Florence, Italy

The James Suite Hotel

Price per night from$462.63

Price information

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

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR398.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

The James Suite Hotel Photos

Style

Convent-ionally attractive

Setting

Ambrosial Sant’Ambrogio

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It may have been home to nuns back in the 16th century, but there’s nothing ascetic about The James Suite Hotel in Florence. In the palazzo’s spacious rooms, vaulted ceilings and Renaissance frescoes play backdrop to a va-va-voom pairing of vintage furniture and contemporary art. The candlelit cocktail bar, glasshouse-like restaurant and city-gazing rooftop terrace round out the cinematic settings. This former convent’s final miracle: it’s in an authentic, undersung neighbourhood a few minutes from the Duomo. Amen.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

€40 in credit for the restaurant and bar

Facilities

Photos The James Suite Hotel facilities

Need to know

Rooms

14, including nine suites.

Check–Out

Noon; check-in is at 2pm. Both are flexible by an hour, subject to availability and an extra fee.

More details

Rates include a buffet breakfast, served in The James Restaurant.

Also

Unfortunately, due to the building’s historic nature, The James Suite Hotel is not suitable for guests with limited mobility.

Please note

The hotel’s national identification code (CIN) is IT048017A1BYIPWUJW

At the hotel

Rooftop terrace, paid laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, minibar, free bottled water, bathrobes, slippers, Dyson hairdryer and Ortigia bath products.

Our favourite rooms

The JC Suite’s angelic fresco is a showstopper, but there's the lure of morning coffee out on your private patio if you go for a Court Suite (snag one with a mini sauna and we're sold).

Packing tips

Come with the full covered market arsenal: tote bags, a list of Tuscan recipes you’ve always meant to try out, and napkins for on-the-hoof tastings.

Also

James Cavagnani’s design equation — part vintage finds from his worldly travels, part Tuscan craftsmanship — makes for an exciting game of eye spy as you move through the palazzo (Moroccan pendant lamp, Persian rug, carved Chinese cabinet...).

Children

All ages are welcome, but children are not especially catered to. The Master Suite has a single sofa-bed which can be made up on request.

Food and Drink

Photos The James Suite Hotel food and drink

Top Table

Choose a red-striped chair under the skylight for an instant serotonin boost.

Dress Code

Glam vintage matched with striking modern pieces.

Hotel restaurant

The James Restaurant’s head chef brings a fine-dining feel to all-Italian menus that rotate around the regions. One week might be all about Tuscan traditions, while another spotlights lesser-known dishes from Lazio. But between the chevron-striped bamboo chairs, vintage Hermès sofa and voluminous tropical greenery, one thing is for sure: you’ll feel as if you're tucking into tortelli in the winter garden of a mid-century socialite.

Hotel bar

There’s a hint of old Hollywood about 1564 Lounge Bar. Under original vaulted ceilings, fringe-skirted chairs in sage velvet and a blush-pink chandelier set a romantic scene. The cocktails, which blend homemade infusions with unexpected botanicals, will help with that too... Lulled by the curated tunes and the soft glow of the table lamps, don’t be surprised if you and your co-star find yourselves ordering another (and another) before the credits roll. 

There's also a rooftop terrace with an honesty bar, open whenever you fancy. Help yourself to coffee or champagne as you gaze out across Florence’s terracotta-hued houses towards the dome of the historic synagogue.

Last orders

Breakfast is served at The James Restaurant from 7.30am to 10.30am; lunch is 12.30pm to 2.30pm, and dinner is 7.30pm to 10.30pm. 1564 Lounge Bar pours from 6pm to 1am.

Room service

There’s a separate room service menu, so you can graze on antipasti while starfishing on your bed in a bathrobe, just as nature intended.

Location

Photos The James Suite Hotel location
Address
The James Suite Hotel
Via di Mezzo 20
Florence
50121
Italy

The James Suite Hotel is in Sant’Ambrogio, a residential neighbourhood in Florence’s Centro Storico.

Planes

The hotel is a half-hour drive from Florence Airport. Staff can arrange transfers on request from €120 each way.

Trains

High-speed services from Italy’s major cities including Rome, Venice and Milan pass through Florence Santa Maria Novella station, which is around a 20-minute drive from the hotel. Transfers are available from €90 each way.

Automobiles

There’s no private carpark at the hotel, but valet parking is available for €80 a day.

Worth getting out of bed for

Mercato Sant’Ambrogio is a storied covered market open daily, with stalls piled with produce straight from Tuscan farms. Come to stock up on truffles, olives and pecorino toscano as you weave between locals doing their weekly shop. The Chiesa di Sant’Ambrogio slips under the radar of most art aficionados, but inside you’ll find frescoes and altarpieces by a series of Renaissance masters, including Botticelli and Lippi. The Basilica de Santa Croce, with its Giotto works and big-name tombs (Michelangelo and Galileo are both buried here), is a five-minute walk from the hotel. It’s 10 minutes to the Duomo, and Florence must-dos (like Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Galleries) are within strolling distance, too.

Local restaurants

The flagship spot of a family-run empire at the heart of Sant’Ambrogio’s food scene, Cibrèo Ristorante is known for its nourishing Italian fare and obsession with quality produce. Food truck Tripperia Pollini on Via de’Macci is a long-time local favourite for Florence’s traditional lampredotto sandwiches. And regional classics are elevated at La Chicca, where the seafood is a particular hit.

Local cafés

When you’ve had your fill of street-side espressos, head to Coffee Mantra for a craft flat white. Pasticceria Nencioni is the place to pick up millefoglie, sfogliatine and other delicious mouthfuls.

Local bars

Enoteca Alla Sosta dei Papi hits all the right notes for a neighbourhood wine bar — knowledgeable staff, a laidback atmosphere and excellent people-watching from the pavement tables. 

Set in a historic prison turned vibrant community hub, Caffé Letterario is a versatile all-day spot. By day, students serve their time huddled over laptops; swing by in the evening for cocktails, pizzas and occasional live music out in the atmospheric courtyard.

Reviews

Photos The James Suite Hotel reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this palazzo in Italy and unpacked their Ortigia candles and flea market scores, a full account of their Renaissance break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The James Suite Hotel in Florence… 

In 1564, Shakespeare and Galileo were born...and a convent was built in Florence’s Sant’Ambrogio neighbourhood. It was a big year, as it turns out, for things that have stood the test of time.  

Today, that convent is home to The James Suite Hotel. Designer James Cavagnani’s deft collaging of eras and colours keeps things timeless, with rooms that — in step with Roman sister stays and Smith stablemates Palazzo Manfredi and The Palm Suite — feel straight out of a cosmopolitan collector’s home. The restaurant proves (as if it was ever in doubt) that authentic Italian food never goes out of style, especially when it’s masterminded by a Michelin-pedigree chef and served in a retro glasshouse. Up on the rooftop terrace at dusk, cork popping as the sky turns crimson over Florence, you might find yourself thinking: Hamlet, heliocentrism who? Your heart’s been stolen by another Renaissance treasure with centuries’ worth of staying power.

Book now

Price per night from $444.05

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