Where we stayed · Fiesole, Italy
Fifteen acres above Florence
Villa San Michele, a facade attributed to Michelangelo, and a pool that looks down on the whole city.
Fiesole, Italy
Villa San Michele is a former monastery in the hills at Fiesole, fifteen acres of garden above Florence, with a facade attributed to Michelangelo. You are not in the city. That is the entire proposition and it is the right one.
The rooms are individually decorated, with antique furniture, original frescoes in some of them, and fabrics that belong to the building rather than to a scheme. There is a real spread from the deluxe rooms up to the suites, and the character is genuinely different room to room, which is not something most hotels of this level can say.
The gardens are the reason to book. Rare planting, old trees, and seating arranged so that you keep finding another view of the city below. It is a place designed for walking slowly around, and the light in the late afternoon does something to the whole hillside.
The pool looks down over Florence through the greenery. Swimming there while the city sits below you is the specific memory people take away from this hotel.
“You are above Florence rather than in it, which turns the city into something you visit rather than something you are stuck inside.”
From the journalThe building itself
The lobby is a room in its own right, with a large fireplace, frescoes and furniture that has been there a long time. It is the natural place for a drink before dinner and it does not feel like a lobby in the transactional sense.
Dining runs from the fine dining room down to Bar San Michele for something lighter. There are also cooking classes, wine tastings and guided city tours arranged from the property.
Getting into Florence
Fiesole is close enough that the Duomo, the Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio are all a straightforward outing, and far enough that you come back to quiet. That is the trade and we would make it every time in high season.
Beyond the city, the Tuscan countryside is on the doorstep for wine or an olive oil mill, and the artisan streets and markets are worth an unstructured afternoon.
Stay above the city rather than inside it. In high season it is the difference between enjoying Florence and enduring it.
From the journal · The Travelling T · Written May 2019
