The chic sleep: Gallery Hotel Art, Florence
In a city teeming with places to stay, see, eat and drink, Gallery Hotel Art, hidden in a quiet street moments from the Ponte Vecchio, is the perfect place to soak up the buzz of Florence… and escape from it. By HANNAH LYONS POWELL
Whether you’re in Florence to take in the city’s unparalleled historical offering, indulge in its art, food and fashion, or to simply enjoy a bit of il dolce far niente, Gallery Hotel Art has quickly become a go-to for stylish travelers and Florentines alike.
One of the four Ferragamo-owned Lungarno Collection outposts in the city’s historic center – all a stone’s throw from one another – it’s also a suitably fashionable affair, as you’ll be completely unsurprised to learn. From the lobby that doubles up as an art gallery space right through to the elegant and spacious bedrooms (think sleek furniture, huge beds and Salvatore Ferragamo-created products), every detail in the hotel nods to its luxury heritage. And with a hard-to-beat location right by the Arno river and a terrace that spills out on to a picture-perfect square, this boutique bolt-hole has become something of a local hotspot too – particularly at aperitivo time. Come 6pm, you’ll find a well-heeled post-work crowd meeting over sushi and cocktails at The Fusion Bar & Restaurant on the ground floor.
If you really want to get under the skin of this place though, the clue’s in the name. Echoing the serenity and curation of an art gallery in every respect, Gallery Hotel Art manages to tread the fine line between being both a haven away from the melee and being right at the heart of the best Florence has to offer – not least as a draw for the art crowd in its own right. Indeed, you don’t even need to leave the hotel to step into Florence’s much-lauded contemporary art scene. With white-wash walls and a staircase that might evoke something of the Guggenheim New York on miniature scale, the Gallery Hotel Art has played host to a number of art exhibitions over the years.
But it’s outside at the façade of the hotel in Vicolo Dell’Oro that you’ll find passers-by, tourists and guests alike congregating at the statement (and often highly-Instagrammable) art installations placed there. Whilst previous years have seen the hotel’s exterior covered in giant spoons, rows of full-size bicycles and even Vespas, this year has been no less impressive, with Tuscany’s Centro Pecci curating the installation of Loris Cecchini’s Waterbones, a mesmeric structure of steel filaments resembling something like DNA that seems to climb the wall of the hotel.
THE DETAILS
Visit
It would be a travesty to not make the most of Florence’s fabulous shopping – which is all seconds from the hotel. Start at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo (the shop is almost next door) in the Palazzo Spini Feroni, before working your way up through Via De’ Tornabuoni’s designer boutiques. Along the way, be sure to carve out some time for a stop at the Palazzo Strozzi to see its latest exhibition – Marina Abramović’s The Cleaner just opened and will run until January 2019. It should also go without saying that the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Pitti, Duomo di Firenze, Ponte Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens, to name but five, can’t be missed – but try and snap up Florence’s real hot ticket if you can: a tour of the Vasari Corridor. It’s here that it’s worth making the most of the Lungarno Collection’s access and concierge, whether it be to book a private tour or to get that local intel for the bits you won’t find in the guide book.
Relax
Step out of Gallery Hotel Art and hop across the street to its sister hotel, Continentale, for some indulgent therapies at the White Iris Beauty Spa. Here they offer a most comprehensive beauty menu, including everything from luxury massages to skin, body and nail treatments. But it’s the Mediterranean Ritual Massage that’s the only way to top off a day of traversing the city.
Must do
No trip to the Continentale would be complete without heading upstairs to its sublime La Terrazza rooftop bar for the perfect Aperol Spritz. With an unbeatable vista that includes the Palazzo Vecchio to the sweeping landscape of the Oltrarno and San Niccolò across the river, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more scenic spot for sundowners.
WHAT TO PACK FOR FLORENCE
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