Practical information for visiting Florence

Italian mobile coverage from the four national operators (TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and Iliad) is reliable across Florence's historic centre and the surrounding urban area. A visitor from elsewhere in the EU can use their home data allowance under EU roaming rules; visitors from outside the EU will usually find a local prepaid SIM cheaper than roaming, and the operators keep shops around Santa Maria Novella station.

Public wi-fi is available in parts of the centre, and most cafes, hotels and museums provide their own. The practical constraint is not coverage but the buildings: thick stone walls in the older palazzi and the museum interiors cut signal noticeably, which matters if a timed museum booking lives on your phone. Download the ticket rather than relying on loading it at the door.

The Comune runs a tourist contact centre on +39 055 000, with an email address at touristinfo@comune.fi.it, which is the official channel rather than any third-party service.

Florence is a safe city by most measures, and the risks a visitor actually meets are petty, predictable and largely preventable.

• Pickpocketing is the main issue, concentrated exactly where the crowd is: the cathedral square, the queue lines at the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, the San Lorenzo market streets, and buses to and from Santa Maria Novella station. The density that makes the centre pleasant to walk is the same density that makes a bag easy to open.
• Unlicensed sellers operate around the main squares and bridges. Buying from them is both a poor deal and, for some goods, an offence for the buyer under Italian law.
• Driving into the restricted-traffic zone is the most expensive mistake most visitors make here, and it is invisible at the time — the cameras issue the penalty and it arrives by post. The Comune publishes a ZTL information line on +39 055 40401, and a removed-vehicles line on +39 055 422 4142.
• Summer heat in a river basin that holds it is a genuine risk in July and August rather than a discomfort, particularly in the middle of the day on unshaded stone.

The municipal police can be reached on +39 055 328 3333, and the city keeps a lost-and-found office on +39 055 334 802.

Florence has good healthcare access, with major public hospitals serving the city and its metropolitan area. Visitors from the EU carrying a valid EHIC or GHIC card can use public healthcare on the same terms as Italian residents; visitors from elsewhere should carry travel health insurance, because treatment is billed directly.

Pharmacies are plentiful in the centre and display a green cross; the Comune publishes a list of those open 24 hours, which is the reliable source rather than guessing from a shop front. For anything urgent, 112 reaches medical services.

Two practical points specific to Florence. The tap water is “public, safe, and perfectly drinkable” according to the city's own campaign, and the public fontanelli give out free still or sparkling water — so there is no health reason to buy bottled water here. And the summer heat in the basin is the city's real seasonal health issue: the stone holds it, the centre offers little shade, and the middle of a July afternoon is genuinely punishing for anyone walking a museum circuit.

Emergency number: 112, free from any phone. The Comune lists it for health emergencies and for the Carabinieri, and it routes to the right service.

Police: 113. Fire brigade: 115. Financial Guard (Guardia di Finanza): 117.

Municipal police (Polizia Municipale): +39 055 328 3333.

Tourist contact centre: +39 055 000, or touristinfo@comune.fi.it — the Comune's own channel for visitors.

Lost and found: +39 055 334 802.

Towed vehicles: +39 055 422 4142. ZTL information: +39 055 40401.

All of the above are published by the Comune di Firenze on its official visitor portal; the two vehicle lines are worth noting precisely because driving into the restricted zone is the mistake visitors make most often here.