Florence is such a beautiful city, filled with extraordinary art, culture, history and friendly, welcoming people. We found all of those qualities extended into our stay in this lovely, historic apartment. You can stay in a typical hotel room anywhere in the world, but this apartment allows visitors to immerse themselves in a truly unique space. The hand painted frescos throughout the flat were lovely, and most of the furnishing were classic in style, charmingly old and could probably be put into a museum themselves! We were pleased with how much sunlight the apartment got, each of the bedrooms had tall windows that let in lots of light when we opened the shutters. The kitchen was well outfitted, and the bathrooms where nicely remodeled, including a really nice walk-in shower. We appreciated the fact that their were extra blankets available, guides to local sites, plus bottles of wine left for us to enjoy (for a modest price).
Another major plus for this apartment is the location. It is just a few steps away from Piazza Santo Spirito which had a charming outdoor farmers market almost every day and several excellent restaurants and cafes. This was definitely NOT a typical tourist area, so you get the feeling you are living in a real Firenze neighborhood, with local people. This neighborhood had excellent food, better that anything we had on the other side of the Arno. A few of our favorites were Trattoria Giovanni (best pasta of my life), Osteria Santo Spirito (amazing Gnocchi!) and Gustapizza (incredible fresh pizza), all of which were only a shortly walk from the apartment. Of course, all of the historic sites were just a short 10-15 minute walk over the Arno, so pretty much everything was walking distance and we never needed a cab for anything except getting to and from the airport.
Last, but certainly not least, we really appreciated the personal attention we got from our host Elly. She went out of her way to ensure we enjoyed our stay, was very responsive with any questions we had and really made us feel welcome!