Golden Tower Hotel & Spa

Look, I’ve stayed in a lot of Florence hotels, and honestly? The Golden Tower surprised me. You walk into this Renaissance palace on Piazza Strozzi and it’s like stepping into someone’s incredibly tasteful private home – if that someone happened to be a wealthy Florentine merchant from the 15th century. The lobby has this warm, honey-colored stone and these massive wooden beams overhead that make you want to just sit there with a glass of wine and pretend you’re important.

What really gets me about this place is the location – I mean, you’re literally in the heart of everything but tucked away enough that you’re not dealing with the Via del Corso crowds stumbling past your window at 2 AM. The Duomo is maybe a seven-minute walk (I timed it), and you can actually cut through some of those narrow side streets that most tourists never discover. The spa is where this place really shines though – they’ve got this Turkish bath situation in what used to be ancient Roman foundations, which sounds gimmicky but actually feels pretty magical when you’re soaking in there after a day of climbing cathedral domes. The treatments use local olive oil and honey, and the therapists know what they’re doing.

The rooms are spacious by Florence standards – and trust me, that matters when you’re trying to fit two weeks worth of leather jacket purchases into your suitcase. Mine had these original frescoed ceilings and windows that opened onto the piazza, so you get that perfect morning light and the sound of the city waking up. The beds are seriously comfortable (European hotels can be hit or miss on this), and the marble bathrooms have these deep soaking tubs that I probably used more than I should admit. One small thing – the WiFi can be spotty in some of the older parts of the building, but honestly, you’re in Florence. Put down the phone and go eat some ribollita at the place around the corner on Via della Spada that the concierge recommended. Speaking of which, the staff here actually knows the city – they’re not just reciting TripAdvisor reviews. They sent me to this little enoteca near Santo Spirito that I never would have found otherwise, and it ended up being one of my favorite nights of the trip.