Five-star One MICHELIN Key Piazza Santa Maria Novella, Florence
The Place Firenze
Twenty rooms in a townhouse on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, with no reception desk, a fire in the living room and Alberti's marble façade across the square.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key, 2026
- Rooms
- 20 rooms and suites on four floors
- Renewed
- 2021, by Luigi Fragola
- From the airport
- About 15 to 20 minutes from Peretola, our estimate
The hotel
A private house on the piazza.
The building was put up as a private residence, and the hotel still behaves like one. You arrive in a living room with sofas and a fireplace, check in at a desk in the library, and find a seventeenth-century atrium at the centre. Across the square stands Santa Maria Novella, its marble façade completed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1470. The house has twenty rooms over four floors.
For years this was J.K. Place Firenze, run since 2003 by the Babini family's group, The Hospitality Experience. A three-year renovation by the Florentine architect Luigi Fragola ended in 2021 with a new name, olive and cream rooms, and a restaurant open from breakfast to late. The family also funds The Place of Wonders, which supports Florence's craft workshops. The rooms to ask for face the church.
- Breakfast on the square Tables go out onto the piazza in front of the basilica, and dinner moves there in warm weather.
- The rooftop terrace Drinks above the roofs of Santa Maria Novella, with the city around you.
- Negroni at the bar The bar mixes seven versions of the Florentine cocktail and runs a negroni masterclass for guests.
Rooms & suites
Ask for the church.
The rooms facing Santa Maria Novella are the ones to book. Others look over the inner courtyard or the old atrium.
- Two floors Junior Suite About 40 square metres on two levels, with a sitting room below, a king bed above and the square and church in the windows.
- Two levels The Panoramic Loft About 50 square metres, a living room with a sofa bed downstairs and a bedroom upstairs, facing the piazza.
- Top floor The Duomo Penthouse About 40 square metres, with a private balcony and a view across the city to the cathedral.
- Signature suite Santa Maria Novella Master Suite About 50 square metres, open plan, with a fireplace and the Renaissance church outside.
Dining
One kitchen, open all day.
Restaurant as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- The Kitchen & The Bar Modern Tuscan, from local produce Chef Asso Migliore; open from 7.30 am to 11.30 pm
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 4 pm, check-out by noon. There is no reception desk in the usual sense; staff meet you in the living room.
- Children Children up to 12 stay free in the four larger suites. Every other room takes two guests at most.
- Pets Not accepted.
- No spa There is no gym or spa in the house. Treatments can be arranged, and a gym nearby is available to guests.
Getting there
Flying to Florence.
Florence Peretola is about 5 kilometres away, 15 to 20 minutes by car, our estimate, and tram T2 from the terminal reaches the centre in about 22 minutes. Business jets land at Peretola too; larger aircraft use Pisa or Bologna, each roughly an hour from Florence by road, our estimate.
- Nice 45 min
- Olbia 50 min
- Geneva 1 h 00
- Paris 1 h 30
- London 1 h 55
Questions
What guests ask first.
- How many MICHELIN Keys does The Place Firenze have?
- One, in the 2026 MICHELIN Key selection for Italy.
- Was The Place Firenze once J.K. Place?
- Yes. It was J.K. Place Firenze until 2021, when a three-year renovation by Luigi Fragola ended and the hotel took its present name.
- Which rooms look onto Santa Maria Novella?
- The Junior Suite, the Panoramic Loft and the Santa Maria Novella Master Suite face the square and the basilica.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Florence?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Florence, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Florence
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Four Seasons Hotel Firenze A Renaissance palazzo with frescoed ceilings in the Gherardesca Garden, with an outdoor pool and the starred Il Palagio.
- Villa Cora Built by Baron Oppenheim for his bride in the nineteenth century, near the Boboli Gardens, with a heated pool open all year.
- Villa La Massa A Medici-era villa on the Arno in some twenty-two acres of park, open from late March to early November, with a shuttle to the Ponte Vecchio.
- Hotel Lungarno Run by the Ferragamo family on the south bank, with Picasso and Cocteau in the lounge and the Ponte Vecchio framed from its restaurant.
- Brunelleschi Hotel A private museum of the building's history, a top-floor view of the cathedral, and the two-star Santa Elisabetta inside.
- The St. Regis Florence A palazzo first planned by Brunelleschi, with some rooms looking onto the Arno.
- Grand Hotel Minerva Redesigned by Carlo Scarpa in the 1950s, with a rooftop pool open in the warm months.
- Collegio alla Querce A sixteenth-century farm that became a Catholic boarding school, now 83 rooms about fifteen minutes by car from the Duomo.
- Portrait Firenze Thirty-seven rooms and suites on the river beside the Ponte Vecchio, rated Five-Star by Forbes Travel Guide in 2026.
- Hotel Savoy Olga Polizzi did the interiors, and the trattoria downstairs, Irene, is named after Lady Forte.
- Hotel La Gemma Thirty-nine rooms near the Duomo, with Luca's, holder of a MICHELIN star, on the first floor and a Biologique Recherche spa.
- Sina Villa Medici, Autograph Collection An early nineteenth-century palazzo where the monastery of Sant'Anna once stood, its garden and pool shared with Harry's Bar The Garden.
- Il Salviatino A fifteenth-century villa of 39 rooms looking down on the city, with its spa in the old greenhouse and a shuttle into town.
- COMO Castello Del Nero A twelfth-century castle in the Chianti hills, with a COMO Shambhala spa.
- Hotel Bernini Palace While Florence was capital of Italy, deputies and senators met in its frescoed Sala Parlamento, now the breakfast room.
- Helvetia & Bristol Eleonora Duse stayed here on her visits to Florence, and its Winter Garden restaurant was a meeting place for writers.
- Villa La Vedetta A villa on the hill of Piazzale Michelangelo, with an outdoor pool and a restaurant of its own.
- Villa Le Maschere A villa resort in the Mugello hills whose wellness centre includes a Turkish bath.
Staying at The Place Firenze?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Florence, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.