The ReidsGuides.com Hotel Guide to Florence, Italy

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SUPER-CHEAP (UNDER €50 / $65)

Ostello Archi Rossi
The official HI hostel is way out on the edge of town. Archi Rossi, its walls slathered with shockingly bad murals, is on Florence's main drag of cheap hotels near the station, making it for a far more central and fantastic value. A lot more fun than the staid Istituto Gould—and closer to the major sights—but not nearly as nice. Free Internet. The curfew is a major pain, though (and has nearly caught me out late on occasion).
Via Faenza 94r
Tel. 055-290-804
www.hostelarchirossi.com
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Istituto Gould
The best hostel in Florence: no curfew or lockout, and almost all the rooms are double or triples (though there are a few five-bedded rooms), meaning you get an almost hotel experience at hostel prices. The drawbacks: a major case of the institutional blandness, plus it's in the Oltrarno district and a few minutes' walk from anything interesting (unless you're into antiques shops). The real plus: the true work of the institute is to house orphans and rehabilitate problem children, and their profits are folded right back into that worthy cause, so you can feel good about yourself when paying the bill.
Via dei Serragli 49
Tel. 055-212-576
www.istitutogould.it/foresteria
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Campeggio Michelangelo
Back in the good old days when my family really did try to do "Europe on $5 a Day" (with the help of a classic orange VW Camper-van) this was our favorite Florentine parking spot. It's a giant empty lot—get here early to fight for a spot along the edge for some shade (or those coveted tent plots on the grassy bits in an olive grove)—on a plateau overlooking Florence just below Piazzale Michelangiolo, where tour buses always stop for the requisite postcard panorama shot of the city. Admittedly, from the campground trees block the vista most of the year (you sort of see the cathedral dome and city's towers poking above the foliage). Didn't BYO Tent? April to October, they have a row of 6-foot-high nylon campaign tents each with a floor and two cots for rent—though that doubles the price to around €50 for two, and you should book ahead. There's a bar and minimart, and a restaurant pub across the street and down a bit.
Viale Michelangelo 80
Tel. 055-681-1977
www.ecvacanze.it
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CHEAP (under €100 / $130)

Pensione Maria Luisa de' Medici
The best inexpensive hotel in Florence is a third-floor walk-up in a 1645 palazzo smack in the center of town. The dim halls are crowded with baroque art, the cavernous rooms stuffed with a mix of antiques and 1950s designer furnishings. Bonus: breakfast in bed, served by Evelyn Morris, the Welshwoman who has managed the joint for years. Drawback: a variable curfew (usually between midnight and 1am). Share a bathroom, save some dough.
Via del Corso 1 (between Via del Proconsolo and Via de' Calzaiuoli)
Tel. 055-280-048.
[This hotel does not have a Web site; call for prices and reservations]

Where to Look for More Cheap Hotels in Florence
As in most cities, there are loads of inexpensive hotels near the train station—though in tiny Florence, this is not such a hardship as you're still close to the central sights. The best street to troll for a cheap room is Via Faenza, which stretches north from the San Lorenzo outdoor market just east of the station. Some buildings on the street are crammed with four to six little hotels, one on each floor. Try to avoid Via Nazionale, a heavily trafficked street heading east from the station.

Hotel Abaco
Bruno, a gregarious Calabrese, has to be the hardest-working hotelier in Florence. Trippy rooms in a 15th century palazzo halfway between the train station and the cathedral, each painted in supersaturated colors and decorated in honor of a different Renaissance artist.
Via dei Banchi 1 (off Via de' Panzani)
Tel. 055-238-1919
www.abaco-hotel.it
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Albergo Azzi
The Boho atmosphere of a hostel but without the grungy backpacker/slacker feel. Run by a pair of artist/musicians who love to share info on their city over breakfast at the big family-style table, and strum guitar on the narrow terrace in the evenings. Homey. Shared rooms available for hostel-oriented cheapskates.
Via Faenza 56
Tel. 055-213-806
www.hotelazzi.com
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Hotel Medici
Your standard cheap, otherwise bland hotel with one major ace up its sleeve: rooms on the top two floors have amazing, full-on views of the Duomo--facade, campanile, dome and all. Fifth floor is good, but views are better on the sixth, where the rooms' French doors open onto a communal wrap-around terrace.
Via dei Medici 6
Tel. 055-284-818
www.hotelmedici.it
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MODERATE (€100–€150 / $130–$195)

Hotel de' Lanzi
Extremely comfortable hotel in the pedestrian zone with window-filling vistas of the Duomo half a block away—but only if you book a room on the front. Great breakfast buffet. Popular, though prices are creeping up.
Via delle Oche 11 (off Via de' Calzaiuoli, around the corner from the Duomo)
Tel. 055-288-043
www.hoteldelanzi.it
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Hotel Casci
Rambling joint in the 15th century palazzo where Rossini wrote William Tell, on a busy street one block from the tourist office and Medici Palace (ask for a quieter room overlooking the magnolia in the courtyard). The Lombardi mother-and-son team is almost pathologically helpful to their guests (and irrepressible Bickersons with each other).
Via Cavour 13 (between Via dei Ginori and Via Guelfa)
Tel. 055-211-686
www.hotelcasci.com
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Hotel Mario's
A 130-year-old hotel in a 17th century palazzo near the train station. Far higher level of service, quality, and antique atmosphere than most station-area hotels. Would cost twice as much at a chicer address.
Via Faenza 89 (near Via Cennini)
Tel. 055-216-801
www.hotelmarios.com
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Hotel Nuova Italia
Run by an exceedingly helpful extended family (the matriarch, Eileen Viti, hails from Canada ), near the train station and San Lorenzo market, with loads of simple comforts. One of handful of Italian hotels with mosquito screens.
Via Faenza 26 (off Via Nazionale)
Tel. 055-268-430
www.hotel-nuovaitalia.com
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PRICEY (€150–€250 / $195–$325)

Hotel Torre Guelfa
If you want the feel of actually living in a Renaissance palazzo—not just an old building that has been fixed up as a hotel—grab an iron canopy bed in Giancarlo and Sabina Avuri's gem of a joint in the shopping district, just a block off the river. Ask for your sunset cocktails to be served atop the tallest privately owned tower in town, built in 1280 and featuring a jaw-dropping 360-degree panorama over the heart of historic Florence and the surrounding hills.
Borgo SS. Apostoli 8 (between Via de' Tornabuoni and Via Por Santa Maria)
Tel. 055-239-6338
www.hoteltorreguelfa.com
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Morandi alla Crocetta
Like stepping back in time to an elegant pensione of yesteryear. The home-like rooms are installed in the wood-beamed—and sometimes frescoed—chambers of a 1511 Dominican convent. My bed was surrounded by a painted choir of singing nuns; glorious (though I did live in mortal fear of bumping againt the wall and damaging the precious fresco). Very quiet.
Via Laura 50 (a block east of Piazza SS. Annunziata)
Tel. 055-234-4747
www.hotelmorandi.it
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Hotel Loggiato dei Serviti
The chance to live in some of the Renaissance city's great architecture: an Antonio da Sangallo the Elder original, built in 1527 to match the arcades of Brunelleschi's famous Ospedale degli Innocenti across the piazza. (A scene from Room with a View was even filmed under the loggia.) Canopy beds and a genuine antique feel. I took my parents here; they loved the place.
Piazza Santissima Annuziata 3
Tel. 055-289-592
www.loggiatodeiservitihotel.it
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Grand Hotel Cavour
Refined hotel with contemporary styling, four-star amenities, and a well-regarded restaurant-- though not as much class as the others in this price category . Unbeatable location halfway between the Uffizi and the Duomo—next-door to the Badia and down the block from Dante's house. Street-side rooms can be noisy (this is where they route traffic through the historic center).
Via del Proconsolo 3
Tel. 055-266-271
www.hotelcavour.com
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WORTHY SPLURGES (OVER €250 / $325)

Torre di Bellosguardo
When most folks want that Florentine hotel in the hills fix, they head toward Fiesole. Most folks are dead wrong. The best "countryside" hotel in Florence lies on the south side of the Arno, on Bellosguardo Hill. Why is it the best? This feels more like a bona fide medieval/Renaissance castle than most any other hotel in Italy, with period rooms that don't feel duded up for modern tastes and echoing halls with flying stone staircases down which you expect to see Errol Flynn come swashbuckling at any moment. What's more, there's an amazing close-up panorama of the city just across the olive groves beyond the swimming pool. If I had the scratch, this is where I would stay every time.
Via Roti Michelozzi 2
Tel. 055-229-8145
www.torrebellosguardo.com
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Palazzo Niccolini al Duomo
This place is amazing: a 14th century palazzo actually on the piazza surrounding the Duomo (around on the back side, practically right underneath the famous dome). The interiors are slathered in frescoes and fitted with sumptuous Renaissance-style furnishings. It simply doesn't get more elegant than this. Quite frankly, I'm shocked that double here start at only €200 (and top out at €310 for a "Deluxe").
Via dei Servi 2 (toward the back of the Duomo on the north side)
Tel. 055-282-412
www.niccolinidomepalace.com
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Hotel Monna Lisa
Giovanni Dupre was one of the greatest sculptors in 19th century Italy, and his descendants have filled this 14th century palazzo with some of his pieces. Antique furnishings, original painted beam ceilings, and a private-home feel go along with the fine art to make this one of the most genuinely elegant hotels in Florence—as opposed to most (overpriced) luxury properties where lavish expenditures are used as a substitute for class.
Borgo Pinti 27
Tel. 055-247-9751
www.monnalisa.it
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Hotel Brunelleschi
One of the best locations in town, on a quiet hidden courtyard in the heart of the pedestrian zone. Upscale hotel with modern rooms installed in collage of ancient structures, including a dramatic 6th century round tower. Top floor rooms catch a glimpse of the Duomo. However, prices—doubles start over €350—are a bit inflated, even for Florence.
Piazza Sant'Elizabetta 3 (a tiny street between Via del Corso and Via delle Oche, parallel to Via de' Calzaiuoli)
Tel. 055-27-370
www.hotelbrunelleschi.it
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