Bike and Moped Travel

Brave souls (cycling in Florence is difficult at best) may rent bicycles at easy-to-spot locations at Fortezza da Basso, the Stazione Centrale di Santa Maria Novella, and Piazza Pitti. Otherwise, try Alinari (Via San Zanobi 38/r, San Marco 055/280500 www.alinarirental.com). You'll be up against hordes of tourists and those pesky motorini (mopeds). (For a safer ride, try Le Cascine, a former Medici hunting ground turned into a large public park with paved pathways.) The historic center can be circumnavigated via bike paths lining the viali, the ring road surrounding the area. If you want to go native and rent a noisy Vespa (Italian for "wasp") or other make of motorcycle or motorino,you may do so at Massimo (Via Campo d'Arrigo 16/r 055/573689).