Pickpockets, Florence

When you are near the train station, or near santa Maria Novella- Be Careful! Watch for little girls, they grab anything and pass it along. As soon as you grab one the other gets away with your belongings. You watch them get arrested one day, and back the next. Also be careful of ATMs. A friend tried to take out money, he never recieved it, but it was taken out. We still dont really know what happened.

San lorenzo's area and all the area of the market is a great place where to make shopping during the day but during night it's not the most quiet area of Florence.It's better that you go around in couple or in group,'couse you can find some foolish,so,i suggest just..pay attention and take a look about the people you have around,also 'couse there are lots of extraeuropean people in this area(expecially northafricans)

There are a lot of gipsies in the street. Be very careful especially when you see young girls and boys who come close to you grabing newspapers which hide their hands. Usually the walk in couples. They go close to tourists and one of them starts to touch the tourist in order to bother him, and the other gipsy quickly steels the wallet with his hands hidden from the newspaper. So BE VERY CAREFUL!!!

I researched for our trip and heard a lot about pickpockets, especially in train stations. In our 2 week stay in Italy not once did we feel in danger of being picked. Use common sense, don't leave your bags unattended, be aware of your surroundings and you should have no trouble! Gypsies may come up to you asking for money, pay no attention to them, they will not bother you. I brought a money belt and never used it, the pants I wore happen to have an extra pocket that is hard for me to get into. This is where I kept all of our valuables at all times.

Be smart about your surroundings and aware of the people around you. The little pickpockets are fairly obvious and can be deterred but have no problem coming around again. We were approached as we walked near San Lorenzo and again on the bus to Fiesole.
Just be smart and alert.

Florence is not a dangerous city so you can walk safely by its streets and piazzas, just be careful with pickpockets, they use to stay near to the main places and attractions, keep your belongings on safe.

Florencia no es una ciudad peligrosa y puedes caminar tranquilamente por sus calles y plazas. Lo que si tienes que gastar cuidados es con los carteristas, suelen estar en los alrededores de los principales lugares.

Florence should be the ideal place for pickpockets. A big city, many tourists with money, crowds to dissappear in.
Yet i never felt unsafe, because at every corner, in every street you encounter police.
It is something politics is only talking about in our country, but in Florence it seems to work.

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I was warned before my trip to Italy and Florence for pickpockets. It is true, they probably is in there, but this time fortunately our roads didn't cross.
They are everywhere, pickpockets, not only in Itay. They are moving on places, where usually is very much tourists, who watching the sights, forget all around. Then they are easy target.

I think you can't never be too beware with hideing you money and travel documents.

I was pleasantly surprising to see at the known tourist-traps (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Palazzo Vecchio, Basilica di San Lorenzo) much of policemans and carabineers.

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I teach art history in a university. When I show architecture images, I always get a kick out of looking around at the people who happen to have been snapped in the scene along with the building in question. Long story short, I took a beautiful image of the Florence Baptistery, Cathedral and Campanile off of -- if I remember -- someone's vacation pictures website. After perusing the crowd standing in front of the monuments, I blew up one section of the digital image and it reveals a woman lifting up the hem of a man's shirt just above his pocket. The man is arm-in-arm with his girlfriend, admiring the facade of the cathedral. This third party reaches across his back, while he's oblivious, and lifts the shirt hem. It's mind-boggling. Take a look...

Before i went there i was warned too much about the thiefs there. However, throughout the whole trip i didn't see any thief around. And the time i went there was Easter and there were a lot of tourists! But of course anyway you need to be careful enough still. I noticed that the tourists there mostly paid enough attention on their pockets, which maybe was the reason that it seems there are less thiefs now!
There are also some places with very few people. Be careful in these places as well. If a stranger suddenly begin to talk to you, just pretend not to know any Italian or English in order to get into trouble!
I feel that it is quite different between the tourists places and the poor living places. When you find yourself in a poor living places, be careful!