Sunday Parking in Florence - 9 Passenger Van

JBRB

New member
Hello,

We are planning a trip to Florence ahead of a wedding we are attending in Bucine. We are in charge of picking up a 9 passenger van and driving some of the wedding party to Bucine. This is happening on a Sunday. The car rental office closes at 13:00 but we can't leave the city until the rest of the wedding party arrives at 15:00. In some of my searches, it appears that many of the parking garages close early on Sundays, although I am having a hard time confirming this. We we won't know the exact size of the van until we pick it up and I'm concerned about some of the height restrictions mentioned in some of the garages. Some questions I have are:

1) We would likely need to be in walking distance from the SMN station as we will need to store luggage after our checkout at the station, or somewhere within walking distance of where we are staying, which is south of the river and between Ponte Santa Trinita and Ponte Vecchio.
2) What options do we have to park the larger van on Sunday from approximately 9:00 to 15:00? Are there places to park that would be open at 15:00 or later? Is street parking an option for the larger vehicle? How likely would we be to find street parking?
3) We are willing to do some additional travel (bus, tram) if needed to get the vehicle from a parking lot farther away, but if that's the case we would appreciate any recommendations of where a good meeting place would be for us to pick up the rest of our party as we do not want them to have to travel far to get to the van. From what I read the ZTL lanes won't be an issue for us since it is Sunday.
4) The airport car rental pick up location is open later and an option we are considering, but we would still have to come into the city to pick up the rest of the group and would still be in need of a place to park while we wait for them, although we could stay with the vehicle at that point until they arrived.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
 
If you haven't booked the van yet and are considering the airport, I highly recommend it as a valid possibility to consider because the T2 tram line opened this past February and it connects SMN train station to the airport.
This make it a good place to pick up the van maybe later in the day, and it is also easy for everyone in your group to get there --- not necessarily to the airport itself, but the stop before the airport stops at a parking lot designed for commuters in to Florence and where you could park the van, if you pick it up earlier in the day.

Otherwise consider the parking lot on via del Sansovino. It is reachable by tram line T1 and outside the ZTL area, which even if open on Sundays, it is full of one way streets --- even I try to avoid driving in downtown!

If you need to store luggage during the day, check out these lockers between the SMN train station and the car rental places on Borgo Ognissanti (the via dell'albero location): https://www.visitflorence.com/tourist-services/stow-your-bags.html

Let me know if I missed answering some questions or you have any other doubts.
 
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