Boutique hotels
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Continentale
- Style
- Bright and witty
- Setting
- Pole position by Ponte Vecchio
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Floroom
- Style
- Double vision
- Setting
- Either side of the Arno
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Gallery Hotel Art
- Style
- Classic-contemporary comfort
- Setting
- Oasis on the Arno
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Grand Hotel Villa Cora
- Style
- Renaissance of a masterpiece
- Setting
- Bordering on Boboli
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Hotel Savoy
- Style
- Chic and child-friendly
- Setting
- Ultra-central Piazza della Repubblica
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Il Salviatino
- Style
- Hip historic villa
- Setting
- Lush, leafy hillside
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JK Place Firenze
- Style
- Private perfection
- Setting
- Poised on a piazza
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Palazzo Vecchietti
- Style
- Discreetly decadent townhouse
- Setting
- Strozzi shopping streets
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Riva Lofts
- Style
- Hip and homely
- Setting
- Leafy Arno riverside
Self-catering properties
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Platinhome
- Style
- Apartments with Florentine flair
- Setting
- Historic Piazza della Repubblica
Florence Overview
Tuscany
- Cityscape
- Rich Renaissance tapestry
- City life
- Shopping and strolling
For a city boasting more past glories than the average continent, the capital of Tuscany is excitingly forward-looking.
A love affair between culture, commerce and good living, Florence has long been celebrated as the most aesthetically pleasing city in all Italy, if not the world. And between the fairytale squares, centuries-old churches and sprawling palaces run streets alive with sociability, style and irresistible shopping.
Fabulously Florence
Go for a jog in Cascine Park. Browse the antiques market in Piazza dei Ciompi. Have lunch in a trattoria in Mercato Centrale. Rent a vintage car and explore the hills (www.bellinitravel.com).
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- You can’t hail a cab on the street; go to a designated fermata di taxi.
- Tipping culture
- Five to ten per cent.
- Packing tips
- A sketchbook, a sunhat, sensible shoes.
- Recommended reads
- A Room with a View by EM Forster; The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.
- Cuisine
- Pasta e fagioli (beans), T-bone steak, game, Chianti. Panforte nero di Siena: a spicy confection of almonds, honey, cocoa and candied peel.
- Currency
- Euro.
- Dialling codes
- Country code for Italy: 39. Florence: 055.
- Do go/don't go
- Florence is packed with tourists throughout the summer months, when it’s also very humid.
