Walking around the streets of Rome, Florence, and Venice late at night - safety for solo travelers, particularly women
 

I know this is a very subjective question and there aren't any guarantees. By "late", I mean 10 PM to midnight. It will be in December and January, so it will be very dark. I have walked around many other cities late at night, so I'm not scared of the concept generally.

If you are walking around late at night in any of these three cities, what areas would you avoid? What areas are likely to be lively and well-populated?

I wouldn't walk around the train station in Florence or Rome by myself night and just use your gut feelings when in Venice.

Last time I was in Rome by myself I got a little spooked walking in some of the dark alleys/streets by myself but nothing happened other than being approached by some drunken Americans.

Piazza Navona and the larger streets are well lit, but still use caution like you would in any large city.

Have fun!

In Florence, I'd avoid the train station area. Anything near the Duomo, the Piazza Signoria, and the Ponte Vecchio was very lively and populated, and the Oltrarno area near Ponte alle Grazie was fine, though not "lively and populated."

In Venice, I'd avoid the San Polo area, which looked very dark and deserted when I made the mistake of crossing the bridge to look at it for jut a few minutes, a lot earlier than 10. San Marco and Castello areas looked busy and safe, and from the way they looked in the daytime, I'd guess that Cannareggio and Dorsoduro would be fine, but I can't really say, since I spent only daylight hours in those two neighborhoods in my relatively short most recent trip.

In Florence this summer I stayed only about a block from the train station and walked home as late as 11pm without feeling at all worried. There is a piazza in front of Santa Maria Novella (a block in the other direction from the train station) that I had heard was a "bad" area and it looked pretty scuzzy even during the day time so I never went near there at night, but in general the area near the train station is well lit and has quite a few hotels, it was always quite crowded even late at night so I wouldn't avoid it if you have reason to go there. Definitly not the same kind of neighborhood as some train stations in other cities.

I don't know how much difference the weather in winter will make but in July I was not afraid anywhere I went in Florence. Of course I mostly stayed in the major touristy areas after dark.

In Venice I would be more afraid of getting lost in the dark than of any other type of danger. After dark I stuck to the main touristy areas but there were also plenty of people out and about there, at least in summer.

I think Venice is generally considered very safe but I remember walking through some passageways at night with my DH and thinking I would not have liked to be alone just because it was so deserted. As a NYer you're sort of programmed to feel safe around people.

I had no problems in any of the mentioned cities .
I found all of Venice very quiet after 11 pm.
Rome, on the other hand never gets quiet :)

I felt safe in Venice, although it is easy to get lost and at night it seems everything begins to look the same and I did wonder if I would ever find my way back to my hotel. I did have a problem in San Marcos with a man who kept wanting to buy me a beer, despite turning him down firmly. I didn't feel I should return to my hotel (and have him know where I was staying), and I ended up walking up to a trio of women tourists and asking them if I could walk with them until this guy went away. The "glare factor" turned out to be more than he could handle and he left. This was my only not so good experience and this could have happened to me right here in the U.S.

In Florence I was one block up from the train station and the area was more lit up and very busy with people at all hours. I felt safe there in general.

I've been to Rome twice, staying near the Vatican one time and then this last winter we ended up near the British Embassy. Near the Vatican it was much busier and I actually felt fine about going out alone. The second time I was with my boyfriend and although not "scary", the area certainly did seem a little spooky. But I think the damp weather and fewer hours of daylight probably contributed to that factor.

Overall, I would say as long as you stick to the more populated pedestrian streets at night and use your intuition you should be fine.

Hi Will,

We stayed about 3 blks from the train station in Florence and walked to the B&B at night many times from the train.

The immediate area of the station is well guarded and most of the streets around it are lighted. We found no cause for concern at night.

In Venice, we stayed for a week in San Polo and wandered around at night. No trouble at all anywhere in the city.

Maybe there was a pickpocket/beggar/lowlife convention when I was at the train station in Florence, because the square in front of it looked pretty iffy to me.

Hi SU,

Yes, there are scruffy people hanging out there, but it is well-patrolled by both uniformed and plainclothes police.

We saw several of them descend on a couple of rambunctious drinks who had started a fight. They were maced, knocked down, handcuffed and carted away before most people knew that there had been a fight.

We saw it only because it happened in front of us as we were waiting for a light to change.