Day trips with mobility issues

You have posted two similar questions- please indicate country in titles for ease of posters. Thanks so much and happy Holidays.

@margincall: I have been to Verona and to Florence on a Rick Steves tour so I am not familiar where the train stations or bus stations are. There is a lot of walking in both cities to see everything. If you are comfortable using Google Maps or even a paper map, I suggest marking where you will hit town and all of the sites you are interested in. Visit the sites in geographical order. Look for the public transportation that is available between them and investigate how to use a taxi in each. This way, you will be able to tell the best options.

@Pat: Maybe we can refrain from lecturing new posters. It isn't that difficult to understand what this poster is asking for. (She says as she is lecturing a veteran poster).

What time of year?

The train stations in Verona and Bologna are both a good 15 min or more walk to the center. Budget for taxis each way
We were in both towns a few years ago when I had mobility issues. We found the HOHO bus in Verona to be useful. Bologna has a little tourist train that will get you around. Bologna is quite large/ spread out.
Both towns are mostly flat so that helps,

Florence is very compact, that will be your easiest day trip as far as walking

Not familiar with Turin or Genoa but I believe Genoa is very hilly/ steep

My only suggestion would be to check on private tours in the each of the towns you are interested in, and see if they have options for mobility-challenged people. A quick google search turned up this for Florence from Sage Traveling - no idea if they are good, but it gives you an idea...

How big are the steps in the verona hoho and bologna train.
My wife's knees are really bad and sometimes an issue with high steps
Trains and trams better

This is from the City Sightseeing website, which operates the Verona HOHO:

Are the buses wheelchair accessible?

Most of our buses are wheelchair accessible. All of our wheelchair spaces accommodate wheelchairs measuring up to 70 cm wide, 120 cm long, and 135 cm high. If your wheelchair is larger than this or you are unsure whether your wheelchair will fit on the bus, please contact us. Our buses cannot safely accommodate two or more occupied wheelchairs, so if there is already a wheelchair user on the bus that you want to board, unfortunately you’ll need to wait for the next bus. Please ask the driver for assistance if necessary.

We would not have wheelchairs, but walk with canes and need low steps to get onto bus

I have seen a fair share of Italy and Europe in general and it would be very fortunate if you encountered anything that even begins to approach US standards for accessibility. BUT, at least where I live, assisting those who need assistance is still acceptable, appreciated, and common. So, I suspect if you work within the culture, you will do fine.

If the bus can accommodate a wheelchair it will most likely have an entrance that is flush to the curb

Or it could have a drop down ramp that requires the driver to get out and deploy it. That's what we have.

As others have stated, if wheelchairs can be accomodated, there is a way for you to access trains and buses. I doubt you'll find any measurements for stair height (but I could be wrong, you never know with the Wonders of the Internet).

In general public transportation everywhere in Italy has reserved seats for elderly, pregnant and mobility impaired people and this is respected and generally taken seriously. I saw an instagram couple who grabbed the last open pair of seats on a vaporetto to Murano shamed out of the seats because they were reserved. Google Maps generally works well finding bus routes around cities.

Taxis can only be taken from dedicated Taxi Stands or called with an app - AppTaxi has worked well for me in northern Italy to summon cabs and even arrange trips in advance. All major train stations will have a taxi stand out front and either cabs waiting or showing up very soon.

Trenitalia has a service called SalaBlu that assists with onto and off of trains for people with mobility issues which may be worth looking into even if you're not at that level of need. Fast trains are generally more easily accessible with lower steps than many of the older regionale trains.
https://www.italiarail.com/station-services/are-there-services-travelers-disabilities
Trenitalia has an app for buying and keeping tickets, checking schedules and tracking trains which I strongly recommend. Fast train tickets can be bought ahead of time but they less changeable so you're trading flexibility for cost. Whether you want to locked into specific times and days for day trips for lower prices is up to you.

For the cities I can speak about with experience:
The old core of Verona is largely pedestrian, flat with easy access. The train station is farther from the core than you want to walk so one of the many buses out front or a taxi will take you to old core. Piazza Bra is largest landmark and the start of the old town so take a bus or a cab here to start exploring. Verona has a very cafe culture feel so there are many places to sit and have a sprtiz whenever you feel like it.
Al Grottino - Osteria e Sbecoleria is a great hole in the wall place off Piazza Erbe for a drink and cicchetti. Cafe Monte Baldo nearby also has great cicchetti and more serious food if you want that.
There is a taxi stand in Piazza Erbe if you want to cab back to the station.

Bologna train station is very deep and fast trains come in on the lowest -3 level so getting to the surface can be a complicated series of elevators or escalators. Leave extra time - at least 15 minutes - when catching trains in Bologna. The walk down via Indipendenza into Bologna can be part of the experience but the station to old city center is probably a mile so you may want to get closer without walking. Buses in both Florence and Bologna have limited service in the old city core because they are simply too tight and crooked to support modern buses. I would advise a cab to Piazza del Nettuno and start from there. The old town area around the center - including the quadrilatero - is neat to explore.

Florence has a small, simple but always very busy train station. The cab stand is out the doors to the left - exiting the track area - and exiting the train station from the front drops immediately into the chaos of the city. Because so much of the city is historic I think the train station is pretty close to things you want to start seeing. The Basilica of Santa Maria Novella literally backs up to area outside the train station and the Duomo is only about 800m away. But the Uffizi is near the river and a ways from the train station so check the sites you want to see and plan accordingly. I would definitely cab back to the station when returning.

Hope that helps, have a great trip!
=Tod