Florence ZTL question

[Leehop]

Hello,

In October we are staying in an apartment directly across from Pitti Palace.
We will staying 3 days after driving in from Rome. After our stay in Florence, we drive out again for Cinque Terra. Parma, etc., leaving Italy from Milan.

My thoughts are, after hearing so many horror stories about the ZTLs,
we would drive straight to the Hertz closest to PP and taxi/Uber to our apt.
Upon leaving, do the same in reverse.There are 5 of us so we will prob split up but I avoid the ZTL headache. Is this advisable or are the ZTLs not that difficult?
I’ve driven in quite a few foreign countries. We will be in a mini-van.

Thanks

[Lourdes]

By driving to the Hertz, do you mean dropping off the rental completely and then picking up a new rental on departure?

Because if you really don't need the car while in Florence, you could do that - save on the rental and the parking fees. But minivans are hard to rent, particularly automatic ones, so you might also consider keeping it.

If instead you want to do day trips into Chianti, for example, then I suggest finding a parking garage and keeping the car (maybe that's what you meant, as there is a parking garage right next to the Hertz place on via di Sansovino).
You could find another parking garage closer to your apartment -- if the garage is in the ZTL area, they take care of putting your car's license into the white list EVERY TIME you return to them and thus enter the ZTL area (which you'd do if you do day trips).

What you absolutely must not do EVER is drive up to your apartment in Piazza Pitti because this particular street is regulated in such a special way that only residents and cars with a special permit can actually enter that street. This part of the ZTL is never turned off even at night or weekends, so definitely do not drive in front of Palazzo Pitti (cameras 26 and 27 on the map on this page - which I suggest you read https://www.visitflorence.com/touris...-ztl-zone.html ).