Numa Florence Palazzo Belfiore

“Lovely, convenient, very well managed - miss it, already!”

We just concluded a 7-week-long stay at the Palazzo Belfiore, and it was wonderful in every aspect! We will definitely will seek to stay there again, next time we visit this amazing city. While we were just a couple, I believe 4-person family would have an equally happy time there. Location:... more

We just concluded a 7-week-long stay at the Palazzo Belfiore, and it was wonderful in every aspect! We will definitely will seek to stay there again, next time we visit this amazing city. While we were just a couple, I believe 4-person family would have an equally happy time there. Location: just steps from Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti ( & Boboli Gardens), and Piazza Santo Spirito, in a small, quiet side street. The Oltrarno neighborhood (i.e., south of the river Arno) is more laid-back compared to the full-scale touristy sites on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio. It has tons of charming small workshops in practically each of its little side streets, of book makers, carpenters, artists, etc., and a host of trattorias and osterias to choose from. Apartment: we chose the ground-floor level 'Bianca', which was perfect for us. A loft-type setup, with the main living / dining room and kitchen, as well as a full bath, at the ground/entrance level, and then a half second floor with the large queen bed, a desk, and a second full bath room upstairs, overlooking the living room. The kitchen is fully equipped to cook for 4, with a 4-fields electric cook top, fridge, toaster, microwave, electric water kettle, and a Moka 'machine' (those typical Italian coffee makers). The dining table appears to be extendible (but we didn't try), but seats 4 people for dinner just fine. The living room has a large sofa (that can be extended into a full size double bed - we didn't try, but judging from the seating comfort of the cushions, I believe it should provide a very comfortable 3rd and 4th persons sleeping option). There's also a large closet, mostly for hanging clothes. While there's not a ton of extra storage, between that closet, a build-in set of shelves next to it, the desk upstairs, and the use of the luggage racks (which we placed a the corner upstairs) gave us sufficient options to organize our clothings. And, you certainly don't need to overpack, as the Palazzo has a good sized washer and dryer in the basement (which is not only super-clean, just like the rest of the building, but also gives you immediate access to a nice water refill station, to refill the provided glass bottles at any time, with filtered water (either flat or sparkling - but you can certainly drink the tap water, as well). A wall-mounted TV completes the inventory - and it was easy to hook into our netflix account - but if you're watching a lot of TV, why are you in Florence? ;-). The WiFi signal is robust and we had enough bandwidth for simultaneous streaming on an iPad and Zoom video-conferencing without any issues. Both baths have sink, toilet and shower, and the downstairs one also features a bidet. Since the apartment (the whole building, of course) is from a very, very ancient structure, you will immediately notice the lovely mural painting remnants on some of the walls. Due to the addition of the second level, the upstairs head clearance might require a little getting used to (with you're 6-ft+), but is perfectly workable. The dimensions between the toilet and the wall in the upstairs bathroom might be a tad tight for tall people (but in any case, the downstairs toilet spacing is more than adequate), and access of the shower stall behind it is therefore a tad tighter than normal. But what a wonderful, large shower stall it is (we used the upstairs shower almost exclusively)! Both showers provide rainfall overhead as well as hand-held with great water pressure and consistent, easy and responsive temperature control. Both bathroom have effective exhaust fans. The apartment has air conditioning, which is easy enough to control with the remote. The AC is quite efficient in regulating the room temperature to your liking. The flooring is a cool tiling (with a nice carpet in front of the sofa) (the apartment is actually built from a former metal workshop - ask Federico about it!) on the ground level, and smooth wooden planks upstairs. The apartment has one large, almost two-story window, with four individual panes. Each pane has it's own curtain which you can pull back or tug up if you want to get more daylight in. At night, a thick extra curtain can be pulled shut to block out street lights. As others have commented, you do hear the sounds from the street - vespas scooting by, for example. But that's part of the feeling of being in the heart of an Italian city, in my opinion (if you seek more quiet, consider the Palazzo San Niccolo - by the same owner and managed by the same amazing team) - it's about 10 mins or so from Ponte Vecchio, on the same side as Belfiore, and features a wonderfully tranquil and lovely back garden. Judging from the non-existing noises even during the day, I'd imagine the rooms there would also be very quiet at night - but I only visited the Niccolo property once, to have a cappuccino from their bar/cafe, and out of curiosity. I'd also imagine that the upstairs rooms at Belfiore would be quieter, as well. But, again - the occasional ambient sounds of neighborhood life didn't bother us and we actually enjoyed the sense of being in a city. Staff: wow, just wow: from Federico, who greeted us and already had a well-wetted list of recommendations on eateries ready for us, to Ciara, who helped us with every little thing (from booking taxi reservations, to printing tickets, etc.), to Natalhy, who looked after our apartment twice a week (I promise you will never run out of towels or anything else), we couldn't have asked for a better hosting staff! Super-responsive (WhatsApp is a good way to communicate in near real time), effective, welcoming, and very accommodating. In summary: perfect location in a very charming neighborhood, and with all major attractions is very easy walking distance, very clean, well-kept and -equipped apartment with the added luxury of two full baths, super-nice staff. A great home away from home for our 7 weeks.

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