Part of planning a trip overseas is figuring our your modes of transportation ahead of time. When we last went to Italy, we planned to bookend our trip in Florence. That is, we’d start there, travel around, and end up there as well. We rented a car for this, but honestly – don’t rent a car in Florence if you don’t have to. It’s a walking city. Walking.
Yes, the people who live in Florence do own cars, but these are mostly those European midget cars that we half expected a hundred clowns to pop out of. These Smart cars (ForTwos) are usually stick shift to boot. Bicycles and mopeds can be rented – from casual observation, I’d guess that Italians on said mopeds don’t typically bother with right-of-way and other traffic laws in Florence. The entire city is a Traffic Limited Zone, too. This means that cars go in only to pick up or drop off. To make matters more complicated for a tourist trying to navigate the tricky streets of Florence, the streets are one-way and as crowded as Times Square during peak travel seasons. It’s easy to accidentally muck things up and have a bunch of angry Florentines giving you gestures that need no translation.
Taxicabs in Florence, Italy
The thing you need to know is, taxicabs don’t respond to hails: The Traffic Limited Zone doesn’t allow this. After a day of walking, standing on line (you think the Uffizi is easy to get into?) and walking again, tourists in Florence may really want to just hop in a cab to get back to their hotels. Taxis do wait for customers in a few parts of the city – these are big, historically interesting piazzas that you’ll get to know if you spend more than a weekend in Florence. Try the Piazza Santa Trinita, Piazza della Republica (there’s a gorgeous carousel here), the Piazza San Marco or the Piazza del Duomo, as there may be a few idling taxicabs there. If you are truly exhausted from all that great Italian shopping, dining, and museum-hopping and simply “can’t take another step,” you can call for a cab. Try 055 4798, 055 4242, or 055 4390 for a taxi, and remember to know the name of the street where you need to be picked up!
Bikes, Mopeds and Scooters in Florence, Italy
We foolishly “hit” both the Accademia and the Uffizi in the same day. If you make this mistake (that’s a lot of art to take in at once), you’ll be tired too. A day of sightseeing and other activities in Florence can leave even the most intrepid traveler pooped, but the cabs are pretty expensive. If you really don’t want to walk, but are staying within Florence proper, your choices beyond taxis are limited.
Alinari Scooter Rental, on Via Guelfa 85rm rents – well, scooters, obviously. Call 055 280-500 if you’re already a good rider; your vacation in an Italian city with narrow medieval streets is not the time to learn!
Florence by Bike on Via San Zanobi, 91r, rents bicycles and scooters. Florence by Bike offers bike tours along with rentals.
Massimo, on Via Cairoli 8, rents mopeds. A lot of those Florence streets are still cobblestone, rather than paved, so it might be easier on a tourist to go by moped rather than bicycle. Call 055 2654207.
And that’s it! We saw a few electric cars that looked like rentals tooting around Florence – and in this city a Prius looks like a hulking behemoth, comparatively – but I don’t know where they came from. If anyone knows where an electric car rental place is in Florence Italy, please tell me. It’s ridiculously hard to drive within the city of Florence, but it’s still good to know these things!
