This morning, a new tourist information centre opened its sliding doors across the road from Santa Maria Novella station. Next door to the old premises, the new Firenze Welcome Center provides a scenic and spacious first port of call to Florence.
High cross-vaulted ceilings and pietra serena pillars contrast with latest technology touchscreens providing multilingual information (improvements still need to be made to adapt the digital contents to the technology, however) and a modern-look island staffed by trained personnel. Open every day (9am-7pm Monday to Saturday, 9am-5.30pm Sunday), the in-person assistance goes hand in hand with a tourist information phoneline +39 055000, email touristinfo@comune.fi.it and online service Feel Florence.
Mayor of Florence Sara Funaro cut the symbolic ribbon, remarking how the “opening has a dual meaning for the city administration. There’s the regeneration of an extraordinary space and, on the other hand, there’s the efficiency of an essential service that helps people arriving in our city to understand what’s fully available.”
Visitors to the Firenze Welcome Center will be greeted by a coffee shop and bookstore (here’s hoping for the addition of quality artisan souvenirs and contemporary printed material in the coming months), as well as campaigns aimed at educating travellers about the right way to behave in a historic city like Florence. Efforts have been made to ensure the space is accessible to all, including sign language facilities and reduced mobility access.
Firenze Welcome Center is part of a wider urban regeneration project of the Santa Maria Novella complex, which includes the Santa Maria Novella Museum, the future Italian language museum MUNDI (still to be concluded) and photography archive Fondazione Alinari. The work, costing three million euro, was financed by the Italian Ministry of Tourism.
