Five-star Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence
Villa La Vedetta
Eighteen rooms in a nineteenth-century villa on the hill of Piazzale Michelangelo, with a pool, a rooftop terrace over the city and the Ponte Vecchio twenty minutes away on foot.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Rooms
- 18: 11 rooms and 7 suites
- Built
- Second half of the nineteenth century
- Restaurant
- Onice, since 2003
- From the airport
- About 20 minutes from Peretola
The hotel
A family villa above the city.
Villa La Vedetta was built in the second half of the nineteenth century, a neo-Renaissance house on Viale Michelangiolo, the tree-lined road that climbs the hill south of the Arno. Piazzale Michelangelo is about a quarter of a mile away. The villa was once the private home of the Grassi, a Florentine family, and its name means the lookout, which suits a house with the city spread out below it.
The hotel occupies the villa and a smaller house in the grounds, the Villetta Romantica, with eighteen rooms between them. Bathrooms are in marble and mosaic. The Onice restaurant opened in 2003. From the rooftop terrace the whole city lies in front of you, and the walk down to the Ponte Vecchio takes about twenty minutes. Breakfast is served in a tented room or up on the roof.
- The pool An outdoor pool with a large hot tub, open in season, with drinks and aperitivo served beside it.
- The rooftop terrace A terrace above the villa with Florence below, where breakfast is served in good weather.
- Into town A free shuttle runs to the centre, and the Ponte Vecchio is about twenty minutes on foot.
Dining
Dinner on the hill.
Restaurant as listed in reviews of the hotel. Shown for information.
- Onice Creative Florentine Lunch and dinner, with a wine list strong in Tuscan reds
- Lounge bar and pool Cocktails and aperitivo By the pool in season
Good to know
Before you go.
- Size Eighteen rooms in all, eleven rooms and seven suites, split between the villa and the Villetta Romantica.
- Parking Free private parking at the villa.
- Pool season The pool is seasonal. Check the dates with the hotel if it matters to your stay.
Getting there
Flying to Florence.
Florence Peretola is about 20 minutes away by car, an approximate figure. 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 far is Villa La Vedetta from the Ponte Vecchio?
- About twenty minutes on foot, downhill. The hotel also runs a free shuttle to the centre.
- Does Villa La Vedetta have a pool?
- Yes, an outdoor pool with a large hot tub, open in season.
- 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.
- 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 Le Maschere A villa resort in the Mugello hills whose wellness centre includes a Turkish bath.
Staying at Villa La Vedetta?
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.