We loved our Stay at this gorgeous place in Santo Spirito We stayed here for 5 nights in March 2019. This home was new renovated, so when we stayed here it was fresh and all shinny and new, though with the pride taken in all matters by Chiara, I am sure the experience will be the same for someone in 2 years as it was for us.
We spent a day deciding on the best place to stay, and narrowed it down to 4 in Florence. We ended up selecting this one, for 1 main reason, as a quick search of top rated local bars and restaurants...showed most were located in this neck of the woods. With this being true, the home was in a very quiet laneway. The only sounds we were blessed to hear were the unexpected sounds of beautiful birds at dawn, and the occasional Church bells, heard all over Florence.
We had multiple people tell us when we were there (starting with our taxi driver) that this is the best area in Florence to stay, and the ONLY area that locals venture to these days, as they tend to leave the part over the river to the train station to tourists.
The apartment has views to Pitti Palace, and multiple churches from its 2 outside areas. A small “Juliette” terrace off the main bedroom, and a larger terrace outside the lounge area, where my wife and I enjoyed a few drinks most nights. Its only about a 3min walk to the Pitti Palace, 8min to Ponte Vecciho and Uffizi, 10min to Palazo Vecciho, 15 minutes easy walk to Dumo and 15 minutes Piazzale Michelangelo (recommended to do one night/sunset for a lovely view) and 20 minutes to the train station, which is about the furtherest “thing of need” from the apartment.
Near the Train station, we stowed our baggage on the last day, and took a day trip to Pisa (recommended). We stored out bags at “stow your bags”. If you plan to do this, please note that the images on their website are deceptive. You can ONLY fit one suitcase in a “large” locker. I also recommend booking and paying ahead on their site as there are only about 30 lockers in there. I think in peak times, it would be full constantly.
The apartment has a private lift that takes you directly into your apartment. The apartment has multiple levels, and is very cool indeed with some great little modern/technical touches. Both bathrooms were gorgeous and lovely, and the apartment had central heating/cooling.
We found our host Chiara to be lovely, passionate and attentive.
Just as a side note, the BEST 2 things we did when we were there was an afternoon at some markets and a Vespa tour thru the Tuscany area with “Tuscany Vespa Tours” (NOT Tuscany Cycles). These guys are a little more expensive that the Cycles place.....and if you read the reviews on TA, you will see that many comments on one say that most of the time is actually spent off the bike. This is not the case with “Tuscany Vespa Tours”. It was awesome. I only mention this in detail, as this was an important factor in our choice from reading between the lines....and if you are reading this, you are planning on coming to Florence to have a great time. Do yourself a favour, and spend the extra $$$.
The other thing I really loved during our stay. Every weekend there are markets in a small square 2 minutes walk from the apartment. There are all kinds of vintage and local stuff for sale there. I spent an afternoon rummaging thru old books, and memorabillia there.
Enjoy your trip......and if you have ANY doubts where to stay, and are having problems reading between the lines of reviews on here, pick this place. You will not be disappointed at all. I will stay here again. Just read my reviews.....you'll get the idea that I don't mince words.
Recommendations to eat I hear you ask? LOL.....thats a lottery. We personally found the food at every “eat out” sub par. On return, alot of our friends and family have also commented that they also found the food ordinary on a whole. (being polite). After 3 days of that, we ended up ordering dinner using Deliveroo. It was great. We had a steak from Mamma Mia, and also Maccas another night. The BEST feed we had there (would you believe) was at the Hard Rock Cafe in the tourist area. It was first class. We had breakfast 2 mornings at JT Caffe opposite Pitti Palace. It was yummy and good value. Please be aware that SO SO MANY places in the tourist area have exorbitant prices. We made our judgements based on what they charged for a coke. One place near the leather market was asking eu11 for a coke!

Happy Trails!
I would also like to add if its any help.....the reviews on Uffizi can be very confusing with deciding what to actually do. (do it yourself, group tour, Fienze Card) Our experience was to purchase the Tickets online thru the Gallery website, you collect your Tix at a special “pre booking” office and THEN you go in thru a “reservations only” line that gets you in the door within your 15 minute allocated timeslot. I am certain many people actually end up in the 2 hour queue to buy cheap tix..... that even have prepaid for tickets. How do I know this? Because we did, and stood in that line for 30 minutes and moving 5 meters before realising our error. We noticed 2 other groups leave the line and go back to the office for clarification. I reckon ALOT of people in the ridiculously long queue had prepaid tix, and got it wrong. We found this all over Italy that information was poor, communication was equally poor and you have to ask clearly for information.