Pros: Andrea replied quickly leading up to our stay. The apartment is as pictured. He was un-rushed upon arrival, answered our questions and gave us recommendations on where to eat etc. Good location.
Cons in Short: We spent 1/4 of our time without electricity (we were there for two nights total). There was a terrible smell and flies coming from the garbage in the kitchen. There was a sewage smell that worsened over our stay in the downstairs washroom - we were unable to use it during most of our stay. Two of us came home with strange bites on our bodies... still not sure whether they were spiders, a type of bed bug or...? This would be my biggest concern for future guests as this sort of thing can be tough to deal with.
Explanation: We were Andrea's first guests at this location so he did not know we could not use the A/C and the wash machine at the same time and that is what blew a fuse. Not a huge deal on its own (we stayed positive - we were in Florence, after all!) We located the fuse box for the apartment - no luck. We phoned Andrea and he helped us locate the fuse box for the building, still no luck. He said he hoped he would not get complaints from the other tenants, though we were still in the dark. It was not until the next morning that Andrea arrived with assistance 1.5 hours after he said he would be there. Two of us slept downstairs on the couches because of the heat and two remained upstairs. The two that were downstairs were the ones with the bites.
After the electricity fiasco we did not submit complaints about the kitchen and washroom because we only had one full day in Florence and wanted to focus on enjoying it. Instead, we opted not to use the kitchen, and not to use the downstairs washroom.
As soon as we returned home from our trip I contacted Andrea about the issues privately as he had asked since he wanted to avoid negative reviews. He said his last reservation was there until the 15th and he would contact me then. It is now a day later and my last day to leave a review and I have not heard from him.
We asked for a partial refund since we received only part of what we paid for, but none was given.
I booked this property without reviews because of his many positive reviews on other properties. He is a property manager and I am sure will take care of these issues if possible.
Note: Taxis will not drive right to the apartment. Not a big deal for us but it may be for someone else.