Five-star One MICHELIN Key Piazza Santa Elisabetta, Florence
Brunelleschi Hotel
A hotel built around a round tower from the sixth or seventh century, a few streets from the Duomo, with Roman baths in its basement and a two-star restaurant of seven tables.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key
- Rooms
- 97
- Building
- Torre della Pagliazza, sixth or seventh century
- From the airport
- About 20 minutes from Peretola, our estimate
The hotel
A tower, a prison and a church.
The Torre della Pagliazza is one of the oldest buildings in Florence, raised in the sixth or seventh century on the foundations of a Roman bath house. Historians still argue over whether the Byzantines or the Lombards built it. By 1268 it was a prison, and from 1285 a prison for women. The name comes from the straw, paglia, the prisoners slept on.
Later it served as the bell tower of the church of San Michele alle Trombe, afterwards Sant'Elisabetta. Between 1983 and 1988 the architect Italo Gamberini restored the tower and freed it from the buildings that hid it. The digs turned up a Roman calidarium, now in the hotel's own museum alongside medieval and Renaissance finds.
- The museum downstairs A private collection under the hotel: the Roman calidarium, ceramics and objects found on the site, and photographs of the restoration.
- The Duomo from upstairs The top floor looks straight at Brunelleschi's dome, a few streets away.
- Santa Elisabetta Seven tables inside the tower, two MICHELIN stars and a list of about two hundred wines.
Rooms & suites
Rooms in a tower and a church.
Contemporary rooms with antique-style furniture and marble bathrooms; suites add a Nespresso machine, and the tower suite looks at the Duomo.
- Rooms Guest rooms Platform beds, Italian linen and marble bathrooms, with turndown each evening.
- Signature suite Pagliazza Tower Suite At the top of the tower, with brick walls, old oak floors, a round bed, two bathrooms and a view of the Duomo.
Dining
Two stars inside the tower.
Restaurants as listed by the hotel and Forbes Travel Guide; MICHELIN stars from the current Italy guide. Shown for information.
- Santa Elisabetta Two Michelin stars Creative Seven tables in the tower
- Osteria La Pagliazza Italian, all day The casual restaurant
- Tower Bar Aperitivo and cocktails From 6.30 pm
Recognition
Ratings.
- MICHELIN Guide One Key
- Forbes Travel Guide Four stars, 2026
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 2 pm, check-out by noon.
- Children Cots are available, and babysitting can be arranged.
- Pets Accepted, for a fee.
Getting there
Flying to Florence.
Florence Peretola is about seven kilometres away, some twenty minutes by car, our estimate. The T2 tram runs from the terminal to the centre in about 22 minutes. Private jets land at Peretola too; larger aircraft use Pisa or Bologna, each about an hour or more 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.
- Does Brunelleschi Hotel have a MICHELIN Key?
- Yes, one Key in the MICHELIN Guide's current selection.
- Can you visit the museum at Brunelleschi Hotel?
- Yes. The private museum below the hotel shows the Roman calidarium found during the restoration and finds from the medieval and Renaissance periods.
- Is Santa Elisabetta inside the hotel?
- Yes. The two-star restaurant has seven tables in the tower and is entered through the hotel.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Brunelleschi Hotel?
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.