Four-star One MICHELIN Key Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Grand Hotel Minerva
A palazzo on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, reworked by Carlo Scarpa in the 1950s, with a pool on the roof and the Duomo across the tiles.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key, 2026
- Rooms
- 97, including 25 suites
- Since
- 1869, as Locanda della Minerva
- From the airport
- About 15 to 20 minutes from Peretola, our estimate
The hotel
Scarpa on the piazza.
The building began with the monks of Santa Maria Novella, whose church stands across the square, and later passed to noble Florentine families. In 1869 it opened to travellers as the Locanda della Minerva, and early in the twentieth century the inn became a hotel. A few rooms still keep frescoes, old wooden beams and coffered ceilings from the 1300s, and a wall still carries the mark of the 1966 flood.
In 1957 the Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa and the Florentine Edoardo Detti remade the interiors and put a swimming pool on the roof, a rare thing in Florence then and now. Antiques from Prince Demidoff's Florentine house arrived in the late 1970s. A later renovation by Piera Tempesti Benelli kept Scarpa's details and used Tuscan fabrics and craftsmen. The hotel is family run and marked its 150th year in 2019.
- The rooftop pool A heated pool on the sixth floor, for hotel guests, with a bar and views of the cathedral dome. It opens in the warm months; the terrace itself is open all year.
- Scarpa's rooms The breakfast room, designed by Scarpa, looks onto a Japanese garden, and his touch runs through the ground floor.
- A Roman-style plunge In the cooler months a hot plunge pool, the calidarium, takes over from the roof, next to a gym open from 6 am to 10 pm.
Rooms & suites
Frescoes, duplexes and the church outside.
Room shapes vary with the old building. Most suites look onto the piazza and Santa Maria Novella; others face the Duomo or the cloister.
- Frescoed Frescoed Suite About 60 square metres, one bedroom under painted ceilings. It can be joined to the next-door Frescoed Room for a larger party.
- Fourth floor Romantic Suite About 51 square metres, with two bathrooms and a Juliet balcony over the cloister and the church.
- Two levels Duplex and family suites Suites on two floors and family rooms, with connecting rooms available on request.
Dining
A terrace on the square, a bar on the roof.
Venues as listed by the hotel and recent reviews. Shown for information.
- La Buona Novella Florentine and Tuscan Ground floor, with tables out on the piazza in summer
- La Terrazza Cocktails and pizza by the pool On the roof, open in the warm months
- Bistrot Bar Cocktails Open all year
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon. Santa Maria Novella station is a short walk away.
- Children Welcome. Cots, babysitting and connecting rooms can be arranged with the hotel.
- Pets One pet of up to 10 kg per room, for a supplement. Pets stay out of the restaurant, the gym and the rooftop.
- The pool Sources give different seasons, from May to September or from April to October. Check with the hotel if the pool matters to your dates.
Getting there
Flying to Florence.
Florence Peretola is about 6 kilometres away, 15 to 20 minutes by car, our estimate, and tram T2 from the terminal runs into the centre in about 22 minutes. Business jets also land at Peretola; 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 Grand Hotel Minerva have?
- One, in the 2026 MICHELIN Key selection for Italy.
- Is the rooftop pool open all year?
- No. The pool and its bar open in the warm months, and the hotel can confirm the dates. In the cooler months guests use the hot plunge pool and the gym indoors.
- Can I walk from Santa Maria Novella station?
- Yes. The hotel is on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, a few minutes on foot from the station, and the Duomo is about ten minutes away.
- 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.
- 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.
- The Place Firenze Suites on the square in front of the basilica, with one MICHELIN Key and a bar and restaurant serving through the day.
- 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 Grand Hotel Minerva?
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.