What a great little find in Florence's Santa Croce neighborhood, literally just one block behind the Duomo (though you'd never know it-the street is so quiet!). The apartment is on the third floor of an inconspicuous little building, on a mostly residential street. Massimo, one of Ilaria's friends, met me at check in, and was kind enough to lug my very heavy bag up three flights of stairs. He took me through the apartment-how to open the doors, turn on the lights, air conditioning, oven, stove, etc., and sat down with me for 15-20 minutes to show me where I was on the map of the city, and recommend places for me to eat and to see. He provided the number of a local cab company so that I could reserve a ride in advance for my trip to the airport, and told me to contact him any time.
The apartment itself was clean and spacious, and extremely quiet. It had everything I needed. Granted, I didn't use the washing machine, or prepare any food, so I can't comment on those things—but the Wifi was strong, the bed, comfortable (though, be careful if you're tall, as it's a loft), and again, the location was ideal. A home run!