My wife and I are planning a trip to Italy next Christmas. I’m trying to budget for it now and intra-country travel is a concern for me. I want to go from Rome to; Pisa, Florence, Venice, and Millan or Turino. I like the idea of the ERail but I want to see Lake Como area in the north too. So the question is Rail or Rent-a-Car? Thanks for your thoughts.
I’d do both. Car rental in Italy is much cheaper for local rentals, and you likely won’t need the car the whole time.
And train travel is a joy, especially between major cities with no connections. It beats the stress of the autostrade.
I’d budget for the rail pass, second class, and economize on the car you rent when you get one. Go for a small Fiat, Seat or Renault - it’s pretty much what everybody else drives anyway.
I lived in Sicily for two years when I was in the Navy, if you want to know my credentials.
Definatley focus on rail travel. Traffic in any Italian city is hellish - well, with the exception of Venice 
. Rail travel in Italy is very reasonably priced, and you’ll see far more of the countryside than from a car. Details of trains here: fs-on-line | Just another WordPress site
Another vote for rail travel. Italian drivers believe that traffic laws are more like “suggestions”. You have never known terror until you have nearly been sandwiched by two tour busses while sitting in the back seat of a Fiat (which, BTW, comes from an Italian word meaning “lunchbox”). The trains are quick, fairly punctual, inexpensive, safe, and run at all hours.
For a small fee, you can reserve seats in the second class compartments if you get there a sufficient amount of time before the train’s departure. A wise move if you find a crowd of refugees waiting on the platform for your train to arrive (been there!).
Nope - it’s “Let there be” (…light).
I owned one, a Panda 30.
Fiat is an acronym for “Fix it again, Tony.”
That’s what’s known as a joke, son. 
What about motorcycles? A friend of mine suggested that he had heard that they are also available and cheap? How much does fuel tend to run?
BTW thanks I think for Intercity travel I’m sold on the rail.
First off, I would not recommend a motorcycle if you value your life. Especially in the cities, the locals drive pretty crazy. I wouldn’t think of riding a motorcycle over there.
That said, I’d actually vote for the rental car. With the possible exception of the weather at Christmas time (which I don’t know much about). When I visited back in '90, we rented a car. And though it was very stressful driving in the cities (Rome especially), once got to our hotel we’d simply park it and walk to do all our sightseeing. You do not want to drive in the cities. But for seeing everything else, it was great.
After Rome, we headed up the west coast (past Pisa), and took a detour to see the marble quarries in Cararra (which I’d highly recommend if you have the time). And I don’t know how you’d get up there without a car. Also driving around the countryside outside of Florence was awesome.
The down side is that it’s expensive to drive over there. Gas was about $5/gallon (when gas in the US was around $1.20/gallon), and they have these “toll freeways” called “autostrada’s” that were not cheap. If memory serves, the stretch from Florence to Rome cost around $40. We hadn’t planned on that.
My only train experience was taking the train from Milan to Paris. It was okay, but the thought of lugging bags and doing the whole train thing at all those stops you mentioned, would get kind of old.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents.
In cities like Rome, cars are expensive to own and operate. Most people use the Metro to get where they want to go, or take the bus (which is pickpocket heaven, BTW). Mopeds are also fairly common. It’s not unusual to see someone in a Gucci suit zip past you on a tiny little moped (more like a hairdryer on wheels). As to how much they might cost to rent, I’ve no idea. Gasoline is very expensive, but mopeds use a lot less than cars, so that shouldn’t play too big a role. In general, though, I’d say stick to the metros and busses. You’re less likely to get lost that way. Italian cities were built without any concept of urban planning, and the streets can be a winding maze of blind alleyways. Plus the insane traffic.
One other item of importance. Most of the major cities in Italy are actually pretty small, at least as far as the areas of interest go. You can walk from one side of Rome proper to the other in just over an hour. I won’t exactly say that a moped is a bad idea, but I certainly never felt that I needed one.
My family and I went to Italy 2 summers ago and had thought of renting a car, but we just used the rail and it was perfect. Just know that the trains definitely leave on time. We missed our first train of the trip by one minute! Anyways, we went from Milan to Venice to Florence to Naples to Rome all by train and it was nice. We went to Lake Como for the day from Milan by rail and it was no problem at all.
I think we got the pass that was like good for 2 weeks, but I’m not sure exactly what the deals are.
Hope this helps