Florence's Oltrarno district has a new address for travellers who want the city without the crowds. La Réserve Firenze, which opened this autumn, is a 15th-century palazzo reimagined by Grégory and Olivia Marciano, a French couple who relocated from Paris in 2019. The building sits on a genuinely residential street about ten minutes on foot from Piazza della Signoria, yet feels a world away from the tourist crush on the other side of the Arno.
The Marcianos kept the project deliberately small. Where the palazzo once housed a warren of studios for foreign students, there are now just six large, fully serviced apartments. Parisian design firm Gilles & Boissier handled the interiors, pairing Modernist comfort with a light touch on the building's historic fabric. Privacy is the core selling point: the setup suits famous faces who'd rather not chat to strangers in a lobby as much as honeymooners settling in for a long stay.
The owners lean into the lived-in feel. Guests can borrow the couple's own villa, once owned by a member of the Gucci family, and use its tennis court. Rates start around $1,500. Andrea Grisdale, founder of Italy specialist IC Bellagio, says this apartment-plus-service model is exactly what experienced travellers now want — your own place, but with someone on hand to deliver a soft drink at 2am.
Winter is arguably the best time to try it. Grisdale points out that off-season Florence is when restaurant owners will actually sit down for a limoncello with you at the end of a meal. Her hit list for feeling like a local includes Cibrèo, a beloved restaurant that skips pasta in favour of refined takes on Tuscan peasant dishes such as stuffed pigeon; Dinicaffè, the only coffee roaster in the historic centre, where you can tour the facility and stock up on single-origin beans; Giacosa 1815, credited as the birthplace of the Negroni and convivial enough that regulars drift back after dinner for a digestivo; and Il Bisonte, a leather boutique whose goods are all made by artisans working within 19 miles of the shop.
For anyone planning a Florence trip who finds hotels sterile and rentals hit-or-miss, this sits neatly in between: the space and kitchen of an apartment with the staff of a hotel, in a neighbourhood where actual Florentines live. Combine it with the low season and you get a version of the city most visitors never see.
