Italiana Hotels Florence - Firenze

We stayed two nights during our escorted tour of Italy. We arrived late afternoon and walked past the gas station to the only open cafe for supper. We sat outside after ordering. The hotel was very modern, our room was spacious, and we only had the breakfast twice, it was great sitting at the tables by the pool. The tour provided transportation to watch the sunset over the city the second day.

Nice hotel on the inside but the outside is misleading. Rooms were clean and comfortable. Hotel lobby was very nice. Front desk employees were very friendly. Public transportation is close by. There are a few shops nearby with in walking distance. This hotel is NOT close to the Florence attractions but very reasonable.

With some options the menu meets the normal requirements for a late dinner after a long tour. The service was friendly and professional. Dishes were tasty and reasonable priced.

Enjoyable stay as my Grandson and I celebrated the end of his A level studies. The Hotel was much further from the Historic Centre than we thought (7k) but relaxing by the pool before or after sight seeing was on reflection worth it. The taxi was 25 euro to the train station but only 14 to the Ponte Vecchio which was perfect drop off point for all the historic sites. Staff were very friendly and helpful, breakfast was good and dining area very pleasant looking out on the pool. Good value

On arrival and throughout our stay the reception staff were brilliant, providing a map of Florence and the local bus information. The rooms were adequate and clean, air con, very large comfortable double bed, but no safe in our room, although the couple we were traveling with did have a safe in the room next door! Ask for a room at the back of the hotel if you want a quite nights rest. Now onto a few issues (not major but could be improved upon), the pool although kept very clean by the friendly lifeguard, is only open from 10am 6pm, which means if you like to have a swim before you venture out or if you like to unwind after an extremely busy and hot day in Florence, you will need to plan your day trips accordingly. Also, the rules of the pool such as no diving, no jumping in etc were totally ignored by the lifeguard. Breakfast, the two freshly brewing coffee machines are not really man enough for the amount of guests staying here and therefore were very unreliable, every morning there were breakdowns and very slow in dispensing which caused a little frustration among the guests. Lastly, sadly the restaurant staff were not very friendly, when approached about replenishing food items or attending to the coffee machine it all seemed to be a little too much effort for them. I understand they probably hear the same comments every day, but that's the nature of the hotel trade. Transport Taxis are very expensive, 45 euros from the airport, 30 euros from Firenze S.M train station, even a local 5 minute trip will see 8 euros on the meter before you get in. We found the cheapest way to get into Florence was by bus. As you come out of the hotel turn left to the main road then look left and across the road you will see a newsagent, the tickets are 1.2 euros (single trip), you can purchase 4 single journeys on one ticket. Come out of the newsagent, turn right stay on the same side and walk up to the bus stop, here you catch the 23 into Florence. The ticket should be validated in the yellow machine on the bus, although at busy times this is fairly impossible, beware though you will be fined if caught. Returning you need to catch the 23A with a destination of Sorgane, the stop to get off at the hotel is Francia (displayed in the bus). The arrival and return bus stops in Florence are are not together and are in completely different streets so not always easy to find. After a few attempts, we found it easier to get on and off at the main railway station Firenze S.M or at a major interchange such as San Marco. Lastly, if as we did you take a day trip to Pisa from Florence (Firenze S.M) make sure after purchasing your tickets you validate them (in the not very obvious machine) before boarding the train, the ticket inspector on the train was very official and explained that there could be a 60 euro fine with each invalidated ticket. So overall, this hotel does the job, a little limited for nearby restaurants and about a 30 mins bus trip to the center of Florence.