Driving to/from Florence
 

We have a trip planned at the end of March, visiting Florence and some nearby towns. It's unclear to me if we need an international driving permit or not. We have drivers licenses from the U.S.

Also, I've read how difficult it is to drive in and out of the city. We plan to do that on 2 or 3 occasions, just to drive into the city to find a parking lot and park the car for the day. Is this truly an impossible feat?

Italian law requires you to carry an IDP.

"just to drive into the city to find a parking lot and park for the day..." Really bad idea unless you are very observant, read Italian, and know exactly where the ZTLs are and how to avoid them.

I haven't been to Firenze recently, but I would also imagine parking a car all day could cost a small fortune.

www.travelernick.com/2018/01/driving-in-italy/

That link describes a few things for you. It includes a photo of a ZTL sign.

mobilita.comune.fi.it/export/sites/mobilita/materiali/muoversi/All_A_-_Plainimetria_ZTL_Notturna_2017.pdf

That link is a map of the ZTLs. It's in Italian but hopefully understandable. It might be possible to find a parking lot north or south of the ZTLs but it would be easier to take the train in.

As pointed out, Italian law requires you to have the IDP whether your rental company asks for it or not.

>>> We plan to do that on 2 or 3 occasions, just to drive into the city to find a parking lot and park the car for the day. Is this truly an impossible feat?<<<

This isn't clear. Are you saying you are staying somewhere outside of Florence and want to drive there and spend the day (perhaps more than once)?

No, you can't drive into the city without getting a ticket unless you manage to keep yourself outside of the ZTL. If you are staying at a hotel in the ZTL, you still can't drive in and out for sightseeing. While some hotels (certainly not all) have arrangements for sending your license plate to the police for you to drop off or pick up luggage, you then have to find parking in a garage outside ZTL (40-50€ per day). You do not get in and out privileges for sightseeing in the hotel arrangements.

Whether you will have issues with the other cities you plan to visit, it's likely because many cities in Italy (and even small hill towns) have ZTL. What other cities were you planning to see?

Besides the ZTL issue, there are also traffic lanes in/around Florence that are restricted to certain vehicles, and these are located both inside and outside the ZTL boundaries. All of these things to worry about, plus the cost of parking, make driving into Florence for the day more than daunting.

This website discusses the problems, although you'll find a better ZTL map at the other links provided upthread.

https://www.visitflorence.com/touris...-ztl-zone.html

But it is possible to visit Florence for a day. Tell us where you're coming from, and we can probably help you develop a plan.

Thank you for the replies.

We have rented a house in Greve in Chianti. We fly into Florence and will rent a car to drive to our rental place. We'd like to use the car to visit Siena, and other towns (still up in the air). We also have plans to drive to Florence for at least one day, which is why I was looking into driving and parking options there. We would not attempt to drive in the city, we were looking at parking near the main train station. On a different day, some members of our group are planning to drive to Florence and catch the train to Rome. Everything is up in the air but that is why we are looking into it all. I don't think there is a train station Greve, but we are also looking at the bus.

"We would not attempt to drive in the city, we were looking at parking near the main train station."

Like all main train stations in Europe, the main train station is "in the city." Do yourselves a favor and take the bus.

There is a SITA bus from Greve to Florence. It takes an hour and will deposit you at the bus station in Firenze, 100 yards from the train station.

The main Florence train station is in the ZTL if I'm reading the map right. No real reason to aim for that area. Park well outside the ZTL and you won't accidentally end up in it. piazzale michelangelo I think is outside the zone. Don't trust my memory check!

There is reasonable parking at Parcheggio Oltarno, just inside the walls, entrance at Porta Romana. Prices etc Firenze Parcheggi S.p.a. ? Firenze Parcheggi S.p.a. it is a wee walk to the station, but perfectly pleasant for all that. Like others I'd try to take the bus, the idea is to keep the world heritage sites from not look like a parking "lot" and in a narrow valley with an ancient city it is virtually impossible to stick a spade in the soil without coming up with a treasure. Florence has been trying to build an underground train system for years and keeps failing.

No, there is no train station in Greve. It has some bus service, but most bus schedules are geared for work or school commuters. There may be no Sunday service or it's limited.

>>>On a different day, some members of our group are planning to drive to Florence and catch the train to Rome<<<

That's going to be a very long day. By the time they drive to Florence and find parking they will probably have used an hour and it's 1 1/2 hours train ride (fast train). Another fifteen minutes or more to taxi to the historic area or what they intend to see. You are talking at least 3 hours travel each direction.

>>>We fly into Florence and will rent a car<<<

The airport is outside ZTL so pick up shouldn't be a problem. As for parking for the day in Florence, the tourism website has info about the ZTL and parking links. Do not expect to see an electronic sign like the one in the pic at every ZTL entrance. You will likely only see the ZTL circle sign (but there will still be cameras to snap a pic of your license plate).

By car - Firenze Turismo

For Siena, you will find parking options a bit easier. I think you can still park at the stadium and there is underground parking at the mall across from the train station. The train station is not in the center, but there is a bus (also in the underground parking lot) to the historic center (you want the bus to Piazza Gramsci). While there are also a series of elevators from that mall up to Siena, they drop you in a more distant part from things you are likely to want to see.

Link below for bus service between Greve and Florence. As you browse the timetables, pay attention to columns for days of service ("Validata") and use Google Translate for other terms used in headers and footnotes.

http://www.acvbus.it/orari/365.pdf [12 pages, starts with southbound from Florence]