Five-star Piazza San Firenze, Florence
Hotel Bernini Palace
A palazzo on Piazza San Firenze where the deputies and senators of the new Kingdom of Italy met while Florence was its capital. Breakfast is served in their frescoed room.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Rooms
- 74 rooms and about ten suites
- Building
- A fifteenth-century palazzo
- Parliament
- Meeting place of deputies, 1865 to 1870
- From the airport
- About 7 km from Peretola
The hotel
Where the deputies met.
The palazzo faces Piazza San Firenze, a few steps from Palazzo Vecchio. It once belonged to the Pera, a family of bankers, and a marble plaque on the Via dei Leoni side quotes Dante on their wealth. By the middle of the nineteenth century it was already a hotel, known then as the Shield of France, and a smart one.
From 1865 to 1870, while Florence was capital of Italy, deputies and senators met here, and some lived in the house. It was renamed after them, the Hotel Parlamento. Their buvette on the first floor, painted with portraits of Garibaldi, Cavour and Manin, is now the Sala Parlamento, where guests take breakfast. Restoration in the late 1980s brought to light an open gallery on the ground floor, with niches carved as female heads.
- Sala Parlamento Breakfast from 7 to 10.30 under the frescoed ceiling where members of the first Italian parliament gathered.
- La Chiostrina The restaurant sits in the restored portico on the ground floor, with Tuscan cooking that follows the seasons.
- The roof terrace The Garden Terrace on the roof looks across to the tower of Palazzo Vecchio.
Dining
Under the old portico.
Venues as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- La Chiostrina Tuscan, seasonal In the restored ground-floor portico
- Lounge Bar Drinks Off the lobby
- Sala Parlamento Breakfast From 7 to 10.30, in the old parliament room
Good to know
Before you go.
- Pets Medium-sized pets are accepted.
- Which room Superior rooms look onto inner courtyards or side lanes. Ask for a Grand Deluxe with View if the outlook matters.
Getting there
Flying to Florence.
Florence Peretola is about 7 kilometres away, 20 to 25 minutes by car through the centre, our estimate. Business jets land at Peretola too; larger aircraft use Pisa or Bologna, each an hour or more 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.
- Why is it called the Sala Parlamento?
- Between 1865 and 1870, when Florence was capital of Italy, members of parliament and senators met in this frescoed room. It is now the breakfast room.
- Does Hotel Bernini Palace hold a MICHELIN Key?
- No. It is not in the 2026 MICHELIN Key selection for Italy.
- Is the hotel close to the Uffizi?
- Yes. Piazza San Firenze lies just behind Palazzo Vecchio, and the Uffizi is a short walk 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.
- 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.
- 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 Hotel Bernini Palace?
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.