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Oltrarno/Palazzo Pitti: Pitti Palace Hotel

Via Barbadori, 2, Phone: 055.2398711
www.pittipalace.hotelinfirenze.com

Reviewed by: lkmaloney from PA, review #584

When: May 2004

I would recommend this hotel with some caveats. It has a good location just across the Ponte Vecchio in the Oltrarno but is devoid of charm.

The Pitti Palace is located right across the Ponte Vecchio in the Oltrarno, making it easy to explore that side of the Arno or cross the bridge to the Uffizi and other central sights.

The breakfast area/patio on the top floor has a nice view of Florence, although the breakfast buffet is mediocre. It's difficult to understand why the croissants and other breakfast rolls are tasteless supermarket quality when you can cross the street to any bar or cafe in Florence and eat absolutely delicious ones. In fact that's exactly what we did - Cafe Maioli across the street on the corner of Via dei Bardi had wonderful cafe latte and pastries, and the people working there were wonderful.

The Pitti Palace is a standard hotel with rooms like a chain hotel. Our room was small but it had comfortable beds and was air conditioned. It had a television and mini bar refrigerator. The bathroom was modern and clean except for the bathtub and surrounding tiles- which weren't terrible but could have used a more aggressive cleaning. The breakfast staff was pleasant enough but the desk staff were unsmiling and only minimally helpful.

This hotel is rated with 3 stars. In the course of checking many websites for hotel availablity, I found a very good rate for this hotel on www.travelnow.com at 136 E a night. However, when we tried to extend our stay for a third night well in advance of our arrival due to flight considerations, travelnow told us that the hotel would change the rate for all three nights to a higher one. I kept the reservation for the two nights already confirmed and mostly out of annoyance booked the third one at another hotel-the Hotel Caravaggio (see review). As a result, we stayed in three different hotels in Florence during two stays in the city. While I would give this hotel a qualified recommendation, it was our least favorite of the three hotels.

Reviewed by: Moon Shadow from Canada, review #427

When: August 2003

{3 star} Hotel in convenient location and the best breakfast on our trip.

The Pitti Palace Hotel in Florence is a 3 star hotel at the entrance to the Ponte Vecchio. (Just down the street from the Pitti Palace.) It is surrounded by many little shops and a few restaurants. We liked the location as we parked the car for most of our stay. We had to pay for parking at a lot across the road from the hotel. It was about 20 euros/day.

The room was small, with a balcony, bathroom with tub, shower, sink, bidet, and nice towels. We had a small refrigerator and the room was air conditioned. There was a very small elevator and the hotel had internet access but it was much more reasonable to use the internet across from the Pitti Palace.

There was a rooftop breakfast room with the best breakfast on this trip. We had fruit, lots of it, fresh crossiants, rolls, jams, cheese, meats, juices and coffee.

We booked this hotel with Expedia and had to pay in full at time of booking. I did not like having to do this. It worked out fine. It was €169.63 per night for a double room. If I were going to stay in Florence again I would consider this hotel again.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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