babish

Hi we are leaving in less than a week! I have directions I found on Slow Travel to park at the train station when we drive to Florence from the apartment we are renting in Castellina. It sounds pretty straight forward. I just want to make sure, would anyone recommend that we take a bus or train to Florence from Chianti area instead? There are five of us, so driving would probably be cheaper. Thanks

PotenzaRon

My experience was that train service was spotty if available at all. Bus service was more reliable to Florence from the various towns in Chianti that we are familiar with: Castellina, Greve, Panzano, Siena. I would never drive into Florence no matter how cheaper it would be...but maybe that's just my aversion to driving in major Italian cities. Have a great time!

bobthenavigator

There is no train---except from Siena.

Zerlina

Don't try to drive to the Florence train station to park. Stay outside the ZTLs and park at the Porta Romana.
https://ztl.comune.fi.it/tzi/index.jsp

babish

Zerlina, I found this on Slow Travel. Is this the way we would be approaching from Castellina?


Porta Romana Parking

"Aside from the large parking garage under the train station, another place to park is the pay lot adjacent to Porta Romana. For those entering the city from the Firenze Certosa area, you'll be coming down the hill toward the city center. At the bottom of the hill there is a small circle. You'll see the Porta Romana straight ahead of you. Just to the left is the entrance to an outdoor parking area. The further along you go, once into the area, the closer you are to the city center. You can either walk into town from there or take a taxi or public transportation."

Zerlina

Coming from Castellina, you'd be coming from the south, and Porta Romana is south of central Florence. You could take either the SS2, which would lead you directly to Porta Romana, or the more scenic SS222 and then the autostrada west for one exit to get to Via Senese and Porta Romana.

Dukey1

just drove into and out of town from Ricavo near Castellina several times two weeks ago..parking right across from the SMN was easy as there are several reasonably-priced garages...we DID use the GPS in our rental to find these, however. Traffic was not bad at all even in the mornings.

babish

Thanks for the advice. Sorry to sound ignorant, but what is SMN? We do have a GPS for Italy, were the parking areas actually listed on GPS?

tedgale

SMN = Santa Maria Novella, famous church, square and -- behind it -- the eponymous train station.

Florence has 3 train stations: Firenze SMN (main) + Rinfredi and Campo Marzio (???? -- it's sthg like Marzio, anyway)

Zerlina

It's Rifredi and Campo di Marte.

Getting to SMN, the problem is *not* traffic. The problem is that it's on the other side of Florence and you have to go though the ZTL's - traffic-restricted areas - to get there. There are a few streets you are allowed to drive on, but if you stray *off* those streets, you'll get a traffic ticket for 100 Euro - they use cameras to monitor the ZTLs - a year from now, and you'll be back in the forum complaining that no one ever told you.

Well, I'm telling you now.

babish

THanks, Zerlina, I have read other postings about getting tickets which is why I am so concerned about where to park. The parking near the Porta Romana makes sense. How far of a walk is it to city center from the parking?

Zerlina

To the Piazza della Signoria, it's about a mile or 20 minutes. But the No. 36 or No. 37 bus will take you across the river. On weekdays, you shouldn't have to wait more than five minutes.