An enchanting boutique hotel where resting into the art of design

Text by: Annarosa Laureti

If there is an Italian city where the beauty is on human scale, this is undoubtedly Florence.

Even if Rome is after all the Eternal City, the Tuscan city, mother of the Italian language, can boldly defends itself being for sure one of the places to be (at least) once in a lifetime.

Ponte Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella, Lo Spedale degli Innocenti, Palazzo Vecchio, I giardini di Boboli are very few of the several beauties offered by the city.

Afflicted by a never-ending Stendhal syndrome, any self-respecting Florentine stay deserves an ad hoc location.

At the foot of the promenade to Piazzale Michelangelo – the viewpoint that offers the panorama to the wonderful sunset on the city’s rooftops – the Fornace Suite boutique hotel rises up.

A sumptuous early-19th century building that was restructured by the award-winning Archea Associati architecture and design studio, born in Florence in 1988 from Laura Andreini, Marco Casamonti and Giovanni Polazzi.

A small gem in the heart of the mediaeval neighbourhood of San Niccolò that shines again with a modern and design soul. The restoration ensures that the building opens itself to an harmonic dialogue with the Florentine historical architectural heritage, between respect for the authority of the past and innovation.

In it, six differently furnished suites take an homage to the Italian art itself: Bernini, Ghiberti, Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini and Canova are the names of the elegant rooms where corten steal, wood, iron and brass are the main materials employed.

Waiting for the currently work-in-progress wellness area, there’s nothing else to do that to book and pack for a special experience in Florence.

Cover: Fornace Suite boutique hotel, Archea Associati, Photo by Pietro Savorelli