The Italian city of Florence is banning rental e-scooters from its streets and sidewalks next year.
November 23, 2025, 07:32November 23, 2025, 07:32
The stop will take effect from April 1, 2026, as the Italian news agency Ansa wrote.
No longer wanted in Florence: e-scooters. (symbol image)Image: KEYSTONE
The city administration of the 360,000-inhabitant city in Tuscany will no longer extend contracts with current providers of e-scooters, Ansa reported.
Florence is one of the most visited cities in Italy, and the new ban is likely to affect many travelers. E-scooters can be rented using a smartphone app. The e-scooters from rental companies are particularly popular with tourists as a way to quickly and flexibly explore the city on the Arno River. Florence is particularly famous for the impressive cathedral and the world-famous Uffizi, an art museum.
Helmets have been mandatory since the end of 2024
The reason for the move was that enforcement of the helmet requirement for e-scooters, which has been in force in Italy since the end of 2024, cannot be guaranteed. The city also said the vehicles were causing problems in the city. “They are often parked incorrectly, driven in the wrong direction or parked on sidewalks,” said traffic assessor Andrea Giorgio.
E-scooters have been part of the cityscape in many Italian cities for several years, especially in the capital Rome and in Milan in the north. They often cause trouble for locals, and for some they are a thorn in the side.
Other European cities have already submitted proposals
Alternatively, the city administration of Florence now wants to rely more on rental bikes and increase their number. At the same time, however, it cannot be ruled out that the city will examine new and better controlled forms of e-scooter rental in the future, “based on a clear legal framework and technological solutions that effectively enforce the helmet requirement,” it said.
E-scooters are also being regulated or banned entirely in other European cities. Madrid and Paris have already banned rental scooters from the city. In Germany, Gelsenkirchen followed this path. (sda/dpa)