My husband and I just got back from our first trip to Italy (Rome, Florence, and Venice), and I really just have to rave about a little one star hotel we stayed at in Florence called Il Bargellino. It consists of 10 rooms with gorgeous marble floors throughout. The rooms are gigantic for European standards (literally the largest I have seen in Europe withot paying through the nose), and are beautifully furnished with antiques that the owner's have lovingly refinished. The hotel is owned by Carmel Coppola, who is originally from the U.S., and her gracious husband Pino, who made us feel right at home. Carmel and Pino were invaluable during our stay, and helped with everything from booking museum tours for the Uffizi and Accademia, to offering suggestions for restaurants. They basically did whatever they could to make our stay an enormously pleasant one. Several of the rooms have French doors which lead out to a gorgeous terrace with chirping birds and beautiful trees and flowers. This was a wonderful place to have lunch when the weather was warm. The hotel is located 5 minutes from the trains station--but NOT in the seedy area. You would literally never know the station is so close! There are many great restaurants in the area, as well as the San Lorenzo Central Market, where we liked to assemble picnics for lunch. The Duomo is 5 or 10 minutes away by foot. The hotel doesn't serve breakfast, but there are great cafes right on the same street. When I saw the quality of this hotel, I couldn't believe the price--only 64 EU a night! And, believe me, I am a PICKY princess! It is only 10 EU more for a room with a bath! Next time we go to Florence, I will, without a doubt, be staying at Il Bargellino. If you'd like more info, the web site is www.ilbargellino.com and the hotel is located at 87 Via Guelfa.

jbanash -- your post makes this hotel sounds so nice!

i'm getting married in June and we are honeymooning in italy -- we will be in florence for only 2 nights as we make our way down to positano -- our train gets to florence on a sunday morning, will walk around florence on sunday day and stay sunday night and then monday we have a driver taking us to wineries/castles in tuscany and then we'll come back to florence for dinner and to sleep and then take the train down to naples...

we already have reservations at the Plaza Hotel Lucchesi, but i haven't seen a lot Fodors reviews on this hotel of late and for some reason when I read your post, the idea of staying close to the train station at a more quaint and economical place sounds appealing...

any advice? do you think il bargellino would be a nice place given our trip description and the fact that it is our honeymoon?

nbs_mjs,

We stayed at the Antica Torre di Tornabuoni No. 1 in Florence for our honeymoon last October. I looked at the website for Plaza Hotel Lucchesi and it seemed the rates would be comparable. The Antica Torre is a small hotel (12 rooms only) located on the 4th and 5th floor of an old tower that's a 5 minute walk from the Ponte Vecchio. Great location, big rooms. Beautiful views and a huge, gorgeous terrace. Helpful service at the front desk. Only downside is that there is no one on staff after 8 p.m. (they give you an electronic key to access to hotel after that), so if you want a full service hotel, it wouldn't be for you. For us, it was a good value. We stayed in Room 404, which has a great view of the Duomo.

You check look at the hotel's website:
www.tornabuoni1.com

You can also read my trip report, which describes the hotel (we also went to Positano, too):

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34459078

I wouldn't worry too much about the hotel location relative to the train station--Florence is so small that it'll be a short cab ride if you're in town.

Hi nbs mjs,

My family stayed four nights at Soggiorno Battistero in Florence. As you face the Duomo in the piazza it's in the building directly across from the baptistry. Kelly and Lucca are wonderful hosts and Kelly hails from San Jose. The view looking down at the baptistry and Duomo everyday is etched in my brain. Just another choice so check out their website.
==Mike

Hi all! The hotels you have been talking about sound wonderful. I will be checking them out as we plan for our trip next Sept. We stayed at the Plaza Lucchesi a couple years ago and found it to be very nice. The views were amazing and we liked being so close to Santa Croce (a must see). However, it was quite a way from many of the other sites in Florence. This time we want to be a little closer in. We love the San Lorenzo area. Happy travels!