When we arrived in Florence, Stefano welcomed us to the Signoria Art Gallery. He showed us around the apartment, answered all our questions and left us with three keys to enjoy our week in Florence along with our three adult children and a couple of their friends.
The location is in the main square, Piazza della Signoria, steps from the Uffizi Gallery, the Palazzo Vecchio, and Michelangelo's David. The Ponte Vecchio and Duomo are a few short blocks away. Since we had no cell phone service while in Italy, this worked out nicely for meeting up when we all went our separate ways.
The apartment is how you'd expect Florentine aristocrats to live. It has high ceilings, spacious rooms, and antique furniture, with beautiful paintings gracing the walls. It also had all the modern conveniences, an updated kitchen, 3 modern bathrooms and large comfortable beds.
Downstairs, directly under the rental are several cafe's, with outdoor seating, where we often went for a morning cup of espresso or cappuccino. The building itself, must be several centuries old, and I imagine seeped in history.
The kitchen had almost everything you may need, but oddly no bowls, so our son ate his cereal out of a pan. When we told Stefano this, upon check out, he said he would supply them for the next guest. The bedrooms were bright and sunny, however the living room is in the center of the home and only has one window, so it seemed a tad dark in the day, not a problem as we were usually out. There is a washer, and the clothes dried quickly on the supplied line.
All the beds were comfortable but the loft that is in one of the bedrooms, was extremely warm. Opening the huge windows at night, cooled it down tremendously.
The biggest drawback was the noise, this is not the place for light sleepers in the height of tourism. The square is active 24/7 with large tour groups and school children who haven't a care who they disturb. Ear plugs and white noise apps on our ipad solved this.
We had a wonderful stay, the price is unbeatable. I recommend Signoria Art Gallery for groups of seven our less, who like to be in the center of historical Florence and next door to the worlds greatest repository of Renaissance art. Contact Stefano if you have questions, he speaks fluent English and is most helpful.