City Hotel
Florence, Italy
9.0
Portrait Firenze
The Ferragamo family's all-suite riverside address, gazing straight at the Ponte Vecchio with the feel of a private Florentine apartment.
Read the full feature →
Italy
Florence
Florence invented the Renaissance and has never quite stopped living in it. Brunelleschi's dome still commands the skyline, the Uffizi's corridors hold the era's greatest hits, and artisan workshops across the Arno keep alive crafts — leather, marbled paper, goldsmithing — that the Medici once patronised. The city is compact enough to know intimately in a week.
Luxury here divides between palazzo hotels in the centro storico, their frescoed salons overlooking the Arno, and villa estates in the surrounding hills where pools sit among olive groves. With Chianti's cellars and the Tuscan countryside within easy reach, Florence anchors one of Europe's most complete itineraries.
The best hotels in Florence
Best areas to stay
Centro Storico (Duomo & Signoria)
The Renaissance core puts the cathedral, the Uffizi and the great palazzi within minutes, with historic hotels to match.
Oltrarno
Across the river, artisan workshops, the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens give this quarter its authentic, unhurried charm.
The Florentine Hills (Fiesole & Bellosguardo)
Villa hotels above the city trade doorstep sightseeing for gardens, pools and the definitive view over the dome.
Dining & nightlife
Florentine cooking is proudly rustic — bistecca alla fiorentina, ribollita, wines from the surrounding hills — elevated in a handful of starred dining rooms. Enotecas and aperitivo terraces along the Arno carry the evening, and a negroni in its city of origin is obligatory.
Travelling as a family
Families climb the dome, cross the Ponte Vecchio's goldsmith stalls and run off energy in the Boboli Gardens, with gelato as the day's recurring reward. Villa hotels in the hills add pools and space, and Pinocchio's Tuscan roots supply a ready theme.
Travelling as a couple
Couples should time the Piazzale Michelangelo for sunset, book a candlelit dinner in the Oltrarno and reserve a day for a private Chianti drive with cellar lunches. A rooftop terrace overlooking the dome is Florence's most romantic asset.
Cultural highlights
- The Uffizi Gallery and Michelangelo's David at the Accademia
- Brunelleschi's dome and the Baptistery doors
- The Ponte Vecchio and Oltrarno artisan workshops
- The Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace
Stories from Florence
The Browntravels Edit
Exceptional hotels, delivered beautifully.
Exceptional hotels, new openings and destination inspiration, delivered beautifully. Once a week, never more.