I will be in Florence for 3 nights and will be keeping a car there (the rental rate is cheaper to keep the car for a week as opposed to 3 or 4 days and we plan to make one day trip from Florence where we will need the car). We would be parking the car from Fri evening, 8/19 through Monday, 8/22 at noon. We only plan to take the car out for a day trip on Sunday. Our hotel charges 38 Euro per day to park the car. Does anyone know of any cheaper alternatives? Thanks!

Does anyone have any recommendations? I am having a hard time finding reliable information online and would rather not get stuck paying $50+ per day. Thanks so much.

No recommendations other than be careful about driving through illegal zones. I have read several reports of large fines being imposed on tourists many months after the violations had occurred.

This may help you:

http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...-florence.html

Go to Trip Advisor Florence forum where there are details re driving in Florence. It is almost impossible without being fined and parking is not cheap if you can get it.

Hi aa,

If you enter "parking Florence, Italy" at www.maps.google.com you will get a good selection.

Read http://tinyurl.com/3bc2ax and beware of the Z.T.L. The parking fee will be a bargain compared to the fine for driving in the city.

If your hotel is in the center they will have to give you a special lodging permission so you can legally drive the car into the center-otherwise you will be hit by huge fines. And you will need to park in their garage.

If your hotel is in the outskirts you should have a choice of garages - but I wouldn;t expect to find anything significantly cheaper. (Parking overnigt in central Manhattan is also about $40 per night.)

Here's a list of parking lots. Some are in the ZTL zone.
http://www.firenzeparcheggi.it/index.php?id=2

This is the parking map for Florence.
http://www.firenzeparcheggi.it/index.php?id=2

Even if your hotel is in the center, I believe you hotel can only authorize permission to cross the ZTL to drop off and pick up your luggage on arrival/departure days, not for random day trips.

Thanks for all the advice. I am happy to park the car away from the center of the city, because although I will be in Florence from Fri evening until Mon afternoon, I only plan to take the car out on Sunday - it can sit in a lot the rest of the time. I saw that several parking lots are open 24 hours and charge an 18 Euro "daily rate." Does anyone know if that daily rate is for a full 24 hours? Thanks again.