I stayed at Barbara's place with my husband. The apartment was actually much larger than we had expected from the photos listed. All of the amenities were there to make our stay comfortable. Barbara was a huge help with suggestions of where to visit, where to take trash and she even helped arrange a taxi for our very early morning flight out of Florence airport. The location of the apartment is a bit out of the way from the town center which has its advantages. It was nice to be able to walk away from all the craziness of crowds of people to more of a neighborhood. The disadvantage is that it's about a 20-25 minute walk each day to the city center. (We never tested out the bus system.) There's a cute coffee shop on the corner where we went every day for cappuccinos and pastries. It's a fantastic place to people watch while having breakfast.
We would definitely stay at this location again if we are so lucky to visit Florence again. I would also recommend walking away from the city center and exploring the neighborhood. It's quite lovely and has the best gelato we found in the whole city. It also had clothing shops that were much cheaper than toward the city center.
Barbara was a wonderful hostess and I'd highly recommend her place. The theme of the apartment is wonderful - especially if you like to read and enjoy funky art! Fantastic!