Can confirm! Rented a little Renault for 8 days when we were there and needed the IDP (even if the rental agency didn't ask to see it). Absolutely worth it though. So easy to get and having a car in Italy meant being able to spend time leisurely hopping from town to town, stopping in little places you might not expect. One thing I will note, is that if you're driving to small towns, consider parking at the edge of the town and walking to wherever you're staying. Some of those small alley-roads are nightmares. At one point while trying to get to my airbnb in Puglia, I literally could not go forward or backward. Kept trying to find parking, and because of the one way streets, how narrow it was and the random streets that turn into stairs, ended up making a 52 point turn to eventually get back to a bigger road. This is likely why everyone's cars have dings and scrapes on the side, and if you have a rental, you do not want that.

I actually like the idea of the digital detox - at least for short term. In my experience as an expat though, it's hard to get by without one! If people need access to Gmail, Google, Facebook, etc, then a VPN is a must. They've cracked down in recent years, but there are a few more reliable options. I currently have about 7-9 services that I pay for specifically because of thise, and out of those I have some recommendations, in case anyone is looking. #1 - It's an android app, but I think you can use it on PC or other devices if you want, called "WangVPN". It's not only one of the most reliable VPNs but it's also free! #2 - Wannaflix (wannaflix.com). It uses shadowsocks, which is apparently harder to block. Works great on pc, mac, android, ios. Not too expensive either. It does work best with openvpn, which takes a little bit of figuring out, but if you follow their instructions it's not too hard. As a bonus it also works to unblock Netflix well. Everything else is pretty hit or miss after that. Nord VPN and Express VPN were my main ones for a while, but they now only connect sometimes, on some devices. You can set them up in openvpn, but even there is hit or miss. Lantern.org used to be very reliable, but less so now. Surfshark and VyprVPN are 2 that I've used less, but have as backups. Also hit or miss, but there are different setup options that sometimes work better than others.