Where to stay in Florence

Compact enough to cross on foot in half an hour, and holding more Renaissance art than most countries. Busy in the middle and calm five minutes out; the Oltrarno side of the river is where people actually live and eat.

Florence is small enough that the quarter is about noise and cost, not distance. The Duomo streets are dearest and empty of Florentines by night. Santa Croce stays up late. The Oltrarno, over the Arno around Santo Spirito and San Frediano, has the workshops and trattorie where returning visitors end up; the piazza is loud on summer nights, so sleep a street back. The blocks around Santa Maria Novella station are the dullest in the centre, and the Oltrarno is a quarter-hour from the platforms anyway.

It suits people who want galleries and dinner on foot, and nobody with a car: the ZTL covers the whole centre and the fines follow you home. Book the Uffizi and Accademia, first slot of the day; the Duomo dome is timed too, and its 463 steps have no lift. Old palazzi mean stairs.

Three nights covers the city. From Santa Maria Novella the Frecciarossa reaches Rome, Bologna, Milan and Venice, the regionale Pisa and Lucca; for Siena take the bus from the Autostazione next door; the train stops at the foot of the hill. Collect a car for Chianti leaving, not arriving. Cross the Ponte Vecchio at seven, before the coaches.

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