Maps of Florence

The electric mini-buses that run in the city center had a radical change this year (2010) when more of the center was closed to traffic. The below map shows the updated routes: C1, C2, C3 & D (don't ask for the logic on that - "C" must mean center now... but why the bus on the other side is "D" and not "O", or why they didn't keep A, B, etc... who knows!).

You can also see the Tramvia Line 1 on this map.

The buses run Monday to Saturday, from 7 AM until 9 PM, every ten minutes, and 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM on holidays. I guess they don't run on Sundays - which I had not noticed before.

An annotated map with photos and locations of the churches, cathedrals, basilicas and monasteries of Florence, Italy.

The Department of Tourism in Florence has a new bus and road map out to help people get in and out of Florence and the surrounding areas. Of course you have to get one at the tourist office, which sort of makes it a Catch-22 situation. Anyway - it has a ton of good info on it, like this little map below showing the locations of the bus stations near the train station:

And here are some important links for rail and bus transportation into and out of Florence and the surrounding area:

Trenitalia: http://www.trenitalia.com

Ataf: http://www.ataf.net

Sita: http://www.sitabus.it (Arezzo, San Gimignano, Siena, Volterra, The Mall)

Cap: http://www.capautolinee.it (Prato, I Gigli)

Lazzi: http://www.lazzi.it (Arezzo, Lucca, Montecatini Terme, Prato, Viareggio)

Piubus: http://www.piubus.it

Autolinee Toscane: http://www.autolineetoscane.it

Here is a map from Google showing roughly the same area:

View Larger Map

Inside the old city walls of Florence (well, what used to be the walls and is now the viale or large avenue circling the city), driving is limited to registered vehicles (city residents) except for a small area around the train station (Santa Maria Novella). Florentines call this the ZTL, or "Zona Traffico Limitato". It is important to know this to avoid receiving HUGE traffic tickets by driving your car into the center of Florence. On the map below (click it for a larger version), you can see the ZTL entry points (red and blue "T"s) and the various zones by letter (which correspond to where residents can park). You can drive into the center with a rental car if you are staying at a hotel, but the hotel must let the traffic police know your license plates, etc. And if you do drive in, make sure to use one of the blue "T" spots, not the red - even with a residents permit to enter, you can't enter at the red "T" signs (I now know - it was an expensive lesson).

So remember - if you are just coming to Florence as stop on a day trip, or you are staying at a self catering apartment (i.e. not a hotel), you can not legally drive into (most of) the center, although personally we have heard stories of people doing so and not getting tickets, if you do the fines are steep and they are getting better and better at finding you and making sure you pay. In any case, this is something to be aware of and be careful of! Study the map closely and you will see there are a few ins and outs (Sundays are open, as are nights from 7:30 PM to 7:30 AM, but not in the summer, etc.). Lastly, the light blue shaded streets are "zona pedonale" or pedestrian zones, and you shouldn't be driving on them at all!

This is a scan of a tourist map of Florence from what appears to be a turn of the century guide book. It may be from a Baedeker's guide.

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Download: KML RSS | This map was created with MapMe.com

One of the easiest to use maps of Florence we have found is the one at Florence Journal. They use the Google Map API to show the map, with a search box below that searches everything in Florence - you can search by subjects, specific names of places, streets, etc. It is a good place to start if you are trying to locate something in Florence.

Here is another useful map of Florence - a satellite view (with street names, etc.) that you can zoom into, pan around and drag.

This is something new and cool - a custom map of Florence that you can search for hotels, museums, etc. Check it out. More like this on the way for other cities and towns.

Here's a link to the TuttoCitta site with a great map if you're looking for a specific address in Italy. Just type in "Firenze" (or another city name) in the "Citta" field, and the address you're looking for in the "indirizzo" field and hit the "CreaMappa" button. You'll get a great, zoom-able map. It's a big help when you're new to a city...
Ellen

Here is a great site - ATAF (Public Transport in Florence) - mainly it is the bus routes in Florence, which include an excellent route page with very detailed maps. There is also news about the system, maps of the airport and train station, and lots of other stuff for the traveler and tourist. This map is the heart of historic Florence

This is a neat map, from Baedeker's Northern Italy Handbook For Travellers by Karl Baedeker, Fourteenth Remodelled Edition 1913. Map courtesy of the  Perry-Castañeda Map Collection at the University of Texas. Here is a link to the full size map.

Google maps is really cool. Here is an example of what you can see. That is Piazza Santa Croce in the middle of the image (the light colored rectangle) - we will be staying on the south side. You can see the white marble of the top of the facade of the church to the right of the piazza. If you go to Google maps, click on the link that says "Satellite" on the right hand side, then put "Florence, Italy" in the search box.

Here is an annotated selection of maps found on the web:

• Bus Route Maps of Florence. Great PDF maps of Florence (best format for printing), with a lot of details, street names, and bus routes. Some of the best maps we have found yet. Here is a map of the city center.
• Here are maps of Florence, and surrounding towns that are zoomable. This is from the official tourism site, APT.
• Excellent, high resolution PDF map of Florence, perfect for printing. Large download - almost 2 megabytes. This map may be copyrighted material.
• Map of Florence by Florence by Net - very nice large single page map, well marked, with street names and places of interest.
• Florence map by Studentsville.it - most likely the best overall map of Florence on the Web. Large, color coded map which you can view on-line by section, or download as a PDF. Good markings, street names, etc.
• Map of Florence circa 1913 from a Baedeker's Northern Italy Handbook For Travellers, Fourteenth Remodelled Edition.
• Maps by district showing most hotel locations in Florence from FlorenceBy.com
• Florence map by Lonely Planet - not very useful, small, with only the major attractions noted.
• Florence maps by Mega.it - page with links to several maps. Maps are not oriented north to south which makes them difficult to read. Not a lot of markings, but the detail maps do have street names.
• Old Maps of Florence - page with some interesting if not exactly useful maps of Florence over the centuries.

This page is continually updated - last update made on September 12, 2005