Planning A Road Trip in Italy: Your Perfect Itinerary

Planning A Road Trip in Italy: Your Perfect Itinerary

This article will not only provide information on the best routes for exploring Italy by car but also guide you on how to plan and create your own high-quality itineraries. You will gain insights on where to find information about attractions and which maps to use, as well as tips on how to prepare for your trip. Additionally, I have a separate detailed article covering car rental, toll roads, gasoline prices, and other essential details that you should read as well.

Choosing the right flight to start your Italian trip

Italy has numerous options for flying in, with a vast selection of airlines flying to the capital. Low-cost airlines even have a separate airport in Rome – Ciampino (CIA). The major international airports in Italy include Rome, Milan, Venice, Bologna, Rimini, Naples, Palermo, Pisa, Genoa, Bari, and Verona. You can begin your car trip from any of these cities.

Regardless of which airport you choose to fly to, all major airports in Italy have car rental options available. However, the largest selection of rental cars can be found at Fiumicino (Rome) and Malpensa (Milan) airports. To find the cheapest flights to Italy, you can simply search for “Italy” instead of a specific city on websites like Skyscanner or Google Flights. Additionally, searching for flights over a whole month or choosing “The cheapest month” option can often lead to more affordable options, as long as you are flexible with your travel dates.

I recommend arriving and departing from the same city to save money; but if you want to explore multiple cities, you can plan a route to arrive in one city and depart from another. Keep in mind that this will come with an extra charge for your car rental. The farther apart the pick-up and drop-off points are, the more expensive the service will be.

What months to avoid when visiting Italy

August is a peak tourist season in Italy and the month is known for its high temperatures and crowds of visitors. If possible, it’s best to avoid visiting Italy during this month, as all major attractions will be overcrowded and there will be frequent traffic jams on highways between cities.

Routes in Italy – how to create a quality itinerary by yourself

• Study information about the country on the Internet.

• See what UNESCO World Heritage sites are there (there are more of them in Italy than in any other country in the world).

• Study the rating of attractions in Italy and reviews about them on TripAdvisor.

• I immediately mark all the places of interest on Google Maps. There you can get directions and find out the distances between cities, and the approximate time it takes to get from one city to another:

Italian cities and sights to include in your road trip itinerary

Based on the fact that there are a huge number of attractions in Italy, and it is very difficult to visit everything in one trip, it would be logical to build a route separately for the north of Italy, the central part, and the southern part. If you have time, you can combine the north with the central part, or the south with the central part.

Places to visit in the North of Italy:

• Milan (minimum 1 full day)

• Venice (minimum 1 full day)

• Verona (minimum 1 full day)

• Bergamo

• Padua – has one of the largest squares in Europe: Prato della Valle.

• Treviso – a walled city, the birthplace of the Tiramisu desert.

• Vicenza – the city center included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

• The surroundings of Lake Garda – you can easily spend a few days here or even a week.

• Parco Natura Viva Safari Park – a delightful thing to do both for kids and adults

• An amusement park for children Gardaland is like an Italian Disneyland

• Dolomites (Renon earth pyramids)

• Genoa and Liguria region (Portofino, Riomaggiore)

• Turin –  the fourth largest city in Italy, famous for its exquisite cuisine and architecture.

• Surroundings of Lake Como

• The city of Aosta – a small town in the Alps, where some buildings from the time of Roman rule have been preserved: triumphal forts, city walls, and towers. 

Places in central Italy to include in your road trip itinerary:

• Rome and Vatican (minimum 2-3 days).

• Florence (minimum 1 full day).

• On the way from Florence to Rome: San Gimignano (historic city center included in the UNESCO World Heritage List), Monteriggioni, Siena (UNESCO World Heritage List), Cascate del Mulino thermal springs.

• The largest Italian resort city of Rimini and San Marino.

• City of Ravenna (UNESCO).

• City of Urbino (UNESCO).

• Pisa and the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Places in the South of Italy:

• Naples (minimum 1 full day).

• Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius (1 full day).

• Amalfi Coast (Positano).

• Surroundings of Lecce and Bari, also the Sassi di Matera – a city carved into solid rock.

Tips for planning a road trip in Italy

1. When planning your itinerary, allow at least three days to explore Rome and the Vatican. One or two days are enough for most other major Italian cities.
2. Don’t try to see everything in one trip. Focus on your top priorities and save the rest for future trips. Trying to cram too much in, can make your vacation feel like a stressful marathon instead of a relaxing break. Choose three or four main cities, then add nearby attractions using Google Maps.
3. Italy’s highways are well-maintained, so you can comfortably drive 300-600 km a day between cities. To estimate travel time, assume you can travel 100 km in one hour. For example, it would take roughly 5-6 hours to travel 500 km.
4. Avoid scheduling long drives on your arrival or departure day. Instead, plan to spend the night near the airport.
5. Consider choosing a home base in one city and exploring the surrounding areas for a few days. For instance, from Florence, you can visit Pisa, while from Naples, you can go to Pompeii and Vesuvius, or from Rimini, you can visit San Marino. In Northern Italy, you can select a hotel near Lake Garda and Verona, stay for a week, and travel in different directions, as frequent check-ins/check-outs from hotels can be exhausting.
6. Another idea is to save the most exciting sights for the end of your trip. If you start with the most spectacular sights, the remainder of your journey might become dull. It is better if the magnificence of the attractions increases gradually. For instance, it is preferable to go to Naples first, and then to Rome, instead of the opposite. However, there is a chance that unforeseen circumstances might prevent you from seeing the most important thing.