Via Lambertesca - Overview

Via Lambertesca is the latest outpost of a chic designer couple who have been setting the standard in Tuscan farmhouse renovations for nearly two decades. Now they have stamped their authoritative and sharp style right onto the heart of Renaissance Florence right when the city has elected a thirty-something mayor and gotten serious about modern (Italian) food. Via Lambertesca is part of the hip new Florence and makes it fun to return with new eyes to this enduring city.

Via Lambertesca is utterly modern within, with everything you need for a central city stay. The striking open-plan living room/dining room reveals the bare structure of stone and beam, rebuilt with the rubble from an adjacent 12th century tower toppled in bombing during the war. Such hints of history and context - like the maps in the hallway -- are just enough to give you a sense of place. Everything contributes to the consistent contemporary aesthetic. The bedrooms and bathrooms are a visual and functional pleasure. They are of an equivalent standard yet each is distinct and interesting. There are ensuite baths throughout, complete with luxe bath products and thick well-fashioned robes and all-marble cladding. The kitchen is glam and efficient, great for coming home laden from the market or from a well-selected takeaway joint of which there are plenty to choose from. The maid helpful, flexible and friendly and more than willing to shop and cook the meal -- just in case you are not in the mood.

To the generous interior space add a charming terrace- away from street noise but catching the light. You can step outside from your room first thing in the morning, and finish the vino nobile by candle light.

If you insist on renting a (small) car, you can park it on the ground floor. Gratefully, there is plenty of room for your bicycles. Part of the hip new Florence is going by bike—with skirts and high boots if you please.

Via Lambertesca crosses over near the foot of the Ponte Vecchio on the Duomo side of the Arno. All the relevant historic sites are easily reached on foot. But more important might be the gelato at Grom, dinner at Tre Panache or some boutique hopping for old and new in the Oltrarno. There is nothing that is inconvenient from here. Even getting out into the romantic hills of Fiesole can be accomplished by car and driver, or on the bus. Shop, wander, paint, write or sit in the shadow of history and watch the 21st century go by. It is all here for you.