Halfway Suite is definitely up there with the best AirBnBs! It fully lived up to and indeed exceeded expectations.
Firstly, the apartment itself is fantastic. Very spacious, it looks exactly like the photos on the website, with a large lounge area, well stocked kitchen and very comfortable bedroom with en-suite. It is housed in the former workshop of the sculptor Giambologna, so you really feel privileged to be experiencing that space.
The apartment has all the facilities you could need, including split air-conditioning and a washer/ dryer. We stayed for a month during October/ November – occasionally had to put the heat on during the colder evenings in November, but otherwise the apartment was very cosy and felt well insulated from the cold (similarly, when the weather was quite warm early in October, we didn’t need to have the aircon going).
Halfway Suite is very close to a whole range of restaurants, shops, etc in Sante Croce – literally a minute or two walk away. It is only a few minutes walk to the Duomo. Having said this, it was whisper quite and you would not know you were so close to things. No part of the apartment faces directly onto the street (it is in fact set well back from the street, across a courtyard), so even with windows open you hear very little. As a light sleeper I had no problems with being disturbed by noise.
Wifi worked well, and having a separate office area was great, it avoided having to constantly pack down things such as a laptop.
Paolo was a fantastic host. On arrival, he went through the history of the apartment and the building itself, and made sure we were across how everything worked. On a number of occasions we asked him to organise taxis for us and this was no problem. He was easily contactable whenever we had any questions. You can tell that Paolo & Patrizia have put a great deal of effort into making sure guests have a great experience, including providing a whole library of books, dvds and cds.
Would love to stay here again and would have to hesitation recommending Halfway Suite to others!