I will have rental car for 3 days (2 nights in Florence) which I am picking up just outside of town (south of the SMN train station on the south side of the Arno) and returning to the Florence airport the day we leave (Easter Sunday April 5). Since we are staying just a block from the Duomo and that is not a place we can drive to or park near, I am wondering if anyone has any ideas on where we can leave the car overnight and how much that would cost.
We only plan to use the car to drive out to explore Tuscany (maybe Cortona, or Arezzo) on 2 of the days. I know it would make more sense to stay out in Tuscany but we have an apt in Florence for the week, so hope to just stay where we have a place already.
Thanks in advance for any tips!
Kathryn
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
The first time I went to Florence (this was before the ZTL's and the pedestrian only zones, a long time ago), I used basic common sense and reasoned to myself: Florence is a large city, certainly there will be places to park reasonably near to the hotel (which is in the same area as your apartment).
Well, I learned a lot about Italy on that trip and one of them was:
You can have a car in Florence, or sleep in the historic center, but you probably don't want to try to do both at the same time.
What most people reporting in here do is:
Enjoy Florence without a car.
Pick up the car on the way out of Florence.
Then enjoy using the flexibility of the car to explore Tuscany.
Or they take tours from Florence to various Tuscany destinations.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16243 posts
You don't need a car in Arezzo either. They have a ZTL there too. It's much easier to go by train, faster too.
Cortona is a small town, but guess what, they are ZTL'd too.
If those are your only destinations, you could do both on the same day by train (first go to Cortona, then on the way back to Florence, stop in Arezzo). If you want yo do it by car, just rent for the day.
Posted by
Firenze
500 posts
The Parterre underground parking (via Madonna della Tosse), as well as the Fortezza da Basso and Leopolda parkings have a 20 eur daily rate; you cannot get any better. Infos, in Italian, at http://www.firenzeparcheggi.it/
Well, there are a few places within the city walls where is possible (still not easy) to find unmetered parking. But the trick is that you cannot enter the area before 7.30pm on working days and 6.00pm on Saturday, and you should leave it at 7.30am.
Posted by
OP
Seattle, WA
37 posts
Hi, Yes! I am here. I was out of town a week and just back, taking in all the replies. It sounds like it will cost quite a bit more to have to park it somewhere. :(
I have a fully refundable car reservation, and the plan was to have it the last 3 days we were in the Florence area and return it to the airport to go home. I might reconsider this all now. Thank you!
Kathryn
Posted by
Beverly Hills, MI
814 posts
We used a parking lot that was right by the Porto Romano. It's a long narrow place that that runs along the town wall. It's a bit of a walk into the Duomo but it was the best I could find. Florence was laid out a few centuries before the automobile and nobody planned for parking lots. If I remember correctly it was in Rick's book.