what kind of handicapped parking rules do they have in italy we have a handicap tag for our car that we hang on the rear view mirror here in ny
and is there handicapped parking too
does this exist in rome and florence and does anyone know the rules

Hi Sydney,

We have had a discussion before in this thread. We also have a SlowTrav page on disabled travel.

The board thread is from 2002. If anyone has more recent information, please join in.

I, too, will be traveling with my 80 year old grandmother in March. I followed all of the links associated with the previous threads, but still wondered if anyone has any additional and/or updated information.

Specifically, Diva mentioned golf cart rentals in Florence. Diva, (if you see this) do you know of a place to rent them? I've googled and can't come up with anything.

We will be staying in Siena, so Cristina, have you heard of that sort of rental in Siena?

This is a wonderful message board and resource. I'm glad I de-lurked and finally chimed in..

Welcome, Melissa!

There is a place on via Ponte Sospeso in Florence that rents golf cart-type things. I'll look for the phone number later today when I go by it.

Maureen

This post has pricked my conscience because I have been meaning to write up a trip report (my first ever!) about our trip to Italy with my 91 year old father. I will now apply my mind to doing it, but in the meantime I am really interested in this golf cart idea, because despite searching high and low I was unable to find anywhere in Italy (well convenient to us at least) that would rent scooters or electric wheelchairs and I would not take my dear old Pa there again without something like that.

I can't help on the handicapped parking rules, though. We did take my father's disabled driver notice with us , but never used it. It would probably be worth trying, but I suspect its usefulness would depend on the kindness of the traffic warden.

Beebee

Unfortunately I have never seen golf carts in Siena. Would be a great idea as Siena is not a good city for handicapped persons.

For the handicapped card in cars, remember that you should take it to the local vigile and have them give you a legal one as ones not from here are not valid here and I have seen them get tickets.

Moving to Italy and Driving in Italy

I agree with you Beebee that it is impossible to find companies that rent the electric scooters and wheelchairs. It sounds like a great business to start!!

Cristina, can you give me some idea where the vigile's office is in Siena and what the lines there are usually like? In other words, is it worth it?!! I'll be staying at Le Meridiane up on via Fracassi.

Hi Melissa. The vigile's office is between the church of San Domenico and the Jolly Hotel. That being said, having the handicapped placard will not give you access to drive into Siena (the walled city), just give you better parking outside of the city so I don't know how much help it will be. The parking is still a couple of blocks from the walled city, maybe a few meters closer for handicapped. I wouldn't waste my time. You can get cabs to take you throughout the city (they are allowed) by just going to Piazza della Posta (where McDonald's is) and grabbing one. HTH

Moving to Italy and Driving in Italy

Cristina, I was wondering whether there are taxi companies in Siena that can be called (and have English-speaking dispatchers for non-Italian-speakers). If that is the case, it might be worth buying a cell phone just for the trip in order to summon a taxi whenever walking becomes a problem. In the whole scheme of a trip, the expense would not be great, unless you say differently, and a lot easier than dealing with the parking issues.

Beebee, don't know if a product like this would be of any interest to you:

http://www.adaptivemall.com/ezridbycon1.html

We have been toying with the idea of bringing something like it with us on a trip to Hungary that we're planning to undertake with my mother. A problem of which she has warned us, however, is that many of the places we'll be visiting have cobbled streets and numerous steps. I suspect this would be a challenge in many places in Italy too.

Carol, Radio Taxi 0577-49222 has English speakers so there isn't a problem. The are the Taxi company for Siena. Also, above I wrote Piazza della Posta. It should be Piazza Matteotti but I always forget it has a real name not the name the people of Siena use

Moving to Italy and Driving in Italy

quote:

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Beebee, don't know if a product like this would be of any interest to you:

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Judy, I'm not sure that product would be of any use as it is only designed to carry children.

Certainly you need something that is reasonably stable to negotiate the cobblestones, but the biggest problem we had was with no, or few, wheelchair access points in the sidewalks and going up steep hills without a motor to help push.

Beebee

Here is a website for Sologiallo, which rents golfcarts in Florence.

Maureen