4F Boutique Hotel Florence

At a comfortable but convenient remove from the most crowded parts of Florence, a few minutes’ walk to the west of the city center, stands a townhouse, right on the Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, looking out across the Arno. This is the 4F Boutique Hotel Florence, a modestly sized townhouse hotel that presents as clear a picture as you’ll find of the colorful, vibrant side of contemporary Italian hospitality design.

With just 14 rooms, it’s modestly sized — in fact it fits entirely into the fourth floor of this historic structure, which makes for impressive views of the river and the city center, especially from the priavate rooftop terrace. The rooms themselves manage to combine ultra-saturated colors and bold graphic textures into a whole that feels focused and unified, never busy. And while their comforts are more residential than ultra-luxe, they’re quite substantial, especially the eye-catching black-and-white stone-clad bathrooms.

A Florentine boutique hotel of 4F’s size isn’t expected to operate a full-service restaurant; here the offerings extend to breakfast, a cup of coffee or tea, and an aperitif in the living room or on the rooftop terrace — for the rest, you’ll depend on the city, which is very much up to the task.