"Andare a quel posto" vs "andare in quel posto"

Question

I have read the following sentence:

Lei non vuole andare in quel posto. (= She does not want to go to that place)

Is "andare a quel posto" also correct/usual?

Answer 1

Andare a quel posto does not sound correct and it is not usual.

Note that there are many places where you go to, e.g. cities, or places in a city:

• andare a Roma
• andare a New York
• andare al cinema
• andare al mercato

Sometimes it can depend on the place, e.g. compare andare al mare against andare in montagna. Other place names (e.g. regions, states, continents) require in instead (e.g. andare in Toscana, andare in Canada, andare in Asia).

With posto things might get tricky and depend on the exact meaning of it. For example, in a classroom every pupil has its own seat and desk, which is overall called a posto. In that case, a teacher might say vai a posto and it would be correct/usual. Moreover, andare a posto might also mean that something fits its place.

In the context of some generic place, though, in is used instead.