Living like a local at the Palazzo Antellesi in Florence

Entry by guest blogger: Lee Robinson

Florence on a hot day in late September is a little sticky when we arrive dragging our suitcases through the train station after a two-hour ride from Venice, but we get in line for a taxi and are quickly on our way to Piazza Santa Croce.  With Florence’s new policy of no cars in the Centro Storico, the driver skirts through part of via Tournabuoni at a good ‘clip’ and sends some pedestrians hopping back onto the sidewalks. 

The piazza is crowded and the two gelato shops and many leather shops are doing a brisk business as we arrive at the Palazzo Antellesi. Cecile buzzes us in, and we take the tiny elevator to the top floor apartment where we will stay in for just three nights.  The minute we open the door, my mind is calculating how we could stay longer.  It is so charming!!  Tile floors, beamed ceilings, two bedrooms, two baths, and a very efficient kitchen with a combination washer/dryer and a broad terrace overlooking the entire piazza…it is absolutely perfect.  The furnishings are comfortable with slip-covered chairs and sofa surrounding a fireplace.  The owners have thought of everything to make a stay here pleasant as well as providing good guidebooks and reading left by previous 'residents.'

our home for a few nights

We open the French doors and take in the view over the rooftops and church spires to the mountains beyond.  In the next few days we will have leisurely evening cocktails on this broad terrace; and I will imagine who lives in the charming apartments across the piazza.  Oh, for a telescope!  The Duomo, Santa Croce and others will sing a chorus of bells on the hours and minutes.  The bedrooms, baths and kitchen have windows which open in, and wooden shutters we open out to take in yet another view, this time of the gardens of hillside villas and the Belvedere and still more mountains beyond.

the view of Santa Croce from our terrace

A reserved first thing in the morning tour of the Uffizi is on the calendar, gifts we are hoping to find in the San Lorenzo market, a lunch at Za Za, a visit to the Mercato Centrale for some  salumi, wine and staples for our kitchen and dinners at Baldovino are all on the schedule, and Allegra will have a three-hour tour of the City highlighting her artistic interests.  For now, we relax and breathe in the sights and sounds of glorious Florence.

lunch after the mercato centrale

The first evening we walk and walk through the Oltrarno neighborhood peeking into decorator and artisan shops, we try for a reservation at Olio & Convivium with no luck. The shops are still open so we do a little shopping, visit a cafe at the Piazza della Republica, and stroll back through the Duomo neighborhood finally sharing two delicious thin crust pizzas at Simon Boccanegra, right around the corner from our home in Florence.    

rowing in the evening on the Arno River

        Returning each night to Piazza Santa Croce, subconsciously we are pretending this is our life – we live here.  When we slip the key into the lock on the huge palazzo door, tourists watch to get a peek at the hallway beyond. We are usually the ones doing the peeking!

view out the back windows to the Belvedere

The apartment looks like home, feels like home – I don’t think most travelers realize how easy and how much fun it is to rent for a week!