A group of 5 girls, including myself, are traveling to Florence and the rest of Italy in May. We are inexperienced travelers and therefore are looking for a very safe and central location. Any advice on a hostel or inexpensive hotel to stay at in Florence? We will be there for 3 days. Thanks!
- Reagan

can you tell us your budget per night and maybe how many per room?

Consider these:
http://www.istitutogould.it (no curfew, set up for both private rooms and dorm rooms)
http://www.fmmfirenze.it (11:30 PM summer curfew, set up more for private rooms but you may be able to get a double + triple or some such thing)

There are many other options, too, but I know these are in very good areas.

Hotel Casci.

you could try for an apartment as there are 5 of you...should be cheaper per person than separate hotel rooms. look at homeinflorence.com as they do apartments in addition to a BB.

Hi d,

I can recommend the B&B Peterson. Not fr from the train station on a busy, well lit street in a residential area.

about 60E/dbl cheaper w/a shared bathroom.

www.bedinflorence.it

Reagan--
Five of us girls, just returned from Italy. We rented an apartment from San Lorenzo Apartments (www.sleepinginflorence.com)
We felt very safe and it was in a great central location (10 min. walk from train station). The cost was 150 Euro per night. When split by 5, that's not much more than a hostel. There was also a washer/dryer we could use in our apartment. They may have a 4 night minimum, but I don't remember.
I also checked out Hotel Casci, for my aunt, who is staying there in May, and they had some very nice rooms, also in a safe location.

topping

For hostel recommendations I think you may get more advice by looking at the Lonely Planet website for Europe/Italy, and/or posting your same question on their chat board. The website is lonleyplanet.com. Lonely Planet specializes in budget travel, especially hostel/budget accommodations. You might also consider buying the Lonely Planet guide for Italy. (My apologies to Fodors).
If you want to post this same question on the Lonely Planet website chat room for Europe, go to lonelyplanet.com. One the main page, select "Thorn Tree", then in the "select a branch" window, scroll down to "Western Europe" . The site is somewhat similar to this Talk section of the Fodors site. You could also run a search in the Thorn tree for "hostels/convents in Florence".
Consider staying in convents rather than hostels. These are generally women-only, are very clean and safe. Drawback is that they generally have a curfew around midnight or so and doors are locked if you are late. One in Florence is:
CASA SANTO NOME DI GESÙ
(Piazza del Carmine 21 50124 Firenze,
Tel. 055.213.856, Fax: 055.281.835
e-mail: [email protected].

I have not stayed there, but have seen the outside and it looks nice (of course what can I tell from the outside?) It is across the Arno in a quieter section of Florence.