FH55 Hotel Villa Fiesole

Located in a prime spot near Florence and Fiesole, Villa Fiesole boasts beautiful views and convenient transport links. Guests appreciate the attentive staff, delicious breakfast, and immaculately clean, charming rooms.

This hotel is difficult to review because in reading previous posts, both the five star and one star reviews have some truth to them. Your enjoyment of this hotel will depend on what you are looking for, what kind of group you are with, what your transportation opportunities are, and possibly which room you are assigned. The good things are the view, the distance from the chaos of Florence, the cooler weather in the hills, and the helpfulness of most of the staff. We had “Garden Rooms”, so I can only comment on them. Our first room was very noisy both late at night and early in the morning because it is right below the restaurant. It had a sewage-like odor, and we eventually had them move us to a different room with no odor, but similar noise issues. Noise also came from groups of corporate guests congregating in the patio right in front of our row of rooms. This made this seemingly private and idyllic space a public party area at times. The WiFi is non-existent in the Garden Rooms; in spite of multiple complaints, this was never resolved. All these issues have been mentioned in previous TA reviews, and clearly they have not been remedied. The decor in our rooms was OK, but certainly nothing to Instagram about; makeshift electrical outlets, broken toilet seats. The bed and pillows are comfortable. The shower is adequate, but the bathrooms are tiny, and climbing out of the tub is quite treacherous because it is significantly raised above the floor level. There is a towel “warmer” that is not actually heated, and if you turn it on it gets cold and drips with condensation; not an enhancement for the towels. There is nice storage space and a safe in an anteroom between the bedroom and the bathroom. This anteroom nicely separates the bedroom from the bathroom from noise and light. There is a refrigerator with items for purchase, but even water is 4€ for a small bottle. There is a Nespresso machine. The a/c worked well. No drinking glasses are provided in the bathrooms, so we had to use coffee cups to brush our teeth. There isn’t an ATM in the hotel - so if you need cash for a driver or guide make sure you get it before you come to the hotel, otherwise you will need to travel into the town. The maids did a good job. However, at 680€/night, everything should be much higher quality. There is a tiny, unheated, pool with about 10 chairs in a location that should be picturesque, but seems more sad than relaxing. Aside from that, there isn’t much to do on the hotel grounds. The main negatives are related to the food and transportation options. There is only one restaurant. It has both an inside and outside area, each with great views. The included breakfast is adequate, but not impressive. There is an “all day“ menu until 7:30 pm, which is quite minimal; some triple decker sandwiches, pasta with tomato sauce, and some appetizer choices; no pizza, meatballs, fish filets, or steak. It’s OK for one meal, but not a place one would frequent repeated

Fantastic view of Florence at not too far distance by car from downtown Service es exceptional in all aspects but particularly by the crew at the restaurant and the afternoon concierge who all go out of their way to let you experience Florence at its most