The Place Firenze

Florence is home to many old-fashioned palazzo hotels, and more than a few modern-design boutiques; and though The Place Firenze falls closer to the latter category, it is something a little bit different.
Ultimately what makes The Place Firenze special is a sense of intimacy — there’s no reception desk, for one, and though the hotel is located on the bustling Santa Maria Novella square, once inside, there is little sense of the city outside. Instead small public sitting rooms with fireplaces and a profusion of antiques and artworks create the feeling of a private mansion, and the fact that there are only twenty rooms makes the house-guest illusion entirely plausible.

Browse the library, study the drawings, mix with the other guests — or just retire to your room, an eminently warm blend of modern and traditional, in a fusion that recalls some of London’s cozy-yet-chic boutique hotels. Louis XV fireplaces and paneled walls mix with muted colors and technological gadgetry; four-poster beds and LCD screens live happily side-by-side. Rooms are not overly large, but those with an eye to romance won’t mind, and roomier suites are available further upstairs. Anyway, The Place isn’t about the presidential treatment, it’s about a comfortable and elegant home away from home.

The old courtyard, now glass-roofed, serves as the breakfast venue, and the rooftop terrace boasts a lounge bed from which to contemplate the courtyard. The Place Restaurant and bar works in sly references to 20th-century celebrity culture in a split-personality space with sophisticated plates upstairs and after-dinner debauchery down. We’re partial to the attached champagne bar as well. Any number of excellent restaurants lie within a few minutes’ walk from the front door, of course; just bug the concierge for a recommendation, or strike out on your own—we hope you haven’t come to Florence to shut yourself in your hotel room all day.