SuperG1955

We arrive in Florence this Thursday via train at about 7 PM.

Google maps indicates a short walk to our hotel which is located at Via del Giglio, 9 - just off Via Panzani. We would each have a roller board and a carry on bag. We are both in good physical shape and walking with our baggage for the distance would pose no problem.

Since we live in New Orleans most of the year, where we would tell anyone to take a cab from the train station for their safety and we don't know Florence, our question is whether we should walk or take a cab.

TIA for your help.

bdemaria

As an Italian, I would have no problem walking this - nor would I worry about my family walking it. Its a straight shot from the train station and then one left turn. Sunset isn't until at least 8 pm so that makes it even easier. I'd guestimate maybe 10 minutes?

However, the area around the train station/S. Maria Novella is favored by pick pockets/beggars - precisely b/c of the # of tourists getting off the train and wandering around somewhat lost. If you feel like this is going to bother you/make you uncomfortable - then take the cab.

angatol

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steppie

As a grandma in her 70's, have done it alone! Its very safe around the train station, in fact, spent two weeks in Florence and would take trains in the early morning and arriving late at night for several day trips. Enjoy, have fun........and use caution as you would in any tourist place.

ottone

I can only confirm what others have said: the walk is safe (I do it myself many times, as I normally go to a hotel in the same area).
Since you are in the area, make sure you have lunch or dinner at Cipolla Rossa, one of my favourite restaurants in Florence.
Enjoy your vacation.

SuperG1955

Thank you all.

Walk we will. It'll be good to get a little exercise after the flight from JFK-FCO and the train to FLR.

We're used to dealing with street people, beggars, pickpockets, scam artists, etc. since we live in a tourist mecca.

ottone The restaurant seems like a good place to go for dinner after we check in to the hotel. Their menu looks very nice as do the pictures of the dining area,

PWMTrav

That walk is safe.

Second for Cipolla Rossa. We were there in February. The highlight there is the pasta. Their house wine (vino della casa) is serviceable as well, but not as good as some of the other area restaurants.

If you're venturing up that direction during the day, Trattoria Sergio Gozzi near il mercato centrale is excellent. It's a lunch-only place, though. Don't mind the tourists, it's not much of a secret.

SuperG1955

As I mentioned in the Alitalia thread I'm switching here for further responses to your last post over there. Here's our Florence and Tuscany schedule

Our hotel in Florence is the Boscolo Astoria, Via Del Giglio 9.
We arrive early evening 8/21 (21/8) and our thinking is to go to dinner at Cipolla Rossa, which is around the corner from the hotel.

We’re out early on Friday morning (8 AM) for an all day tour of Pisa, Lucca and the Carrara Quarries. We return about 19:30 which will give us time for a casual dinner.

Out early again on Saturday for a tour of the Academia Gallery, and Duomo as part of a walking tour. After lunch/siesta we have a late afternoon tour of the Uffizi Gallery. We’ll do a little more sightseeing and diinner.

Sunday is a free day. Nothing scheduled and so we’re open to recommendations. (We like to leave our last full day someplace or time to see and do things we’ve learned about after arrival.)

Monday morning we pick up a rental car and take a leisurely drive to Montalcino. We’ll likely stop in a hill town (to be decided) and a winery. Otherwise the day is unplanned. Staying at Hotel Dei Capitani.

Tuesday morning we drive to Sienna for a walking tour and then to the countryside again for town(s) and wineries.

Wednesday is unplanned – more towns, wine, and olive oil.

Thursday AM we drive to the coast and then to FCO to head for Sicily and 2 more weeks of sightseeing, ending with 3 days in Rome.

Again, thoughts and recommendations are welcomed.

PWMTrav

Maybe on Sunday, you can walk south of the Arno. Do a quick walk over Ponte Vecchio, bypass the junk shops - err, jewelers - or just do some window shopping. Oltrarno is my favorite part of Florence.

I highly recommend the Museo Zoologica (I think it's called La Specola). It's just ridiculous when you think about it outside of what you're actually looking at. It's a 30 room collection of various species of animal, and it's very... complete. Some are skeletons, some are stuffed, others (like the rhino, thankfully) are plaster. But my understanding is that the Medici family acquired all of this stuff over the years and it's on display, and it'd probably be illegal for a private entity to do it today You'll know what I mean when you go into the primate display, or the room with pretty much every species of parrot I've ever heard of. It's a really cool exhibit. Plan maybe 2 hrs for that.

If it's nice out, walk the Boboli Gardens, grab an early bite to eat, then take a bottle of wine with you up to Piazzale Michelangelo. It's the best view of the city. The best advice I got was to not google it in advance, let it surprise you.

If you want some places to eat and drink there, let me know.

slawecki

that is a very short walk and pretty safe. pickpocketing is a national sport in italy, so be on guard for them. the restaurant is great, and not expensive by florence prices.

PWMTrav

I've really never even come close to getting pickpocketed in Florence. Just need to not look like a target and keep your head up when you walk, just like any other city.

If there's anything awful about Florence it's the hawkers trying to sell you junk. You really can't be polite with them or they'll follow you for longer than you'd like. Same with the people trying to give you a "free" bracelet or book. Raise your voice and be firm. I used to try being polite and learned that they don't go for that, whether it's done in English or Italian.

Funny story - some guy was trying the free bracelet thing on us this past February. He reached out and started to put a bracelet on my 2 year old daughter because I tried being polite, since I'm trying to set an example for my kid. I'm not all that imposing, but I'm not a small guy either, so the guy was completely off guard when my wife flipped her $ as soon as the guy's hand went near my daughter (who I was holding at the time). He wasn't a small guy either, but he ran off cursing and saying I owed him a coffee. Your move, buddy

slawecki

i presume the odds of getting pickpockeded, or accosted even in an active city is somewhere between 50 to 1 or 100 to 1, so a sampling of a single person really does not have much statistal significance.

PWMTrav

You think that somewhere between .9% and just shy of 2% of people get pickpocketed in Florence? I think that's a little high, and my point is still that I don't think the risk is any higher than any other place you'd visit. It's needless fearmongering to warn him that it's a "national sport" when he's visiting an incredibly safe city, even with regard to non-violent, personal crime.

FWIW, the best comprehensive data I could do is 2006:

http://www.interno.gov.it/mininterno...riminalita.pdf

Florence has that range as a combined rate of pickpocketing and muggings per 100,000 residents. That would include crime against residents and transients such as tourists in the numerator, but only residents in the denominator. If it were calculated by opportunity instead of residents, you'd arrive at a more realistic rate. I don't know that we need to get into how we take a permanent population of 370k and calculate opportunity for the tourist numbers, but needless to say, your rate is high unless you assume zero tourism.

Then again, I've lived in the Philly and DC areas for the majority of my life and now live in one of the safest places in the entire US, so it might be a matter of perspective. But it's not Detroit.

slawecki

ttp://www.interno.gov.it/mininterno…riminalita.pdf id a 450 page document. much too long for me to read with my loud italian.

we have been accosted 4 times in italy, and 4 times in france. only one was reported.

i live in the DC area, and our car has been broken into a number of times, but neither of us has ever been pick pocketed, robbed, or shot.

PWMTrav

So your sample size of 1 is significant, but mine is not? Is this confirmation bias? I've never been pickpocketed in Italy or France, no attempts to my knowledge, either, but the data would support that.

I gave you the numbers. There's no need to scare people into thinking they're going to get fleeced the second they walk off the train.