Francesco was a generous and very helpful host, providing coffee and a few kitchen implements for the culinarily minded. The location of his apartment was walking distance from the tourist areas of Florence but still well within a very local feeling area. The restaurants nearby are all amazing and Italian to the core (rarely even having English menus). There are a few catches though. The balcony looks out onto tin roofing and slightly run down looking areas, not the river. Also, in the summer it gets very hot in Florence and with no AC the windows must be left open. While in itself not a problem, the mosquitoes are. Masses of mosquitoes flew in during the evening leaving us with bites over every portion of our body, innumerable to count and amazingly annoying for the next 4 days. I had three bites on one ear! In summation, great host, great location, decent apartment, awful mosquitoes. A 4.5 out of 5 in the winter, a 3 out of 5 in the summer.