Florence, Italy

Gallery Hotel Art

Price per night from$323.87

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR298.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Classic-contemporary comfort

Setting

Renaissance oasis

The overriding impression of the Gallery Hotel Art is one of impeccable quality; furniture and fittings are all stylish but solid, eschewing gimmicks or novelties. Modern lines and a minimalist-inclined decor contrast with the flagstone streets and centuries-old architecture outside.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of wine and Salvatore Ferragamo bath products

Facilities

Photos Gallery Hotel Art facilities

Need to know

Rooms

74.

Check–Out

Noon. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £280.32 (€328), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €4.90 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates sometimes include breakfast (€36 a person) and a nightly city tax of €4.90 a person.

At the hotel

Private tour guide; chauffeured car service; small library; free WiFi.

Our favourite rooms

Two penthouses on the seventh floor have amazing views; 701 and 707 each have a terrace with a super-comfy lounger on the deck, and impressive views over Palazzo Vecchio (701) or Palazzo Pitti (707). Slightly smaller 708 also has a terrace, that faces Romanesque San Miniato al Monte; and it can be connected with 707 for some extra space.

Packing tips

A sketchbook, a sunhat, sensible shoes.

Also

The hotel has a rotating art gallery with works by local artists.

Pet‐friendly

One dog, under 20kg, is welcome for €50 (for the whole stay), and they get a bed, bowl and treats. They’re allowed in public spaces (except the restaurant) on a leash, but mustn’t be left unattended in your room. A sitter’s available on request. See more pet-friendly hotels in Florence.

Children

Although the hotel welcomes families, it's not especially geared towards children and there are no specific facilities for kids.

Food and Drink

Photos Gallery Hotel Art food and drink

Top Table

Go alfresco on the cabana when it’s warm.

Dress Code

The clientele is as mixed as the cuisine; you’ll fit in whatever your style.

Hotel restaurant

Fusion by name and by nature, serving a unique blend of Peruvian and Japanese cuisine. You'll be advised on which wines go with each course. Breakfast will be delivered to your room; this must be booked in advance.

Hotel bar

For the best cocktails in town, cosy up at the Fusion’s cabana; just ask the in-house mixologists to curate a tailored-for-you cocktail. 

Last orders

The Fusion Bar & Restaurant is open from 5pm to 12am, Thursday to Monday.

Room service

7am–11pm. A snack menu is available until noon, when the restaurant menu becomes available.

Location

Photos Gallery Hotel Art location
Address
Gallery Hotel Art
5 Vicolo dell’Oro
Florence
50123
Italy

Planes

The nearest airport is Florence Airport (known by locals as Amerigo Vespucci Airport, and, sometimes, Peretola Airport), which is roughly 20 minutes’ drive from the Gallery Hotel Art. Take a taxi from the airport for around €25, or jump on the airport bus, which costs €6 each way, and leaves every 30 minutes for Florence’s Santa Maria Novella train station. The other option is to fly to Pisa (Galileo Galilei) airport, which is served by more airlines from the UK (including Ryanair and British Airways) and has a direct rail connection to the centre of Florence. A one-way train ticket will cost €13.90, and the journey takes 45 minutes.

Trains

It’s a mere stroll from the hotel to Florence’s busy train station, Santa Maria Novella (just behind the piazza of the same name), which offers a wealth of Italian and European connections. You can get to Rome by high-speed train in an hour and a half, or to Milan in just under two hours.

Automobiles

The hotel is so central, a car is more likely to prove a hindrance than a help as you explore Florence’s bustling streets, bridges and squares. There are plenty of taxis for the hailing, or you can catch one of the bright orange buses to carry you around the city centre (tickets are available from vending machines and tobacco shops). However, if you’re planning to visit the countryside surrounding Florence, a car will be very useful indeed. You can rent one from the hotel, and park there too; alternatively, hire a vintage car to explore the Tuscan hills in style. If booking a hire car, be aware that driving through the restricted central zone (ZTL) can result in hefty fines, let the hotel know on arrival and they can arrange a temporary permit for you. We also suggest contacting the hotel for directions as the roads can get a little confusing and signal is ropey downtown.

Worth getting out of bed for

You're in central Florence, so the city is yours to explore. The masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery are a mere five-minute walk away. The Duomo, Baptistery, Palazzo Vecchio and the Gucci Museum are all within 10 minutes' walk, and guests get one free entry to the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum (after all, the well-heeled designer owns the hotel). Ponte Vecchio's jewellery shops are nearly on your doorstep. If you want fresh air, sun and some greenery, Boboli and Bardini Gardens are close by, and the Ugolino Golf Club is a 20-minute drive away.

Local restaurants

Cantina Barbagianni on Via Sant’Egidio is in an ancient cellar; ideal for dinner per due, or head there for their great value two-course lunch. Cibreo on Via de’ Macci may be the most famous trattoria in Italy; it’s formal and glamorous. Michelin-starred Enoteca Pinchiorri on Via Ghibellina is set in a Renaissance palace, where Giorgio Pinchiorri himself helps you choose from his 150,000-bottle cellar; jacket and tie required. Olio & Convivium on Via Santo Spirito is a delicatessen and restaurant specialising in olive oils, native wines and local cheeses. ll Latini on Via Palchetti can be hit or miss – but get there on a good night (ie: not full to the gills with tourists) and it’s great fun. The kitchen decides what you’ll be eating – you just name the colour of wine you prefer, and whether you want fish or meat. Il Parione is a cosy trattoria on Via del Parione, great for candlelit dinners. Rose's on Via del Parione is a café during the day and a sushi bar/Japanese restaurant in the evening. Buca Mario on Piazza degli Ottaviani is an excellent family-run trattoria preparing traditional Tuscan dishes, including delicious steak alla Fiorentina with Tuscan cannellini.

Many restaurants close on Sunday or Monday; call our Smith team to check first.

Local cafés

Overlooking Michelangelo’s David in Piazza della Signoria, Caffè Rivoire is a people-watching hub. Caffè Pitti becomes a restaurant at night, specialising in truffle dishes. The Roberto Cavalli-owned Giacosa in Piazza della Libertà, linked to his shop on Via della Spada, is a busy, fashiony place for breakfast, lunch, coffee and cocktails. Seek out JK Place's sister establishment, the very sexy Lounge, on Piazza Santa Maria Novella.

Local bars

Smith-approved Continentale’s rooftop bar La Terrazza is a place to see and be seen; the glmaourous bar has sweeping city views. Pair a glass of local wine with a charcuterie board and a view of the Pitti Palace at Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina

Reviews

Photos Gallery Hotel Art reviews
Juliet Kinsman

Anonymous review

By Juliet Kinsman, On-the-go editor

Florence can coax amazement out of the most jaded traveller. Snooty voyagers who’ve been known to snigger at the more naïve tourist’s awed remark about how old everything is will find this is one place where they can’t help but share those sentiments.

We are delighted to discover that our very stylish boutique hotel, which comes courtesy of the Ferragamo family, is seconds from the 14th-century Ponte Vecchio. It’s the stuff fairytales are made of: tiny jewellery shops line the narrow cobblestoned bridge. As do tourists. Happily, in a city teeming with sightseers, the Gallery Hotel Art is all calm. On arrival, we wonder if word has sneaked out we’re here to review – our room has been upgraded, and staff are super-friendly. Then we realise that everyone gets VIP treatment.

Modern lines and a minimalist-inclined decor contrast with the flagstone streets and centuries-old architecture outside. The overriding impression of the Gallery Hotel Art is one of impeccable quality; furniture and fittings are all stylish but solid, eschewing gimmicks or novelties. It’s through a heavy door that we enter our room. Cream, silver and dark wood – the perfumer Jo Malone would approve of the colour palette. The feel is contemporary but classical, and doesn’t sacrifice comfort for whimsical design. As tempting as it is to stall here and savour our surrounds (and the petits fours left on the dresser), the sound of live jazz lures us down to dinner.

The only outdoor space at Gallery Art is a delightful little terrace by the bar and restaurant. If you don’t manage to grab an alfresco spot, inside is also appealing, whether you sit at the bar, on a sofa in the corner or at a table for two next to the wall. Peopled by young and old, dressed-up and low-key, its biggest surprise isn’t the clientele or the decor, but the Italian, French and Japanese fusion cuisine – best illustrated by the test tubes of flavoured oils and soy sauce on each table. The staff are proud of the unique menu; Italians have been slow to embrace tastes even beyond the regional, each truly believing their own local cooking to be the best in the world. Mr Smith congratulates the waiter on his recommended red’s harmony with the tender fillet; such is the Italian love of food, our sommelier says, in earnest: ‘This is a beautiful moment for you.’

Though the cocktail selection in the hotel is exceptional, too, after dinner we’re in the mood for a wander, and plump for a nightcap along the river at Capocaccia. We snuggle on a rattan sofa on the pavement, in prime position for seeing rather than being seen; there’s a lot of coloured denim on the prowl, worn impressively tight. We’re not in a country of big drinkers, and after two mojitos (speciality of the house) we feel ready to head home.

The value of a room where you can have such a wonderful night’s sleep should not be underestimated. The windows keep out every peep of light, blinds stop the Tuscan sun from rousing you prematurely, and you can programme your desired room temperature. Breakfast is just how it should be: a spread of fantastic pastries, hams, cheeses – we could happily stay a few hours, grazing, especially as there is no clue that an outside world exists. Japanese blinds block out any views of the tiny alleys, cocooning you away in the library-style lounge and dining area.

The queues for all the major sights are so enormous on this scorching day that we can’t face broiling in a line only to be jostled along with a herd, however world-famous the art. You’re guaranteed a fix of one masterpiece at least – a copy of Michelangelo’s David is considerately placed outdoors for all to see at their leisure – so after a look at him we escape the crowd and head, predictably, to Boboli Gardens, south of the river, past Palazzo Pitti. It’s deceptively enormous, and we get lost in lush green foliage.

We’re grateful for the workout we get from its steep inclines, in anticipation of the mountains of pasta we plan to consume at lunch. Our destination for doing just that is at the other end of town, but Florence doesn’t take long to traverse. It also gives us the opportunity to get some first-class window-shopping done en route. Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Hermès line our path, and then appear again on the next street. Markets overflow with handbags, belts and jewellery. If you’re someone who shares the sartorial sensibilities of Donatella Versace, you’re especially in luck; glittering animal prints and tassels abound.

It may only be a step up from kiss-me-quick hats in the tourist stakes (and a heck of a lot less sympathetic to your wallet), but we get a memorable tour from the Duomo, round to Santa Croce, past the Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio. Despite the fact that the sun is nowhere near the yard arm yet, and our lunch is barely digested, Florence is home to such quality comestibles that we can’t help thinking about our next meal. We pause for thought, and a glass of Chianti. Italians won’t neglect any opportunity to feed or be fed; so antipasto is on offer where you’d be lucky to get a bowl of peanuts back home.

After peeking at a few attempts at contemporary cool, we settle on family-run trattoria Buca Mario, where there are plenty of locals, affording us the best of both worlds: food that tastes home-made, and waiters well-practiced in playing both server and entertainer to English speakers. We end our night with an animated ‘chat’ with the matriarch of the trattoria; the fact that she speaks as little English as we do Italian doesn’t impede our merry conversation over a limoncello. It’s the fitting finale to a whirlwind stay at Gallery Hotel Art, into which we’ve still squeezed all we craved. Rather like the power generation of drinks and medicines that fuels us these days, it’s been Holiday Max Strength. And, boy, do we feel good.

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Price per night from $323.87