AutoEurope's website sometimes has good information for car rental locations. Go thru the booking process and when you get to where you choose the location, if they don't have a map, then take each address and plug it into www.maporama.com . That is what I do.
They have a location downtown along the river, near the train station, that is pretty close to most things. The location south of the river is supposed to be good for picking up and driving from town.
I went on the AutoEurope site and made a list of the pickup locations, then looked each one up on www.maporama.com . Four of them are in the same area downtown, near the train station.
Two are more on the outskirts. I think the Via del Gelsomino would be easy to get out to Tuscany and you would avoid driving in Florence, but I have not picked up at that location. We picked up at a downtown location and drove out of the city. You are only driving for about 10 minutes in the city and we found our way out easily.
The other location to consider is Via Ponte Sospeso, 19. This is on the western edge, south of the Arno. I think Maureen has picked up from this location and said it is a good location. I will email her and ask.
I was trying to lookup and see which location was which agency (EuropCar, Avis or Hertz), but the EuropCar site was not working. I know the 53 Borgo Ognissanti location is EuropCar because that is where we picked up a car.
For extra confusion, AutoEurope spells the street Borgo Ognissanti wrong.
Here is a link to one previous thread about the Avis office on via Ponte Sospeso. I use this office because it is a 30 second walk from my sister's house. The offices on Borgo Ognisanti are about a 10 minute walk from her house.
The offices on vias Gelsomina and M. Finiguerra are not near the center.
I'd go with whichever company offers the best price (through Auto Europe for me 95% of the time), and not worry about pick up location in Florence. I've picked up near the rail station and it was not hard to get out of town.
I looked up M. Finiguerra on maporama and it was downtown, but you said above that it is not. Am I looking at the wrong street?
Ahhhh, Pauline, you used a map? I used the free association method: "Via M. Finiguerra- movie theater- isn't that where we saw that horrible Momo film, boy that was an awful movie- past Piazza Puccini- nope, not near the center."
You are right- via M. Finiguerra is near the center. And the rental agency is across the street from the Fulgor movie theater.
I just checked a map to make sure my pronouncement about via del Gelsomina is accurate, since my thought about that was "Zia Anna's boyfriend Ugo lived there- did he ever stop the conversation at that Christmas dinner when he described watching his dog kill a cat- what a jerk he was- that's past Porta Romana on the way to Galluzzo, nope, not in the center." At least that one is correct!
If you are an early riser, or are looking to avoid the mid morning exit crowd, the AutoEurope office on Via Borgo Ognissanti opens at 8, including Saturday, and the Via del Gelsomino location does not open until 8:30, including Saturday. Toss in cab fare and it would seem the downtown location could be the best bet for an early bird. Both the street maps in the DK guides and the Streetwise citymaps clearly mark the directions of the one way streets leaving the Via Borgo Ognissanti area. It doesn't look that complicated.
Hope this helps and take lots of pics and notes and share your adventures with us!
Robert & Kerri
Posts: 240 | Location: Alaska | Registered: 25 June 2004
Check the maps you're using to make sure they were printed after 2002. Some streets between the Ponte Vittoria and Ponte alla Carraia, going back from the Arno roughly on a level with the Porta al Prato, changed direction or became one-way or were completely closed to traffic. This was a result of the security for the American consulate, when a section of Lungarno Vespucci was closed to all traffic, and the opening of the new traffic underpass.
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