Even motorino bikers get the blues in Florence.  It all happens so quickly.  One minute the little buzzer (or someone’s main form of transportation depending on how you look at it) is just parked there and the next minute the traffic police and towing people show up with that special little truck that features thick bungee straps and a hydraulic lift mechanism.  Boom.  In less than five minutes it’s gone.  Gone to that parking violation purgatory way out in the far reaches of the city……not to be seen again until hundreds of euros have been paid for its return.

Motorino Tow Event, Florence, Italy

Parking tickets are given sporadically, at best, in Florence.  Many people say it’s only when the city coffers need a refill that anyone pays attention at all.  That could be true, who knows?  I see both sides of the parking problem, however.  We used to keep a car here and the problem is simple….the side streets are tiny and narrow, the main streets are wider but there is regular bus traffic which causes all kinds of chaos, and it’s vital that customers have access to all the small businesses that so charmingly populate the place.  So, what’s the harm in parking in a no-parking zone for a few minutes while you grab that shot of espresso or pop into the butcher’s for tonight’s chops?  The harm is that the flow of traffic can be so easily stopped…..even completely blocked….by just a few casual parking offenders.  I’ve been on a bus that sits in traffic and sounds its horn for way too long only to have someone emerge from a shop, hop into the offending vehicle which by now has caused a tie-up of some consideration, give a shrug of the shoulders accompanied by a timid smile, and drive off.  Florence is not that big of a city geographically and there are precious few main arteries connecting one part of the city with another so a tiny traffic tie-up gets to be disproportionately important rather quickly.
The one aspect of city life in which parking laws are enforced rigidly is road work because work permits are issued for a timed period for each project and the crews have to adhere to the timetable….. they can’t lose time because of an illegally parked vehicle.  That’s what happened to this motorino’s owner…..he ignored the posted work order which is how his vehicle came to this sad end so early this morning!