Florence-Vespucci is a tiny Airport: it’s located on the north-west outskirts of Florence, just 4 km from the city center. Taxi run is about 15 minutes; Shuttle bus run to city center is about 20 minutes with the Busitalia SITA Nord “Vola in Bus” bus shuttle, which operates between the airport and the central railway station of Santa Maria Novella, but the most convenient way is by city rail, or “tramvia” leaving nearby the airport and heading to Santa Maria Novella train station in city center. Florence Airport is connected to some of Europe’s major airports such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Geneva, London Gatwick, Madrid, Munich, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Vienna. The numbers for calling a taxi are: 055.4242 / 055.4390 / 055.4798 / 055.4499. Florence Vespucci Airport to City centre: set fare of € 22.00 (plus baggage supplements + extra fee for night or holiday travel).
Pisa Airport Galileo-Galilei is the closest medium-size international airport, with connections to the US. Pisa is about 90 km from Florence, which can then be reached with a coach transfer services managed by Terravision, connecting Pisa International Airport to Florence S.M. Novella station. Florence can be also reached by train, the journey will take less than an hour. You need to get get to Pisa Central Train Station from Galilei Airport by PisaMover Bus Service that has a timetable departure of every 10 minutes and operates every day from 6.00 a.m. to 24.00. p.m., including Sunday and Bank holidays. It has a journey time of just 8 minutes. PisaMover Bus service stop is just in front of the Departure Terminal Check-in A. At Pisa Central Station, the stop is located close to platform 14, from which you can easily reach the other platforms and station’s main entrance.
Pisa and Firenze SMN railway stations are connected by several trains a day. For tickets informations click here.
If your arrival airport is either Rome or Milan you can reach Rome or Milan central station and choose one of the possible high speed trains to Florence SMN train station as detailed below.
The big hubs are Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino. In both cases you need to get a local train from the airport to the main High-Speed Train station and then the High-Speed train to Florence.
Suggestions are:
Malpensa Aeroporto --> Milano Centrale --> Firenze Santa Maria Novella (S.M. Novella) about 3h30m
Fiumicino Aeroporto --> Roma Termini --> Firenze Santa Maria Novella (S.M. Novella) about 2h30m
If you travel by train, purchase your tickets in advance since high-speed trains require seat reservation. There are two main companies with high speed trains to Florence from Italy and Europe's main cities. You can look for schedules and reserve tickets on their sites:
Thanks to the fast train networking, you can easily reach all the other Italian destinations. Conference delegates can get to:
Florence is half-way on the A1/ E35 highway connecting Milan to Rome. Renting a car for the whole duration of the conference could not be the best idea, Florence is not a car-friendly city and not every hotel provide parking places. The parking lot nearby the Fortezza da Basso is Stazione Fortezza Fiera (underground) which costs €1.60/hour or €20/day
Driving from Malpensa Airport to Florence takes about 4h. This will let you admire the Padana plain, heart of the Industrial and agricultural northern Italy up to Bologna and then, from Bologna to Florence, cross the Appennini mountain ridge. If you plan to take your time, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna are all along the highway and worth seeing.
Driving from Fiumicino Airport to Florence takes about 3h30m. This path mostly winds through rolling hills known for their vineyards. If you plan to take your time Orvieto, about midway, is a must see. Built on the top of a turf cliff you can park at the train station and get a cable railway up to the top.
If you’re staying near the center, you don’t need a car to move around, it is small enough to move around completely by foot or, at the most, on the small electric buses run by Autolinee Toscane.
Parking Areas: To find the car parking lot that is most convenient and suitable for your needs, look here for a useful map of parking lots in Florence. If you have a physical disability, all car parks in Florence have some dedicated parking spaces. These are marked with yellow lines and special signs. Parking is free of charge in these parking spots. If you don’t find one available, you can also park for free in others spaces subject to payment (blue lines). In both cases, you need to have your permit with the disabled symbol displayed in your vehicle.
Florence is a walking city! 75% of hotels are within walking distance from the Congress Citadel. There are 200+ properties located in the Historical City Centre.