The Tour de France from today in Florence. The presentation ceremony of the 22 teams is scheduled for this afternoon: the 176 competing cyclists will pedal from Palazzo Vecchio to reach Piazzale Michelangelo, where shows, music and entertainment are scheduled.
But the whole city is now ready to host the Grand Départ, with the Fan zone in Piazza Santa Croce and the Departure Village in Parco delle Cascine. For days, signs have appeared on the doors of hundreds and hundreds of houses to signal closed roads and the need to remove cars parked where the Grande Boucle will pass.
Extraordinary openings have been announced for the Forte di Belvedere and the Bardini Museum, as well as for the museum dedicated to Gino Bartali, and the Deportations Memorial located right in Piazza Bartali in the Gavinana district, in homage to the commitment that the champion of Ponte to Ema, ‘Righteous Among the Nations’, spent between 1943 and 1944 to save hundreds of Jews persecuted by Nazism.
The police, for their part, have intensified their surveillance activities in recent weeks to prevent possible disturbances: rumors of possible pro-Palestine initiatives have circulated on social media. At the moment, however, there is no official announcement of demonstrations.
The Fan zone will be set up in Piazza Santa Croce. For the set-up/dismantling, parking and transit bans will be established from midnight on Monday 24th to midnight on Sunday 30th June in the square and in via Magliabechi. From 10am on the 27th to 8pm on the 29th of June, parking and transit bans will be added in via Giovanni da Verrazzano.
Piazzale Michelangelo presentation stage area: for setting up/dismantling of the stage, parking and transit bans will be established from 21 June to midnight on Saturday 29 June except for the connection route and areas designated for TPL stops, tourist buses and taxis). From 6am on Sunday 23rd until the end of the event in Piazzale Galileo (no parking is foreseen in the car park between Viale Machiavelli and Viale Torricelli)
On June 27th (6-24 hours) the closure to transit and the ban on parking will begin in Piazzale Michelangelo in the areas designated for TPL stops, tourist buses and taxis.
Cascine Stadium: the Tour’s starting village will be hosted in the Cascine Park with access only for authorized people and the cyclists will start from here for both the presentation and the race. To allow the preparation of the area dedicated to welcoming the teams and related initiatives, a series of measures have been put in place: first of all, parking and transit bans on Friday and Saturday on the internal roads of the Cascine park and on the Barco bridge.
In detail, the parking bans on the race course (details in the paragraph dedicated to the measures of June 29) will come into force at midnight between June 27 and 28; parking bans are also planned in Piazza Vittorio Veneto (Cascine side area except for the lane for exceptional transport and the reserved lane towards Corso Italia) and inside the Park: Piazzale delle Cascine, Via delle Cascine (between Via Paisiello and Piazzale delle Cascine), Viale del Quercione, Viale della Tinaia, Piazzale Kennedy, Viale Lincoln, Viale della Catena, Viale del Galoppo, Viale Shelley, Vialetto del Narciso, Viale Washington, Viale del Pegaso, Viale dell’Aeronautica, Via del Barco, Via dei Vespucci, Viale del Visarno (between Via delle Cascine and Piazzale Jefferson), Via dell’Indiano.
From 8.30 on 28 June, transit bans will come into force in viale Berio, via del Fosso Macinante, via De Bellegarde de Saint Lary, viale del Visarno (between via del Fosso Macinante and piazzale Jefferson and between piazzale Jefferson and via delle Cascine), viale degli Olmi, via delle Cascine (between via Paisiello and piazzale delle Cascine), piazza Vittorio Veneto (area on the Parco delle Cascine side, director of exceptional transport and reserved lane towards Corso Italia), piazzale delle Cascine, viale dell’Indiano, viale del Quercione, viale della Tinaia, piazzale Kennedy, viale Lincoln, viale della Catena, viale del Galoppo, viale Shelley, vialetto del Narciso, viale Washington, viale del Pegaso, viale dell’Aeronautica, via del Barco (between via dei Vespucci and viale Pegaso). In Viale Lincoln the transit of bicycles will be allowed exclusively on the river side dirt path together with pedestrians.
The bans will be in force until the end of the event (Saturday evening).
Today, June 27th, the presentation of the teams is scheduled at Palazzo Vecchio. To allow the transfer of cyclists by bus, parking bans will be established from 8pm on 26th to 6pm on 27th June in via Visconti Venosta (from via Vittorio Emanuele Orlando to via Bonomi), via della Chimera (Rovezzano railway station parking area), via dell’Agnolo (from via Verdi for 20 meters in the direction of via dei Pepi), piazza Salvemini (lane from via Fiesolana to via dell’Oriuolo), via dell’Oriuolo (from piazza Salvemini to Volta di San Piero), via dell’Oriuolo (from via Portinari to piazza Duomo), via del Proconsolo (from piazza Duomo for 20 meters in the direction of Borgo Albizi).
At the end of the activities in Palazzo Vecchio, around 6pm, cyclists will cycle to Piazzale Michelangelo where a free access party is scheduled (from 5pm) on this itinerary: piazza della Signoria (from Palazzo Vecchio exit Arengario), via dei Gondi , via dei Leoni, piazza del Grano, via dei Castellani, piazza dei Giudici, Lungarno Generale Diaz, Ponte alle Grazie, Lungarno Serristori, Piazza Poggi, ramps of Piazza Poggi, Via dei Bastioni, Viale Poggi, Piazzale Michelangelo.
The entire route will be closed to traffic.
Further info HERE
