We stayed at Marie's apartment from the 25th - 30th January. Marie is lovely and was a welcoming host.
She provided us with information on local markets, shopping and restaurant tips nearby.
She also has written down her hot tips which is well worth taking note of, as we discovered the "Bibliotech Oblate" (on Via dell' Oriuolo 26) which has a quite wonderful view of the Cathedral Dome from the first or second floor . We discovered the cafeteria on the second floor which served very tasty food at student prices!
The flat itself is as described by Marie and is homely, artistic, comfortable and clean.
A big plus at night was that you could not hear any noise at all from the street down below, so we able to sleep well under the snug duvets. The Bathroom showers worked well and provided hot water at all hours. We had a strong Wi-fi connection which was appreciated by us for e-mailing and uploading all the photographs I took on a daily basis.
We liked to head towards Santa Croce (which is a two minute walk away) in the evening and discovered some wonderful places to eat: "Ristorante La Maremma" on Via Giuseppe Verdi, 16 was wonderful as was the very trendy (it was completely full when we visited) "Dim Sum Restaurant" ( Via de Neri 37) a Chinese restaurant - which served delicious dumplings and other wholesome Chinese delicacies!
Kristine in her review below mentioned a "a bad smell that old buildings' bathrooms emit in the winter". We did not smell anything disagreeable during our stay so I don't really know where the smell was or where it came from - or went to!.
A really great location to get to all the main sights like the "Bargello", "Palazzo Vecchio", "Uffizi gallery" etc
We felt very safe walking around the local neighbourhood and we would definitely come back and stay at Marie's "Oasis".