I stayed for six, nice long weeks! I was very comfortable, nice place to come back to every evening. Great location! Ideal for 1-2 persons. Big live-in kitchen on the street side, well-equipped as advertised, a corridor leading to the bedroom and through that to the bathroom at the back. Glad to have air conditioning units in kitchen and bedroom. In the bedroom there’s no street noise. Convenient washing machine in the bathroom. There are mosquitoes around, this is Florence, but I was rarely disturbed by any in the night. Probably best not to open the windows too long at dusk. Bedroom window should really have an insect screen so you could leave it open at night. Helps to turn on the air conditioning, they don’t like moving air. Cooker’s fine, I regularly cooked pasta or rice dishes with meat and veg. Two of the cooking rings have a useful Power setting, which heats things up very quickly, eg. warm milk for morning coffee in less than 15 secs! Nearest supermarket is 5 mins away near the Ponte Vecchio. Also a small Conad supermarket in the via S. Monaca, a street or so beyond the Piazza S. Spirito, where there’s a regular market. At the Ambrogio market (north of S. Croce) there’s a daily vegetable market, a regular flea market and some permanent shops in the central building. The shop at the southwestern corner is inexpensive with nice salads, sandwiches, and tempting sweet things for dessert! The Gusta pizza place close to the apartment makes good, inexpensive pizzas. The queue at opening time isn’t as bad as it looks, the service is fast! There‘s a water tap in the Pitti square next to the bus stop, where you can fill up your water bottle. The water’s fine to drink. There’s an organic shop „Sugar Blues“ at Nr. 57 Via dei Serragli, south of the Ponte alla Carraia. Found a good Kebab place over the river in the via dei Benci. Favourite ice cream place: south end of the Ponte Trinita! Creamier than any others I tried! The Pitti Palace has early morning half-price tickets! Check out the S. Miniato Church, after evening mass monks sing Gregorian chants, wonderful! Found a nice simple cafe in a great location by the river just beyond the Vespucci bridge. Hired a bike at “Florence by Bike”, via S. Zanobi. They gave me maps and were very helpful. NB. You can’t keep a bike at the apartment. Many thanks to Ilaria and her parents for a nice place to stay and a warm welcome! I would definitely recommend this apartment and would stay here again!
