Driving in Florence

We drove into the center of Florence a few years ago and it was a total nightmare. Are you VERY familiar with Florence and its streets? if not, I would not attempt it unless you really want a lot of STRESS!!! Also, the parking is very limited. Good Luck.

And then there are the infamous TLZones and the unpleasant experience a year late. Skip the driving.

Yes, you do need a permit to drive in Florence. Most of the inner city is covered by ZTL - which limits traffic to cars with permits. If you are staying at a hotel in a ZTL, the hotel will register your car license (always confirm they did this). But many people still get tickets because they strayed out of their permitted ZTL or got lost. The tickets are expensive and many get multiple tickets for each time they enter a ZTL un-permited. So the best answer is NOT to drive in Florence (or most Italian cities). Cars are useful for seeing rural sites, small towns and wineries. But they have no value in major cities.

Mary, Driving in Florence is a really bad idea, as the city is thoroughly covered by Zona Traffico Limitato Cameras. Based on posts I've seen here over several years, Hotels usually "promise" to notify the authorities, but in many cases that doesn't happen. The end result is that the driver receives notice of one or more ZTL fines about six months after they've returned home. Trying to dispute these on a "long distance" basis is very difficult, especially with the language difference. The fines are usually processed by an agency called "European Municipality Outsourcing". The rental agency may also charge a "fee" for providing your rental information to the authorities. It's VERY DIFFICULT to dispute that charge, as you will have agreed to it when you signed the rental agreement. In addition to ZTL areas (which are increasingly prevalent in many towns in Italy), you'll also have to be concerned with parking or having "The Boot" applied (I've seen that happen), tolls, high fuel prices, etc. If you could provide a few more details on the specifics of your trip, I'm sure the group here could offer some alternatives to driving in Florence. Cheers!

Agree with others-driving in Florence is a horrid experience. We returned a car at Avis (about 8 yrs ago and did not have issues with ZTL zones) and if Avis had not been near the Arno we would have never found it-no GPS then either. The streets changed names on every block. Very confusing and nerve wracking and parking would be a challenge.

Mary, you won't believe the horror stories we have seen on this site over the past years about driving in Florence. The horror part is the size of the traffic ticket after one-year of 1) getting the ticket and not knowing about it and, 2) missing court dates that you didn't know about. By the time you see the demand for the ticket, it will exceed $150. Almost all of the historic area of Florence as well as other areas of Florence are in ZTLs (Zona Traffico Limitado). These are restricted driving zones. Cameras take pictures of your car and license plate as you enter the zones. Reportedly, Florence issues about 600 such tickets a day. Additionally, many of the streets in the historic areas are narrow and crowded. They were built centuries before cars. And, as Susan has mentioned above, the street names change frequently. I can recall walking through the historic areas and noting the multiple times we saw one or both street names change in the same intersection. It's best to turn in your rental car before entering Florence. Here's a link to one of the best articles I've seen about ZTLs. It shows pictures of the signs and cameras. http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

We drove into Florence before the ZTLs existed, and it was still a nightmare. We were trying to get to Mario's Hotel on Via Faenza, and the one-block street was one-way out in both directions! You had to enter by a tiny alley near the train station. (We had meant to come by train, but a strike happened.) Every other time we drove in we got really lost.

We drove from Rome to Florence and than down to the amalfi coast. However, when we got to Florence we found a parking garage and left it there until it was time to leave. It was the smart move. Driving between cities is fine but once you are in the city it can be tough. Parking is bad too. I wouldn't discourage you from driving from place to place. Just know when to park the car and leave it for a few days.

DO NOT DRIVE! Unless one of your traveling companions is disabled. The historic center of Florence is about the size of the downtown of your average American city, so walking is the fastest way to get around, honestly.