Come to Italy with your Bicycle

Generally speaking, it's a good idea to bring your bicycle, instead to rent one in Florence. Your bicycle can travel with by train and by air. An interesting Internet site is dedicated to travel WITH the bicycle.

By rail, by air, by car

It is possible, in Italy, to carry your bicycle on trains without any bag. Altough it is almast possible only on local trains. You can load your bike on Intercity and Eurocity class train using a special bag. Bicycles are not allowed on Eurostar Italia class trains. In any case, give a look to my Train+Bicycle page.

Your airplane will land at Firenze Peretola airport. It is really close to the city (well... too close): un can just bike to downtown in 20-30 minutes.

To come at Florence by car is easy. Parking is very difficoult. The center of the city is a ZTL (Zona a Traffico Limitato, restricted trafic zone): only residents are allowed. Zones near the city center are ZCS (Zona a Controllo della Sosta, resticted parking zone): only residents can park for free, yoiu have to pay from 8:00 to 20:00, from Monday to Saturday. Every road is washed once a week, you cannot park the night the road is washed. At every corner a sign says which day of the week parking is forbidden.

Where can I leave the bag my bicycle travelled in?

The only luggage depot available is the one at the central railway station Firenze Santa Maria Novella. If you want to leave more than one empty bag, the best option is to put the bags one inside the other, since you pay a fee for each bag ("collo" in Italian) for each day.

If you arrive by train, no problem. If you arrive bu air, you have the problem to reach the railway station. If you can carry the bags by bicycle, for a few chilometres, I suggest you to go by bike. Otherwise you can get the Sita buses. Sita operates a service from the Airport to the railway station with long distance buses, having enough space for large luggages. Another service is opereted by ATAF with normal city buses, but no room for your bags...