Transportation

In Venice we took vaporetti to get around.  In Tuscany we had a rental car.  We took a Eurostar train from Florence to Rome and taxis while in Rome.  Above all you will need to use your feet to walk on uneven pavements, narrow congested streets and lanes, and climb stairs.  Make sure you are in shape.  Rome and Florence are hilly and Venice has lots of bridges with stairs.

Vaporetti

The vaporetti of Venice ply the two main canals in Venice as well as circumnavigating the island both clockwise and counter clockwise.  In addition you can take a vaporetto from the airport and also visit the island of Murano.  We found them very useful and bought a week pass for 50 euros otherwise it is a 5.50 euro cost per trip.  The basic setup of the vaporetto includes seating in the front and back and downstairs.  However if you have suitcases it is best to stay upstairs (standing only) and negotiate around the other passengers entering and leaving the boat.  Many times we heard Avanti! Avanti! Scende! Scende! meaning to get out of the way.  All tickets including week passes have to be validated at little machines on the quais.  You just have to wave the card in front of the reader.

Vaporetto Stop on the Grand Canal

Vaporetto with Rialto Bridge in the background

Rental Car

Before we left Canada we reserved a compact car from Europcar with pick up in Venice and drop off in Florence.  We used it to travel through Tuscany for two weeks.  The cost was 430 euros for 14 days.

If you are staying on the island in Venice make sure to rent your car from the office at Piazzale Roma and unless you have a death wish drop your car off south of the main central area of Florence.  We dropped ours off at the office at via del Gelsomino.  Our car was a Lancia MUSA which accommodated the three of us, our three suitcases and three backpacks comfortably.  The car was OK to drive however due its boxy shape it wasn’t great in windy weather or cornering tight curves.  Even though it was a manual shift it almost drove like an automatic.  A couple of times when I had difficulty getting it into gear it would ‘pop’ the clutch and do it automatically.  Other times (of course very rare) when I stalled at the top of a hill and risked rolling back it would restart automatically.  It even turned the engine off automatically when I would stop to take a photo and leave the car with the engine still running.

On the road near Castellina in Chianti

Picking up our car in Venice

Parking

Parking is difficult in Italy so if you rent apartments in Italy make sure they include parking.  When visiting go early or late.  Learn to park your car up a hill into a tight space while other cars wait to get by and learn to back up narrow dark alleys.

Autostrada

We drove on the autostrada from Venice to Chianciano in Tuscany without a hitch.  Autostradas are toll roads and it cost us 23 euros for the 389 kilometres journey.  Unlike the toll roads in the USA where you are obliged to stop from time to time to pay, in Italy you grab a ticket upon entry and pay when you leave.  Lanes leading to the toll booths are colour coded.  Don’t take the yellow telepass lane.  Take the blue pay by credit card lane or the white pay by credit card or cash lanes.  Off the autostada you will have to negotiate numerous roundabouts as you would in most European countries.  These help traffic flow and also give you an opportunity to find your way.  Just stay on the roundabout until you see your ecit.

Filling Up

Our car took diesel fuel which cost anywhere from 1.17 to 1.35 euros a liter.  The car ran on the smell of an oily rag (fuel consumption was excellent).  Filling up on autostrada and major roads went well where I could use my credit card despite the instructions in italian.  Filling up on minor roads in out-of-the-way places was always an event.  An attendant would fill your car up (pieno per favore) for you which always occasioned an animated (arms going) short chat while at other stations you had to fill it up yourself (cash only).  The instructions for cash only were way beyond my basic Italian and I would send Marielle to ask the nice man other there how to operate the god&*%$ thing.

GPS

Being a map guy I thought taking a GPS, my Christmas present, would be a waste of time.  How wrong I was!  After we changed the voice from American English (Chuck) to French (Sylvia) we understood what they were saying.  Many were the days that Sylvia saved our bacon.  Recalcul! Recalcul!  The only issue was at roundabouts where the signs give directions to the surrounding towns and villages while the GPS works on street addresses.

Train

Not knowing the system we went to the train station (the central one, not the other one) in Florence to reserve tickets to Rome a couple of days before our departure.  Instead of waiting in a long line we used one of the many self-service machines and with a little help from another good looking Italian we managed to reserve our tickets, second class to Rome on the Eurostar.  Second class was Ok except that you are at the back of the train.  The Eurostar left on time and took 1:30 to cover the 285 kms to Rome.  We had some trouble storing our suitcases as the baggage area was full however Marielle came to the rescue and found some space at the opposite end of the carriage.  Paul was left to execute.  Have you ever tried passing people in a train isle with three heavy suitcases?  The one way ticket to Rome cost 44 euros.

 

In the train on the way to Rome

Taxis

Arriving in Rome foot sore and under budget we decided to use taxis instead of hazarding the bus or metro system.  Each morning we would walk to Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) to hail a taxi.  Paul would sit up front and after a few hesitant words in Italian the driver invariably would start showing off his city and his driving skills.  We were witness to a shouting match with another driver, pedestrians running into our car (oh! Is this a street for cars?), and a ten minute ride from the Vatican at 90 km/hr.  Taxi fares are based solely on the distance covered so you have a very good idea how much it will cost, usually 10 euros including the tip for the three of us.  I made many taxi driver friends by tipping which does not seem to be very common.

Feet

Your feet are asked to do lots of work in Italy, from climbing up the 400 plus steps to the top of campaniles to walking along narrow sombre uneven alleyways.  Marielle arrived in Italy with a foot problem (fasciitis) and Yolande developed one in Venice.  She fell in a dim alleyway (told you so) and twisted her ankle.  Nevertheless (women never complain) we still chalked up lots of mileage every day.  At night it was ice packs and getting Paul to run around doing all the chores (joke).

A small street in Venice

A typical street in Rome

Icing feet in Venice