Casa Howard Florence

Sister guesthouse to Casa Howard Rome with inventive design - minutes from Florence station

After successfully opening 2 guesthouses in Rome, fashion designer Jenifer Howard and her entrepreneurial husband Massimiliano Leonardi di Casalino have applied the same formula to their private family apartments in Florence: intimate accommodation (13 rooms) in a historic, well-located house, with a clever and stylish design makeover. Their accomplishment is all the more impressive given the strict preservation laws.

This is not a hotel, they point out, but a "very high standard house aiming to host special people". And there are scores of luxurious touches to back that up: parquet floors, marble fireplaces, four-legged bathtubs, 132 different fabrics, flat-screen TVs and soundproofed rooms, plus a Turkish bath and a call-out masseur should museum-ache set in. The casa looks over the basilica of Santa Maria Novella on the tranquil piazza of the same name; it's within handbag-swinging distance of Via Tornabuoni, and only a short walk from the Duomo, Uffizi and railway station.

Highs

• Beautiful interiors created by architect Fabrizio Cuniberto, with playful touches throughout
• Great central location - just a few blocks west of the Duomo and round the corner from the train station
• Rooms of every size, shape and style: one for smokers, one for pet owners, one for kids
• Up-to-the-minute facilities, and a nice honesty bar
• Special packages offered in combo with their sister hotel in Rome, 100 minutes away by train

Lows

• The only common areas are a small sitting room and a terrace - fine for a pre-dinner drink with other guests
• Some rooms are small; most bathrooms too
• Breakfast (a simple continental spread) costs a fair bit extra - but you can always pop out to a café if you prefer
• The staff are more housekeepers than hotel concierges, so don't expect help with bag carrying, for example, nor perfect English
• Not cheap for a guesthouse - but prices include internet use and all national calls