My wife and I loved staying at Beatrice's apartment. It was located in a fun residential neighborhood of Florence that felt urban but quiet. We counted 14 eateries within 4 square blocks, and every one of them that we tried was superb! (And several of these were on our host Beatrice's recommendation.) There was also a fruit and veggie seller, numerous bakeries, and a convenience store within a block or two.

Beatrice met us at the apartment and was super-friendly and helpful. She was a pleasure to communicate with right from the beginning. She told us a lot about the area and answered our questions. (Luckily my wife wrote down the answers, because we were in a stupor since we hadn't slept on our red-eye flight!) Ask her for the phone number for the taxi for when you need a ride to the airport, or elsewhere; it was very reliable.

The apartment is spacious, (two bathrooms!) spotless and quiet. We loved the internal shutters in the bedroom that made it dark in the morning for great sleeping. The bed has a fairly firm futon mattress. There's a great view out the front windows to watch the lively street life below. The apt. is simply and beautifully decorated, very pretty and comfortable. We never needed to use the dishwasher or clothes washer, and we washed clothes in the sink and hung them on one of several clothes lines to dry. (So we were able to pack very light!)

There is a very small park about a 3 minute walk from the apt., if you need outdoor space. The whole neighborhood felt quite safe, also. Find out when the nearby monthly farmer's market happens; it's awesome!

It's a 20 minute walk to the historic city center near the Duomo, and the major bus and train stations; although this neighborhood of San Frediano is also very historic, just quieter. Every street in this neighborhood is beautiful; I still dream of it nightly! We loved Beatrice's apt. and her neighborhood so much that we would definitely return there again.