Choose a luxury hotel in Florence with Small Luxury Hotels of the World and immerse yourself in the home of Renaissance art, sip Negroni cocktails in a palazzo-lined piazza and be tempted by diamond jewellery glittering in boutiques on the Ponte Vecchio.
Things to do in Florence
Horse-drawn carriages take you from the extravagant Duomo to hilltop Fiesole for entrancing views of Florence’s terracotta rooftops. Craftsmen get your measure for handmade leather shoes on Via Tornabuoni and intimate boutiques sell Florentine luxury leather journals. Strolls through the Boboli Gardens lead to Baroque sculptural fantasies and grottoes, and celebrated views of Florence from the Villa Bardini. Watch the sun rise over the medieval towers of Tuscan hill towns from a hot-air balloon.
Art experiences in Florence
A private tour avoids the long queues for Botticelli allegories at the Uffizi Gallery. The royal apartments at the Pitti Palace reveal a taste for sumptuous fabrics and crystal chandeliers, and artworks by Titian and Raphael in the Medicis’ private art collection in the Palatine Gallery. For an exclusive stroll along Cosimo de’ Medici’s portrait-lined Vasari Corridor to the Ponte Vecchio, take a guided walk through Florence with a Rinascimento art expert.
Gourmet Florence
Order rare chianina steak under the frescoed ceiling of a palazzo restaurant, or taste zucchini blossoms under the arched brick roof of a cellar enoteca. A chauffeur can drive you out to the exclusive Tuscan vineyard of an Italian aristocrat to taste Chianti Classico. Cocktail bars in Santo Spirito serve snacks at aperitivo hour, like delicate sandwiches with Tuscan chicken liver paste arranged buffet-style on the marble counter.
Select Small Luxury Hotels of the World for a luxury hotel in Florence by the River Arno, where butler service is de rigueur in a Renaissance palazzo. Stretch out in a stylish townhouse suite or wander through manicured parklands surrounding a frescoed villa.