I traveled through Italy for 3 months and have stayed in many AirBnB homes. My must haves when looking were Good Wifi as I work remotely,
A/C as I traveled in the summer, good kitchen amenities (a toaster and good frying pans are a must) as I cook at home a lot and great location near the train station.....so here is my honest review:
I booked this home because of the great location and it looked like a very cool place in the pictures. It’s very close to the train station as well as the cathedral and many other historic sites. There is also a central market just around the corner which is basically like a great big food court with many vendors. We ate there often. Lots of great restaurants in the area as well. The outdoor market is also just around the corner for some great deals on leather goods, handbags, hats, belts, scarves and many other souvenirs from Italy. The apartment is on the second floor and is a good size. Giulia met me at the apartment but when I arrived I had no idea what buzzer to push, I reached her through Airbnb but there was a bit of delay in responses. Once inside I immediately noticed how warm it was. Italy was still very hot in September. She showed me how to operate the “air conditioner” in the L/R but it wasn’t until after she left that I realized it was just a air cooler (water) and only blowed room temperature air. The a/c in the bedroom is a portable air conditioner that has a hose that needs to be vented out the window, this in itself was really a pain as it wouldn’t stay in place, even though Giulia tried to rig up a wire to hold it. It did blow ice cold air but was very loud, couldn’t sleep with it on nor could I keep the windows open due to mosquitoes. I asked Giulia if she could purchase a oscillating fan for me as it was stifling hot in the L/R but I was met with much resistance as she told me through several texts that it won’t do any good. I have them at home in Canada and every place I stayed in Italy had one and they helped tremendously if there is no or limited AC. She instead brought me in another water cooled unit which just made the place humid. I went out and bought an oscillating fan from Casa Max (OVS) around the corner for $10 euros. It was a life saver. I was not offered reimbursement but it was a small price to pay, at least it will be there for the next client. Another thing that was a real problem was there was no TV...this was my own fault as it wasn’t listed as an amenity. There is no radio or stereo in the home either, thank goodness I brought my ihome. There was plenty of kitchen supplies but no toaster or ice cube trays (ice is rare here). Giulia brought me one from her home and I also improvised with some egg trays. Ok so now for the apartment itself, the beds were terrible! Hard and springy! I like firm but these were awful. A mattress topper could easily fix the problem. The home is really nicely decorated and is well appointed, lots of mirrors and tons of storage in the bedroom. Good lighting in the bathroom. Comfortable furniture, large dining table. Very clean. The apartment is on three levels and kind of a u-shape that wraps around a tiny inner courtyard. So all of the windows face inward. The patio off the upper bedroom also faces another apartment so there is no privacy and no view at all. I found the apartment very claustrophobic. Also it’s very noisy because the cleaners are on the main floor and are constantly in and out of the tiny courtyard banging around with mops and buckets, vacuuming and talking on their cell phone which echos up to the apartment, I know this can’t be helped but thought you should be aware. One other small thing that irritated me was there were 3 clocks in the home but none had batteries, same goes for the weigh scale in the bathroom....overall I really loved my stay in Firenze.....my favourite (cleanest) city by far.