ZTLs and cameras

Just because you don’t see a camera doesn’t mean there isn’t one you can’t easily see. I’d contact the rental car facility you’re returning the vehicle to and ask it how you return the car without getting a ticket.

That is correct. The entry would not be captured by camera.

Even though that area is still considered ZTL, and the police could still stop you, however the ZTL ordinance explicitly says that using the two specific routes illustrated below, to return the rental car, are allowed, so in the unlikely event you are stopped by the municipal police, all you need to tell them is that you are returning your rental car at the Interpark Garage Europa (where the rental cars are housed).

Below are the directions on Google maps.
I entered from Piazza Taddeo Gaddi to the Interpark Garage Europa.
Piazza Gaddi is outside of the city center and outside the ZTL, and it is a piazza you will go through if you come from the A1 freeway exit called FIRENZE SCANDICCI (or also if you come from the Pisa/Livorno-Florence freeway called FIPILI).
Both routes suggested by Google maps (either via Ponte Vespucci or via Il Prato) are permitted routes with no camera.

https://goo.gl/maps/L5kNnKTsN4EB4VBt5

If you come from Siena and come through the Piazzale di Porta Romana then this is the permitted route (eventually through the Ponte Vespucci)

https://goo.gl/maps/61ccBT1Bj4xDPxYW7

if you use the latter route be aware that Via Senese between Le Due Strade and Piazzale di Porta Romana is a bus lane only going north, therefore you must turn right on Via del Gelsomino, then left on Viale del Poggio Imperiale, to reach Piazzale di Porta Romana.

https://goo.gl/maps/2cG3QKNyDd1a4wrR9

To refuel before returning the car, do so as soon as you see a gas station after you exit the freeway.
On the first route above, there are gas stations on Viale Etruria. On the second route there are gas stations on Via Senese, right after Galluzzo.

"Via Senese between Le Due Strade and Piazzale di Porta Romana is a bus lane only going north, therefore you must turn right on Via del Gelsomino, then left on Viale del Poggio Imperiale, to reach Piazzale di Porta Romana."

Thanks Roberto. It seems Google Maps recognizes this and routes around it.

Don't forget to veer to the right

This sign says "lane reserved to public transportation vehicles"

Thanks Roberto. I've stumbled on many of your posts here and they have been invaluable.

Inside the ZTL area there are a few free itineraries. So when you arrive from Ponte Vespucci, if you go straight into via Melegnano and then turn left into Borgo Ognissanti, you are using a free itinerary within the ZTL. No camera, but is legal to use it (not only for returning a car, but also to go on to Il Prato). Please note that if you go straight into via Maso Finiguerra there is no camera, but via Maso Finiguerra is not in the free itinerary.

Thank you lachera, I'm constantly learning.

Easiest solution for us is to drop off car before the city center and train in from outlying areas. Then its no worries.

Thanks Marie, but there aren't a lot of options for that. I could go to Siena, but then the drive is as far back to Greve as Florence was.

I don't mind driving in traffic, I've driven in cities much larger than Florence many times, I just needed to get my head around how the ZTLs work, and I think I've got a handle now.

Another trap, this time not returning your car in Borgo Ognissanti, but leaving Borgo Ognissanti with your car.

In case you drive Borgo Ognissanti > Il Prato > via Rucellai > via della Scala:
remember that the last section of via della Scala has the right lane reserved to buses and watched by a camera. So, as you turn left from via Rucellai, stay on the left lane. This is enforced 24/7, at all times.

If you select Hertz as your rental car company, their office is now located on via Alamanni, along the SMN station next to the mH Florence Hotel. I haven’t rented at that location since they moved there recently. Via Alamanni is a street now reserved to the light rail tramway, so I presume cars coming out of the underground parking next to Hertz can drive there. When you exit the parking lot you turn right toward the station then loop around Via Santa Caterina da Siena and then turn right on Via Della Scala (Stay in the left lane) all the way to Viale Fratelli Rosselli. There are no cameras on that route, except for the bus lane on via della Scala. However, if Hertz requires you to return the car at that location, you will need to re-enter on via Alamanni from Viale Fratelli Rosselli, but in that case the light rail lane is enforced by camera on via Alamanni at the corner with viale Fratelli Rosselli. There is no way around that. If Hertz requires you to return there they will need to place the car’s license plate number on the City “white list” online, so that no fine will be issued.

Thanks Roberto!