Car Hire Rome

A quick guide to Rome

Everywhere you turn in Rome there’s something incredible to see. With so many sights to fit in during your trip it can be tempting to rush from one to another, but the Italian way of life encourages a relaxed approach. Take your time to truly appreciate everything the city of Rome has to offer.

Attractions in and around Rome

The Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, St Peter’s Basilica and the Spanish Steps – Rome has more than its fair share of historical wonders. As you’d expect, these are tourist hotspots, so prepare yourself for a little hustle and bustle around the entrances.

It’s worth standing back for a few moments and simply appreciating the spectacle of some of the most iconic sights in the world. Whether you’re snapping a selfie from the top of the Spanish steps, or pretending you’re a gladiator in the cavernous colosseum, these reminders of Rome’s past will make for some treasured memories from your trip.

Once you’ve managed to explore the inner city, you’ll find that some of the best sights aren't just located in Rome. Travel 30km east in your rental car and you’ll arrive in Tivoli, home to not one but two World Heritage sites – the Renaissance-era Villa d’Este and the Villa Adrianaarcheological complex.

Its ancient architecture and haunting beauty give Villa Adriana an almost mythological quality, made all the more charming by its crumbling facade and sculptures. It’s easy to imagine how it must have looked in its days as a retreat from Rome for Emperor Hadrian.

A stark contrast is the opulent Villa d’Este, an ornate 16th century villa famous for its manicured hillside gardens and spectacular fountains. Stand back to admire the jets of water and crashing waterfalls against the backdrop of the magnificently adorned villa. These sights offer a perfect break from the hustle and bustle of central Rome.

A taste of Rome

Great food, fresh ingredients and that satisfying feeling where you want to eat more, but couldn’t possibly – that’s authentic Italian food.

For the ultimate hug-from-the-inside comfort food – nothing beats Italian pizza. Visit the renowned Pizzarium and don’t let the humble surroundings fool you, inside you’ll bite into the freshest, thickest dough, topped with everything from cured meats and mouthwatering mozzarella to sun-blushed tomatoes and fresh spinach. All finished with a flourish of fragrant herbs.

If fish is more your dish, try MaterMatuta – a restaurant named after a Latin goddess where the food is just as heavenly. The fresh fish and seafood is sourced from one of the oldest fish shops in the capital and everything here is homemade – from the potato gnocchi to the black ravioli stuffed with shrimp and calamari.

A journey through Italy

The highways and roads that let you travel outside of Rome make it easy to turn a city escape into a great big Italian adventure. When you hire a car in Rome you have the opportunity to travel to Florence, Naples or Perugia.

You can venture further afield to discover Milan – the country’s fashion capital. Splash some cash on the latest designer goods and high-end accessories, but don’t expect to always find price tags to go with them. As the saying goes – “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it”.

Just over 240km from Rome is Pompeii, a drive of between two and three hours that’s rewarded with some incredible scenery along the way. Once a busy Roman city, it was subsumed by ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D.

The ash and pumice that fell preserved the site as it was at the time, creating an incredible and unique snapshot of life in Roman times. You can easily spend a day exploring Pompeii before driving an hour to Sorrento for dinner on the coast.

Whatever you decide to do, car hire in Rome offers you a gateway to the city and beyond.

Driving in and around Rome

As you would expect, roads tend to be busy around the sights so it’s certainly worth parking away from the main Rome tourist hotspots.

There are also certain zones in the city known as ZTL zones, where you can only travel if you are a resident or have registered as a tourist with the police. The aim of these zones is to reduce traffic and they’re monitored by cameras. You may face a hefty fine if you travel in them without being registered, so take care.

Car hire in Rome makes accessing the rest of Italy easy – including the surrounding Lazio region, where you can see everything from ancient port cities like Ostia to inland forests and lakes.

The main routes outside of Rome are well maintained and consist of a mixture of highways with a speed limit of 130 km/h down to E roads, which are single-carriage highways. There are also smaller, more scenic routes.

The main highways – known as the autostrade – may be the quickest route but the E roads can still get you to where you need to go quickly by car. For instance, you can take the E45 and get to the city of Naples in just over two hours.

For more information about the rules of the road in Rome and ZTL zones click here.