Lorenzo Il Magnifico - Florence, Italy     

We had a 4 night break over the weekend after Easter. Paid ?360 on web which I guess is pretty fair for this time of year in what can be a very expensive city anyway (Florence is pretty well geared up to extract money from tourists!). Hotel is quite a way out of town - if you include the time to negotiate the nearby ring road in one piece you are probably the best part of half an hour stroll. The route is direct though and you can't get lost. Nothing much of interest around the hotel, a couple of restaurants nearby (will cost about Euro 60-70 for two for 2 courses and house wine and this seems to be the norm in Florence). Good deli just up the road on the Plazza della Liberta with nice people and great cheeses, olives, etc. By the way, beware restaurants in Florence with bottles of wine pre-set on the table - the impression is that this is the normal house wine but it is more likely you'll be charged Euro 25 or so for something that tastes no better. We had a bad experience of this and awful expensive food at Ristorante da Mimmo on the Via San Gallo which runs from near the hotel to the town centre. Not a nice experience. Anyway, back to the hotel. I travel extensively for business and I'd rate this hotel as a good 3 star, not a 4 star. The staff are very friendly and pleasant, our room was pristine in terms of cleanliness (which is the most important thing for me) and the breakfast is quite adequate (you might not be entirely happy if you like english style hot breakfast though I suppose). Room was big enough although no bath or facilities to make a hot drink in the room which was a nuisance. The big downside with our room was the noise. We were at the front of the hotel and it was like a race track out there at certain times of the day. This sadly meant we could not open the windows as the noise would have been intolerable and we could not get the air-con to work but this was't an issue for us as the weather was mild. We were expecting a double bed but in fact we got two twin beds pushed together. Not the end of the world though. Got a pleasant surprise with the room safe - we were not charged anything for using it which is most unusual in my experience. All in all, would be happy to return to this hotel but I think we'd make sure we got a room away from the front.

This is a charming and comfortable hotel in Florence, with excellent deals for bookings in advance. The staff was top shelf, and often could not do enough to make me feel welcome, especially in the breakfast room. The location, just a few blocks out from the center of the city, is ideal, and surprisingly quiet, yet everything of interest is easily within walking distance.