I'm hoping to get to the wonderful Fra Angelico exhibition in January. Ideally I'd be in Florence from about 1/12-16/26.

I'd like an affordable B&B in the historic district as San Marco and the Palazzo Strozzi are the locus of the exhibition. By affordable, I think I mean under $150 per night if possible.

I also welcome all suggestions for restaurants. Quiet small places, please. My time will be my own so should I do some shopping? Where? I know it is winter. That's okay.

Thanks for all your recommendations and your enthusiasms!

Ellen

An affordable hotel in San Marco is Le Due Fontane, I looked for your dates and it seems within your budget. I have not stayed here personally as my budget is higher but a friend recommended it and my son and his wife stayed there. They said it was clean and comfortable and the included breakfast was decent. It is very convenient to the sites in the centre.
In terms of shopping, I can help but is there something in particular you want to shop for?

https://www.leduefontane.it/
Here is the link for the hotel.

Here’s another Florence stay under €150 a night you might consider:
B&B De Biffi
The B&B is about halfway between Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco.

The ebst affordable hotel that you can find is Milu Hotel, reagrding the places to explore, how long is your travle? can you suggest you some cool spots.

Hotel Milu is also a great choice for a stay in Florence but prices for January 2026 seem to be higher than the €150 target.

We saw the Fra Angelico exhibition the day before the article about it appeared in the New York Times. When we went, despite Florence being jam-packed with tourists, there was no line and the exhibition had only a small number of people going through it at leisure. Don't know if the NYT article has changed that. The exhibition venue is an easy walk from most of Florence.

As for restaurants, our favorite from our most recent trip (and previous trips) is Il Borro Tuscan Bistro, Don't know what it's like in January, but most of the time reservations are required. https://www.ilborrotuscanbistro.it/en/

We've dined here several times over many years:

https://ristoranteilpaiolo.it/en/

It's on Vis del Corso, about halfway between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria. It's a small place, so we've always made reservations.