Getting in and out of Florence with a car

I would not consider driving into Florence. Even if your B&B gets you permission to drive to them you still run the risk of a wrong turn or accidentally entering a ZTL. If you do this there are huge fines you will incur. If you do decide to do this I would give yourself a few hours at least. If you are just visiting for the day you might want to park outside the city, take the train in and leave your luggage at the train station. This way you don't need to worry about the luggage being in the car, ZTL's or other traffic fines and finding your way through the city. Donna

Thanks for your advice. We have pretty much decided that as much as we like some favorite things there, is would take so much time just worrying about traffic that we should spend more time in smaller towns. Italy has so much to enjoy. Once I visited Florence in January for a wedding as it was the perfect time to see all the museums as they were nearly empty compared to late Spring, Summer and Fall. We'll spend more time in easier places.

Kathleen, have you considered lodgings outside of the ZLT and busing into the city to see the sites?

Kathleen, have you considered lodgings outside of the ZLT and busing into the city to see the sites?

If you want to see art, instead of Florence, detour to Ravenna from Venice. Spectacular Byzantine cathedrals & mosaics. Doable in a day.

We drove from Rome to Florence. We Found a garage and parked the car once in Florence and picked it up when we left. Parking cost a bit but I love driving, seeing the sites and being able to stop along the way. My only advice is if you are driving anywhere in italy get a good GPS. I got a Garmin, bought the Italy chip and it was great. Didn't have to figure out how to use it in a Rental Car which was a relief. If I didn't have the Garmin I would now be divorced and still driving around Italy. Just a warning. When I was in Florence I got the bright idea to use the Garmin GPS when i walked to get to where I wanted to. Good idea but it took me ages to get anywhere. I finally figured out the Garmin didn't thought I was in a car and not walking so it one way streets mattered. It wouldn't let me walk the wrong way down a one way street so it took me forever to get amywhere until I realized what happened.

Thanks for all the advice. My friend and I decided not to try Florence for one day, that might take a lot just to get in, park some place reasonable, take public transportation into the center, etc. That if one knew exactly what was one doing it could be fine, but there are so many nice places to see. I have been to Florence for 1 to 2 weeks visits once every ten years since the 70's. There are many great works to visit. But my friend, who is paying for the car and lodging if I will be the tour guide and navigator, wants to go to places he has not seen at all. We are going to Ravenna. But do we HAVE to have a gps? I've done pretty well with maps my whole life, and we bought a good map book. We aren't going to drive in big cities, and will print out direction from Google maps on how to get to each place we are staying. Thanks for all the advice
PS Florence is worth a trip in the off season in January just to see the art when the museums are empty, to stay in the most frugal place and eat at student cafeteria type places, if one can't afford more than that. I did that once and it was great.

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm?fuseaction=readtopic&topicID=28422&page=2 has a discussion that may make you glad you decided to do it the easier way.