Porta Rossa Hotel Firenze opened on 12 May in a building first documented in 1386 — once a stopover for Florentine silk merchants, now a 69-room hotel with a medieval tower suite and a Paulo Airaudo restaurant arriving in June.
Via Porta Rossa is one of those streets in central Florence that most visitors walk along without quite registering. It connects the Piazza della Repubblica to the Ponte Vecchio and has been doing so, in one form or another, since the medieval period. The building at its heart, first documented in 1386 and believed to be the oldest hotel in Italy, has just reopened as Porta Rossa Hotel Firenze following a comprehensive renovation. It is worth paying attention to.
The hotel’s history is genuinely layered. Originally a meeting point for Florentine silk merchants, it evolved through Renaissance grandeur into a recognised hospitality address, accumulating 19th-century frescoed interiors, a red door that has become something of a Florentine landmark, and a stained-glass window carrying the motto “Per non dormire” — loosely, for those who don’t sleep, which the renovation has preserved intact. The 69 rooms and suites are designed to feel like a Renaissance palazzo without tipping into pastiche: textile canopies, leather detailing, embroidered wall-coverings and mineral-inspired tones throughout. The standout is the Torre Monalda Signature Suite, occupying the building’s 13th-century medieval tower. The Bartolini Frescoed Suite, with its original 18th-century frescoes, is the other notable accommodation; the Amici Miei Frescoed Junior Suite has the distinction of having appeared in the Italian film of the same name.
The public spaces are designed around what the hotel calls the art of gathering: a lobby conceived as a contemporary piazza with bespoke furnishings and lighting drawn from traditional Florentine lanterns, and a bistro bar already open and doing what Florence bistro bars should do. The bigger food story arrives in June, when Michelin-starred chef Paulo Airaudo opens his new restaurant at the hotel. Airaudo’s approach is described as deeply rooted in local ingredients and Italian regional tradition, which in his hands is a more serious proposition than it sounds. It will be worth watching.
The hotel is the first property under Minor Hotels’ new Colbert Collection, a premium soft brand for independent hotels built around art, culture, gastronomy and local identity. London and Koh Samui are next in the pipeline, but Florence is the right place to start.
More at portarossafirenze.com