Parking in Florence: Which base to choose?

Hi there, This is my first time traveling to Italy, and I’m planning to go by car. From what I’ve read, parking is tough in cities like Florence. I’m looking for a small town not too far from Florence where I can stay and park my car, then take the train to visit Florence. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance

Hello, This is my first time traveling to Italy, and I’m planning to go by car. From what I’ve read, parking is difficult in cities like Florence. I’m looking for a small town not too far from Florence where I could stay and park my car to take the train to visit Florence. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance

Hi,

I had no trouble parking in Florence (April vacation), even with a 9-person van. From what I remember, it was in a public (paid) parking lot, next to a market and a 10-minute walk from the Duomo 😉

Hi there,

You might want to check out Scandicci, for example—try to get as close as possible to the tram that goes into the city.

Make sure to look up ZTL zones in Italy. In Italy, blue parking lines = paid zone; white lines are free, but always check the signs on-site...

Hi there,

Parking in Italy isn’t easy because of the ZTLs (ZTL zones). It’s not very clear if you haven’t looked into it beforehand, and the risk of getting fined for accidentally driving into one of these zones is high...

When visiting Tuscany, I chose to stay in the Chianti region, right in the middle of nowhere. We drove to Florence and left the car in a parking lot near the ring road. From there, we easily reached the city center by public transport.

You can read the full travel journal here.

Thanks so much for your reply and the details about your trip.