Getting Here by Air

Getting Here by Air

Florence's small Aeroporto A. Vespucci (10 km [6 mi] northwest of Florence. 055/373498. www.aeroporto.firenze.it) commonly called Peretola,is located just outside of town and receives flights from Milan, Rome, London, and Paris. To get into the city center from the airport by car, take the autostrada A11. Tickets for the local bus service into Florence are sold at the airport's second-floor bar—Bus 62 runs once an hour directly to the train station at Santa Maria Novella. The airport's bus shelter is beyond the parking lot.

Pisa's Aeroporto Galileo Galilei (12 km [7 mi] south of Pisa and 80 km west of Florence. 050/849300. www.pisa-airport.com) is the closest landing point with significant international service, including (at this writing) a few direct flights from the United States each week on Delta. It's a straight shot down SS67 to Florence. A train service connects Pisa's airport station with Santa Maria Novella, roughly a 1½-hour trip. Trains start running about 7 AM from the airport, 6 AM from Florence, and continue service every hour until about 7 PM from the airport, 4 PM from Florence.

For flight information, call the airport or Florence Air Terminal (Stazione Centrale di Santa Maria Novella. 055/216073) —which, despite the misleading name, is simply an office at the Santa Maria Novella train station, around the corner from train tracks 1 and 2.