When we finished with the leaning tower two days ago, we walked back to the train station to grab our bags. We realized there was a train to the airport which is where we needed to be to pick up the rental car, so we decided to take it. Luckily, the tickets were only €1,10 each because I’m pretty sure we could have walked there just as quickly. When we got to the airport, it took us a while to figure out where to go, then we had to wait on a shuttle bus to take us over to the rental car lot.
When we finally got to Hertz, they offered to upgrade us from the Fiat Panda I’d reserved to a Fiat 500 instead. The price was the same, so we took the upgrade. The 500 is a coupe and a little sportier than the Panda would have been. It looks pretty small from the outside, but was surprisingly roomy on the inside. We’re pretty sure the sunroof should have opened somehow, but we never did find a control for it.
Almost every car over here is a manual. Amber isn’t very confident driving a stick, so I got to chauffeur her around for two days. I didn’t really mind since it was (mostly) fun driving a manual again. I didn’t really have any trouble picking it up, even if it has been several years since I drove one. I was pretty well prepared for Italian driving in terms of what to expect. Everyone speeds, tailgates, and passes where you shouldn’t. They drive on the right, so I didn’t have to make any adjustments there. The traffic signs are confusing at first, but not too bad to understand once you start to recognize some patterns.
From the Pisa Airport, we started out on a lesser highway that ran at 90 kph or about 55 mph. This gave me a good opportunity to orient myself in the car before we hit the faster autostrade highway. We were driving most of the 2.5 hours to Orvieto on this toll road, so we weren’t really sure how much it was going to cost. The autostrade speed limit was not posted anywhere that I could find, but the GPS said the limit was 80 mph or about 130 kph (I confirmed that later). The highway was two lanes in each direction the whole way to Orvieto, with slow trucks and cars in the right lane and lots of passing in the left lane. I didn’t really have much trouble on the highway, although the extra speed was a little intense at times. Our toll for about 2 hours on the autostrade came to just under €10.
We had left a little later than I wanted, so I was already on edge. I’m must have been extra tense on the road, because I was sporting a massive headache when we got to Orvieto. It got worse when we realized that the GPS was taking us to the wrong place. Then I remembered that the website for CasaSèlita B&B had driving directions that I neglected to print (my brain was still in travel by train mode). We saw a sign or two, but missed the ones we really needed to find the place. After several U-turns and a few times through the same roundabout, we finally spotted the next sign and the one after that and then the main gate. Finally.
Yesterday we spent the day driving between some other hill towns in Tuscany. We took mostly lesser highways and back roads, so it was a little slower and less intense. No headaches this time. Most of the towns in the regions of Tuscany and Umbria are literally on hilltops, so there were plenty of great views over fields of grapes for the areas wineries and onto the next several towns. We made sure to stop in several places to get some good shots of the most interesting sites.
This is a shot of Orvieto on our way back from Montalcino.
My Italian driving experience ended this morning when we dropped off the car near the train station. There were approximately 3 parking spaces in front of the Hertz office, so it took three passes before I was able to pull into one of them. All in all, I was pretty pleased with my driving skills. I struggled on a few hills; it took me a while to find the right combination and speed of clutch and gas. I had a helluva time figuring out how to shift into reverse for the first time. It was clearly marked, but the gearshift just wouldn’t move far enough to engage. I finally realized there is a release below the main shifter that you have to pull upward before it will move to reverse. However, I handled the extra speed and the hills pretty well. I even executed a perfect parallel parking job in Piensa. The Fiat 500 was pretty fun to drive, but I’ll be happy to be back in my Dodge Stratus when we get home.