Does anyone have a suggestion as to where to stay within easy reach of the Florence airport but not in the city of Florence? We have a car and the flight is late morning so it doesn’t need to be right next to the airport.
We stayed here in a similar situation. Novotel is an Accor brand , clean and comfortable Book directly on the Accor website . A short drive to the airport , car rental returns are right by the airport . Look here - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Novotel+Firenze+Nord+Aeroporto/@43.8079074,11.1807143,15.75z/data=!4m8!3m7!1s0x132a5779eb5b7bc3:0xc82f358fa5150fa9!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d43.8100372!4d11.1783085
If you must absolutely stay not too far from the airport I would look into the Novoli Hilton Garden Inn. The hotel is probably the nicest in that area and next to the light rail tramway stop (San Donato-University station) so you could take it to downtown for a visit, if you want. Novotel located in the Osmannoro district of Sesto Fiorentino, a separate municipality, is also nice, but it's in a commercial/industrial area with not even a restaurant around.