We just recently spent 4 nights in Florence (actually 5 - more on that below) — traveling there by train from Genoa and before our departure by train to Bologna. I will share what I suspect will be controversial opinions about our stay, but first the good things (in a lot of detail that I hope will be helpful):
We stayed at the Guest House Morandi, a cozy small hotel about a 15 minute walk from the Duomo and a 5 minute walk to the Academie, where Michelangelo’s David is housed, and 5 minutes from the Museo San Marco. This is not a traditional hotel - there are only 12 rooms and a small but nicely appointed reception area that is only staffed during the day, 9-5. Rooms have small fridges stocked with free bottled water and there is complementary espresso via a pod machine in the lobby.
Our host Dario was incredibly accommodating - giving us his personal cell phone number if we needed anything after hours and going over a map with recommendations for restaurants and places to see. After we had checked out and were walking around for a bit before our train (we had left our luggage at the hotel), my husband had a migraine that manifested as extreme vertigo. Dario was very helpful booking us back into a room, and getting information if we needed to call a doctor (they make house calls in Italy). This was our unplanned fifth night in Florence - I changed our train tickets and my husband felt better, so we traveled to Bologna the next day.
If you decide to stay there and are booking a double room, room #1 is on the small side, facing the street which is mostly quiet though the students at the nearby school are rather chatty in the afternoon when classes let out. It faces the back of the Archeological Museum, which isn’t much of a view but is very private, as there are no windows across the street. Room #9 is more nicely appointed and larger, with a more spacious bathroom. The window faces an interior air-well and directly across is the window to another guest room, so less privacy. The reception area also has a window on the air-well and the light is on all night long, so if darkness is important for your sleep, that’s something to consider.
The Duomo is so large, it defies description. It’s like when you first see the Grand Canyon and it’s more vast than you could imagine. I bought advance tickets that allowed us to skip the very long line to get in. Advance tickets enter near the crypt door which is on the side of the cathedral where the campanile (bell tower is). The inside is interesting but it’s the outside that will knock your socks off.
If you are traveling to Florence before the end of January 2026, DO NOT MISS the Fra Angelico (Beato Angelico in Italian) exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi. It is the first time so many of his works are assembled together from museums all over the world (apparently many of the multi-part altar pieces were looted by the Napoleonic army and sold and re-sold over the years). It is truly phenomenal exhibit. I would recommend getting advance tickets.
We had some good meals but the blocks around the Duomo are all going to be touristy and overpriced. We had a very good meal at Ristorante Natalino, which is about a 10 minute walk from where we stayed.
We had truly memorable meals at Il Latini (a big splurge, but the best steak either of us have ever had - not Beefsteak Fiorentina but rather a Chianina T-bone steak for two which was on the specials menu, very tender and flavorful) and at Casa Ciabattini, a small and modern restaurant with a fresh take on traditional Tuscan cooking.