The Florence Apartment Guide Books Won’t Tell You About.

Welcome to Florence! The River Arno makes the perfect local hangout for after work drinks. I love this city!

We love markets. We love apartments. We love Florence.

Our last trip to the Renaissance city only confirmed these things further. Homemade lunches gave way to exploration. Cheap vino sunsets slunk into after hour kebabs. With only 72 hours in the city, we were bent on showing Beth’s cousin Billy the proverbial “heart of Saturday night,” all beginning and ending with our GowithOh Florence apartment.

Once the soul of Europe’s cultural and intellectual scene, Florence now stands as a testament to that period of artistic growth, thriving as a modern cosmopolitan city. It’s compact size makes it an ideal place to rent an apartment for your stay. Food markets and grocery stores unlock an experience that is truly Florentine.

On our visit this May we stumbled upon an dance video playing behind the statues in Piazza Signoria. Simply gorgeous to see modern dance art mixed with famous centuries old statues.

For the past two years, we pumped Billy with sordid tales of Florentine wine and culinary explorations . And I guess we did a pretty good job, because he finally agreed to join us. After spending a month kicking around the city last October, Beth and I were excited to introduce him to our favorite spots. And, honestly, we couldn’t wait to get back–it’s one the rare places that we both connected with almost instantly.

The apartment had beautiful light – perfect for wine and photos.

We walked the 10-minutes stretch from Santa Maria Novella railway stations,  along the cobble-stoned avenues where Michelangelo, Botticelli, Dante and Machiavelli laid their wrath upon the Renaissances and illuminated the city with art, sculptures and literary works, to our apartment. Everything felt right, and things kept rolling along smoothly as we walked into the rental.

It’s always an interesting to finally see firsthand what your imagination had created from the apartment’s online photos. And it’s always a delight when a place you had I high hopes for actually surpasses your expectations–this was the case with our Florence apartment.

We met owner Mariangela and I felt immediately at home as she showed us around the apartment. Inevitably, my initial judgement about a place always boils down to one question when we are reviewing it: Would my mom and grandmother be happy here? Well I’m happy to report our apartment passed the test easily. My mom and grandmother have always put a lot of care into their houses, and it was immediately clear that this was also the case here.

I’m a huge fan of well designed spaces, which this apartment does perfectly. Except for the half-wall separating the bedroom from the kitchen and living room, the space flowed without any restrictions–like something you would see in an Ikea showroom. With its comfy king size bed in the bedroom and a double sofa bed and optional cot, the apartment can sleep up to five. There were three of us in the apartment, and it never felt cramped. If you are a fan of eating in when you travel, then you’ll love this place. The apartment is well equipped for cooking–we ate most of our lunches here–and because of the open layout we did a bit of work in the apartment too.  If this is what a live/work loft is like, then sign me up!

Living Room/Dining Area/Kitchen

Bathroom – the shower was huge and could easily fit 2 people. A shower this big is a rarity in Italy.

Bedroom & Details – I loved the colors and the fun attention to detail in this apartment!

The front door to the apartment and some cafe and biscotti. Mariangela is the perfect host and she left us a bag of biscotti as a welcome gift!

I loved everything about this flat, which was completely renovated in 2010. Clean, comfortable, colorful, full of natural light, stylish and a nicely sized shower (a rarity in Italy) are all hallmarks of this fantastic apartment. The apartment looks out over Piazza Aldobrandini and is about a five-minute walk to Piazza della Signoria; you are literally in the heart of Florence’s historic center. The piazza out your front door is lively and a grocery store is less than a block away. Honestly, I can’t recommend this place enough. We found a lot to love about the apartment. Really it’s the kind of place that Beth and I would create for ourselves. And like Florence itself, our GowithOh apartment felt just like home.

Views of the Neighborhood, the Arno River at night and church reflections in puddles.

Where is the last placed you stayed that you wished you could move into?

*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of Beers and Beans Travel Website & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you do want to use one of them please contact me first. Thanks!
*Disclosure: While we were hosted by the great folks at GowithOh, our thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.