Alessandro's apartment is surely the nicest place to stay in Florence. It is beautifully decorated, scrupulously clean and I can't overemphasise how central it is. The Uffizi is 2 mins walk and all other sights are easily walkable. Alessandro's son met us on the first day and, as well as carrying our luggage up the stairs, was a knowledgable and very friendly host. He took us through all the details we needed and pointed out the lovely bottle of Chianti they had left for us. His English is perfect, the result of a Masters studied for in London. The apartment had everything we needed and was a brilliant base for our activities. Yes, there are quite a few stairs, but as we got help with our luggage, we coped fine. Alessandro helped us on the last day to take our luggage out. He also helped us in advance with finding a parking garage for our hire car. Both Alessandro and Max are very friendly, well-educated people with an obvious appreciation for nice things and a wish to share these things with their guests. I was sad to leave and would happily have moved in permanently!