Florence eSIM
In Florence you connect to Vodafone or TIM, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 88 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Vodafone and TIM
- Typical speed in Italy
- 88 Mbps typical, 24 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Florence
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $5.89 | $5.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $2.63 | $7.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $1.98 | $9.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $1.49 | $14.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.19 | $23.89 | |
| 50 GB | Never expires | $0.94 | $46.89 |
How Italy compares across Europe
- Regional typical speed
- 71 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Vodafone, TIM
- 5G
- Yes, non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Denmark, 88 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Liechtenstein, 88 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 5: Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Naples
Landing at Florence Airport, Amerigo Vespucci (FLR)
- Airport
- FLR / LIRQ
- Distance
- 4 km from the centre of Florence
- Wifi on arrival
- Free wifi in the terminalThe airport service charter states wi-fi is free for 12 hours and available throughout the passenger terminal. Passengers set their device to search for wi-fi networks and connect to the network named Airport-Free-Wifi.
- SIM on arrival
- SIM counters or vending in the terminalThe ForeExchange office at the ground floor entrance to the departures terminal, open daily 05:00 to 21:00, sells telephony services including SIM cards alongside currency exchange and VAT refunds.
Getting into Florence
- Tramvia line T2 to Santa Maria Novella station (FLR), about 22 minutes
- Bus to Florence central railway station (FLR)
- Taxi from the rank in front of the terminal to Florence city centre (FLR), about 15 minutes
- PisaMover people mover to Pisa Centrale, for onward trains to Florence (PSA), about 3 minutes
Worth knowing about Florence
- Florence has no metro; the airport link is tram line T2, which opened on 11 February 2019 and runs on the surface for its whole 7.8 km, 21-stop route.
- Florence Airport sits only about 4 km northwest of the city centre, one of the shortest airport-to-centre distances of any Italian city.
- The T2 tram terminates at the airport and runs to Santa Maria Novella railway station in about 22 minutes end to end.
- The city network FirenzeWiFi requires no registration. You join the network, open a browser, and tap the green button marked Naviga Libero, Free Internet. The Comune states it asks for no credentials or authentication details of any kind.
- FirenzeWiFi gives free internet capped at 1 gigabyte of data traffic per day. Past that cap browsing speed is progressively reduced until the service disconnects. The network runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Florence trams and Tuscan buses take contactless bank cards at the validators. Autolinee Toscane accepts debit, credit and prepaid cards on the Mastercard, Visa and American Express circuits, plus payment enabled smartphones and smartwatches.
- On the tram you tap once as you board. Within the 90 minute validity of the ticket the system recognises the card and does not charge a second fare, but changing to another tram or bus line requires another tap.
- Buying by contactless tap on board carries no surcharge, as Autolinee Toscane states the ticket price does not change. Tickets are also sold at 35 ticket offices and about 3,000 authorised retailers across Tuscany.
- Every tram stop in Florence has an automatic ticket machine, and card readers are fitted inside the trams. GEST also lists buying and validating tickets by smartphone through the at bus app.
- GEST states the Peretola Aeroporto tram stop is only a two minute walk from airport arrivals and departures, and that line T2 reaches the centre of Florence in 20 minutes.
- Trams run every day from 05:00 to 00:30, and until 02:00 on Friday and Saturday nights. GEST timetables give a peak interval of 4 to 5 minutes between 06:30 and 20:30 on both lines.
- Line T2 now runs between Peretola Aeroporto and San Marco Universita. Line T1 runs between Villa Costanza and Careggi Ospedale, and the two lines share the Alamanni Stazione SMN, Valfonda Stazione SMN and Fortezza stops.
- The whole historic centre is a limited traffic zone with five sectors, A, B, O, F and G. In sectors A, B and O it operates Monday to Friday 07:30 to 20:00 and Saturday 07:30 to 16:00.
- The limited traffic zone is enforced by electronic gates marked with signs that automatically read the number plate of every vehicle passing through, so arriving by car into the centre is monitored rather than barriered.
- Florence Airport has a single runway, 05/23, measuring 1,560 metres. The airport service charter notes it is 4 km from the centre and that the taxi run into the city takes about 15 minutes.
- Many Florence visitors land at Pisa instead. The PisaMover shuttle links Pisa Airport to Pisa Centrale station in under three minutes, running 365 days a year from 06:00 to midnight, and to 01:00 from 1 June to 30 September.
- Florence Airport is also connected to Pisa Airport by Sky Bus Lines Caronna, which the Florence airport service charter lists as departing from the Guidoni stop on tram line T2.
- Separately from the city network, Italy's official tourism site says reaching Piazza Wi-Fi Italia hotspots means downloading and registering on the wifi.italia.it app, which maps the nearest hotspot.