Is Florence, Italy Safe to Walk Around at Night?
- Darcy Melton
- Jan 8
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Is Florence, Italy safe in general?
If you're headed to Florence and your stay might take you to bars, nightclubs, or nighttime tours, you might be curious as to whether or not Florence is safe at night, either to walk around, or to take a taxi/tram/bus.
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First, for the purpose of this article, I will consider anything after 10pm as "night". While Florence does have a fairly early dinnertime for Italy (usually around 7pm), late dinners, open bars, and nighttime tours will keep people on the streets until 10pm-12am. After that, while you can absolutely find people out and about—especially during the summer—it can naturally feel less safe since its less crowded.
The second thing I wanted to address is the elephant in the room:
Is Florence a dangerous city? If not, why does Florence have so much crime?
If you were to search for "dangerous cities in Italy" you might find that Florence is considered the third or fourth-most "crime-ridden" city in Italy. In 2025, Il Sole 24 Ore, which collects and publishes crime statistics every year, considers Florence to be the second-most "crime-ridden" city, and number 1 for both snatching and pickpocketing (though, pickpocketing is nearly 10 times likelier than snatching).
So does this mean you shouldn't go?
No! Not at all! It just means that you should be aware of the most common kind of crime in Florence and how to avoid it.
What's the most common kind of crime in Florence?
Most of the crime in Florence is pickpocketing. These don't tend to be violent (in fact, violent thefts are ten times less likely that non-violent thefts as they carry a heavier sentence) and perpetrators go after easy targets: unzipped bags, unattended suitcases, open purses, bags left on café chairs, etc.
By keeping your bags with you at all times, and keeping an eye on them, you can greatly lower you chance of losing them.
Likewise, due to how common it is to have your card payment accepted by vendors across Italy, it makes sense to limit the amount of cash you're carrying. Some travelers prefer to bring a "travel wallet" which, despite how it sounds, it just a regular wallet that has 1 debit card, 1 credit card, their driver's license, and maybe a little cash. Everything else such as extra cards, library cards, membership cards, photos, love letters, and anything else that ends up in a wallet after years of use stays at home. This way, if your wallet does go missing or get stolen, you'll know exactly what you have to replace and not worry about replacing the irreplaceable.
As a side note, and a personal note, I do want to say that it does suck enormously that pickpockets exist. Whether you're on vacation visiting or if you happen to be moving to Florence (or any city with pickpockets), the idea that you have to be on guard at all times and even treat any stranger—especially those trying to help you—with a certain degree of suspicion just sucks.
Is the Florence Train Station safe?
This question is likely to pop up if you're planning to stay around the train station or if you're thinking you might walk through at night.
During the day, you should have very little problems feeling safe. While there are tons of people crowding around, there's also a fairly heavy police presence which keeps crime and altercations to a minimum.
The station's last train departs at around 12:30AM (midnight-ish) and there's nothing until 4:30AM that morning, which means there's a lull after midnight. Likewise, the tram that stops just out from only runs from 5:00AM to 12:30AM. This means a smaller police presence, fewer people out and about, and a sense that things might not be as safe as they would be in the say. Likewise, there's a 24 hour McDonalds near the station, and some Florentines find this to be unsafe feeling in the early hours of the morning as the people gathered around can be tense and looking for trouble. So, if you happen to pass by the front of it after 1:00AM and before 5:00AM, it's smart to be extra cautious.
Women staying safe in Florence
As a last note, if you're a woman traveling in Florence at nighttime, a local taxi company called 'Taxi Rosa" offers women priority service and a discount at night. This is to encourage women to take a taxi instead of walking down unsafe-feeling streets.
If you call "+39 055 439 000" between 10PM and 4AM, you'll have priority access and a 10% discount to the fare.
So, is Florence safe?
Genuinely, Florence is very safe in general. It has a heavy police and soldier presence in the historic district, it's well-lit throughout the evening, and even though it's not as "late" a city as Rome or Naples, their transportation runs until past midnight before starting up early the next morning, ensuring you'll rarely walk anywhere alone.
