We took our own bikes and did our own rides in Tuscany. He flew with his in a hard-shell bike box, I shipped mine via FedEx in cardboard. We both flew back with our bikes (and he did some creative talking to convince the desk woman that it was actually a tandem bike in two boxes, so we only got charged once!)

My only addition to the conversation is this: it was nice to have my own bike there, but it was a pain to deal with. The cars are really tiny, so there was some rope involved to keep the trunk down and we couldn't leave it out of our sights anywhere. We had to lug the boxes up stairs and narrow paths to our bed and breakfasts, along with our luggage, and then they often did not have secure storage and/or space for them. My cardboard box got destroyed in the rain, so there was much tape involved to hopefully get everything back home.

If I were to do it again, I'd rent there.

-- gnat!