Hotel Toscana - Florence, Italy     

Great budget hotel -- would stay again. Great location -- within 5 minute walk of Stazione Maria Novella, 10-15 minute walk of P. S. Giovanni and Ponte Vecche, laundromat conveniently across the street, easy to find from train station, good breakfast with variety of items from salame to eggs and cereal. Had elevator, breakfast and a/c for no extra charge -- something not offered at other hotels we stayed at in Rome and Venice. Front desk spoke english, very helpful in helping us find a rental car and recommending towns for our drive to Tuscany. We ate at Trattoria/Pizzeria da Garibardi on Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 15 - 20 min walk -- one of the few restaurants that weren't a tourist trap! Only downside -- walls a bit thin - could hear people walking outside in hall, rooms small (but typical for european rooms) and room safe didn't work.

For a 1 star hotel I rate this hotel as above average. It is only a 5-10 minute walk to the Florence central train station. Rooms are spacious but the bathroom is very small. Specially the shower area. My elbows kept on hitting the sides. Let me tell you about fantastic Fabio - young friendly man at the reception area. We arrived at about 4PM and Fabio greeted us warmly. We left the hotel and returned at about 10PM. Fabio was there to open the door and greet us. We went for our hotel breakfast at about 7PM and again Fabio was there at the restaurant preparing the food. Breakfast is ok. And we saw Fabio cleaning the plates later. In the first 24 hours in the hotel we only saw Fabio plus 1 room cleaning lady. Good - there is laundry mat across the hotel. Bad -elevator is absolutely small. Can only fit 2 medium size persons. And you need to go up a few steps to get to the elevator. Hotel location is very good - quite close to high end shops and many of Florence attractions.