Florence stay- Il Bargellino, Dei Mori or Old Bridge?
 

Hello! I apologize for those users who also use SlowTalk.com, as I have posted both places!

I need some help deciding between these three places for my honeymoon:

Il Bargellino Hotel
Dei Mori B&B
Florence Old Bridge B&B

I've read some mixed reviews about them, and would love any opinions or recent experiences.

They all have advantages to them- we love the idea of a rooftop terrace (Il Bargellino), frescoes and artwork (Dei Mori), and staying in the Oltrarno (Old Bridge). We've re-evaluated our budget a bit, and all are within our price range, though Old Bridge is a bit more expensive.

Also, any other recommendations would be great! Because this is the first leg of our honeymoon, we would like a place with a bit of charm. Centrality is not as much of an issue; we are young and healthy and can walk a bit. We need it to be around 100 Euros in June.

Thank you!

I stayed at the Dei Mori a couple of years ago. I thought it was perfectly fine. Great location. Nice owners.

Hello,

We've stayed at Ill Barghellino this past May and found it a very pleasant little hotel. The rooftop terrace was great, particularly for socializing with other guests or drinking that bottle of lovely Chianti in the evening :)

The hosts were very pleasant, the room was spacious and clean with nice tall ceilings and the bathroom was spotless. Our room was facing the street and it was a bit on a loud side one morning when the local workmen were taking down scaffolding nearby but other than that I found the street to be pretty reasonably quiet at night. So I think Ill Barghellino is a good value for the money (we paid about 75 euro in late May).

Thank you for your replies!

Kasper, how was the neighborhood of Il Bargellino? I am not familiar with Florence so I can't tell anything from the street address.

Thank you!

We are leaning heavily towards Il Bargellino. Has anyone else (thank you, kasper!) stayed recently? Can you tell me a bit about the Via Guelfa area?

Thank you! :)

Tarheel....how soon will you be going? We have reservations at the Il Bargellino for Oct. 22nd. I will be sure and post as soon as we return.

Thank you, Kathy! We are not going until May 31, so we have a bit of time. We would like to reserve soon, but I'm definitely interested in hearing your experiences! :)

Sorry, I am a bit late with reply.

The neighborhood was fine - it's on a narrowish street, there were a few restaurants and wine shops popular with locals on that street (can't remember the name). Carmela sent us to a corner cafe for breakfast, which we liked quite a bit - I could get custard filled croissants for breakfast (!) and my hubby got his scrambled eggs:)

Another convenience was having a dry cleaner/laundromat literally across the street from the hotel - we made use of it before leaving Florence. Beware that they may or may not return all of your clothes back (not that just that particular dry cleaner, seems to be endemic in Italy) due to mix ups. We got someone else's t-shirt which we promptly returned, and my husband is convinced to this day that a pair of his socks (yeah, he keeps track of those :) ) was left in Florence. In any case, we got our basics cleaned and were quite happy not to have to run all over town looking for dry cleaners.

So as long as you are not expecting the Ritz you probably will be satisfied with the hotel and the location. We have very basic requirements for our accomodations (including our honeymoon in Europe - it was mostly B&Bs), so take my feedback with that in mind. As long as the hotel is clean, has ensuite bath and is centrally located, we are happy. Nice owners/managers/employees are a plus as well.

I stayed in that area a few years ago, my first time in Italy, when I was young and fit (like you apparently still are, lucky devils). I was with two of my girlfriends, and while we weren't at the hotel you're considering, we liked the area.

It didn't feel far to us, and we liked the restaurants around there. In fact, last spring I walked over to visit some of my old favorites. Of course I couldn't remember where exactly they were, so I ended up finding new ones. One was even nice enough for my mother!

TarheelsinNj....wanted to let you know about the Hotel Il Bargellino in Florence as I had promised. We spent 5 nights there and loved it. The owners, Carmel and Pino, are lovely people willing to help in any way. Our room happened to open onto the rooftop terrace but all rooms have access. The rooms are all furnished with antiques and our room was actually quite roomy. Some have removated bathrooms but ours did not. My husband is over 6 ft. so the shower was a challenge for him but he managed. We would definitaly stay here again....a budget hotel with lots of character. I think the terrace made the big difference for us as we did not have this at any of the other hotels we stayed at in Italy.

Kathy, thank you so much for the information! I am so glad to hear you had a good trip, and am looking more forward to our Il Bargellino stay every day!