A Florence Ban on Bike Rickshaws

A spokesperson for Florence City Council announced on August 2, 2025 that as of October 15, “atypical vehicles,” (which are primarily used for transporting tourists around Florence) will be banned from the city’s historic center, designated a UNESCO world heritage site for its medieval and Renaissance treasures in 1982.

Golf caddies and rickshaws (small carriages for one or two people, pulled along the road by a person on a bicycle attached at the front) are named as examples. Other “atypical” vehicles are to be banned too, and it is unclear exactly which other vehicles are to be considered “atypical.” This may raise concerns for popular fast-food delivery services, who rely heavily on electric scooters, amongst other forms of novel and ‘unusual’ transport. 

Councillor Vicini said that the ban is “one of the most important measures” in achieving “sustainable tourism and a liveable city”. 

Motivations behind the ban, however, are layered. Ensuring the ‘decorum’ of Florence’s streets is a priority, a desire, essentially, to uphold the city’s associated prestige and image. There is an unspoken common consensus that “atypical” vehicles, such as rickshaws, are unsightly, and their rapid growth in popularity has meant that Florence’s beautiful streets have become cluttered seemingly overnight. In essence then, these vehicles are incongruent to Florence’s historic and poetic atmosphere; they simply look out of place. 

The Council took into consideration a variety of factors when making their decision, from the visual to the practical. The latter of which resulted in agreement that “atypical” tourist vehicles are unsafe. The planned replacement service for tourists, involving electric shuttles, is required to adhere strictly to council rules. These rules govern authorisation processes, and stringent checks to ensure pre-established and pre-approved routes are followed. Control over the shuttles, therefore, will be centralised and methodical, contrasting with the haphazard nature of the current independent, or private, use and hire of “atypical” vehicles. 

This “clear rules, clear routes” rhetoric, however, potentially masks a deeper issue. Within the Council’s announcement of the ban, there is a hint of growing restlessness with the ‘tourist-ification’ of Florence, which echoes the concerns of locals. The Council clearly states that tourist transport “is and must remain an ancillary service” [emphasis added], that is, of secondary concern to the services provided for those who live here.

Florence is the first city in Italy to adopt this type of a regulation.