva" is toward the end of the month. If you take a look at the events calendar from last September, there were wine related events in Greve, Panzano, Castelnuovo Berardenda and Impruneta. Since you'll have a car and will be in the area, you can easily reach all of these in less than 30 minutes - the area is small and you don't need to stay in one over another place for a specific event. Actually, I whole-heartedly recommend you look into staying at a B&B in the Chianti countryside to experience rural Tuscany! :)
 
thank you

thanks lourdes ,sorry for taking so long to reply . i am finding this forum very useful and your info on a car rental location is just what i was looking for,thanks. another question i have is should i book the car in advance or just show up and try and get one then? i'm thinking booking in advance would be better but just wondering. we will be staying at palazzo malaspina in san donato in poggio , hopefully this is a good place to explore the chianti area of tuscany. thanks again ,gary .
 
book car rental ahead of time

You're very welcome!

Palazzo Malaspina is very centrally located in San Donato, perfect for day trips all around. I think you should definitely book the car ahead of time, to make sure you get what you want - especially keeping in mind that not all places have all that many automatic transmission cars.
Start your search by using the search engine on here - it shows all car rental agencies and companies so it is a very easy way to search across the board and find the best deal for car rental.

Hope you're enjoying the planning of the trip! :)
 
car rental

Ciao Lourdes , one more question for you,thanks for your patience and help. I found a rental car and the office is in Florence down town . The address is 53/55r via Borgo Ognissanti , would this be close enough to walk to from the train station? Thanks again and yes I/we are having a great time planning the trip. This is our first visit to Italy and we are staying in five different areas(lago garda,cinque terre,tuscany,bolonga,and venice) over a 12 day visit and I think Tuscany will be our favorite.:) Gary
 
Borgo Ognissanti walking distance from SMN train station

Sounds like a great itinerary!! You will have a grand time throughout your whole vacation, each area you are going to go to is different with its own charm and character. Definitely hope you end up with Tuscany as your favorite but you'll see, each place is special :)

Most of the car rental agencies are in Borgo Ognissanti and it is walking distance from the train station - just about 3 blocks. Just exit to the right as you arrive into the main area of the train station so that you're on the side closest to the river and to your destination. And look at the exact location of the agency on this map since the placement by Google is incorrect (the marker is about a whole block further down).

An interesting note to know about Florence and addresses: Florence has a particular system with numbers - each street has black/blue numbers for regular residential addresses and then a RED system for businesses - you'll notice your address has an R for red.... so as you walk down the street, ignore the black numbers and look for the red colored numbers, you want to follow those! :D I know, complicated... some streets can and will have two addressed with 55 but the 55R can be on a completely different block than the other 55. Don't worry, as far as I know, this system only exists in Florence! Just thought you should know before you start heading down Borgo Ognissanti and following the wrong numbers! (I've been there and it has happened to me as well.)
 
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