"TWO FLORENCE HOTELS" Page 1, 2, 3

Hotel Bellettini

ABOVE: The Hotel Bellettini is located to the left of San Lorenzo (tiled dome) and below the railroad station (the long tan and grey structure in the photo).

Several major guidebooks have nice things to say about the Hotel Bellettini, and with good reason: It's a pleasant, economical family-run hotel with a great location around the corner from San Lorenzo and the Duomo. The hotel is within a few minutes' walking distance from the main railroad station, but--unlike some other conveniently located hotels--it's on a quiet street away from the usual clutter of tourist restaurants, snack bars, and souvenir shops.

You reach the hotel through the lobby of a building on the Via de' Conti, where you'll find an elevator that takes you to the upstairs lobby. The hotel itself is on two floors, with some rooms having views and others facing a narrow air shaft. All 27 rooms have high ceilings, showers and toilets, direct-dial phones, and safes. If you're traveling during the warmer months, insist on one of the 14 rooms with air conditioning and TV. Also, you might want to avoid the separate annex unless you're willing to walk a block for breakfast.

My single at the Bellettini was comfortable enough, although it didn't get much daylight from the air shaft that it faced. Also, the shower was merely a curtained-off section of the bathroom, which meant the entire floor got wet whenever I took a shower. On the plus side, the room's amenities included a stack of small privately published hardcover books with love poetry, short stories, and other literary works in several languages. (It's hard not to like a hotel that entertains its guests with the works of Cervantes, D'Annunzio, Goldoni, Pushkin, and Robert Louis Stevenson.)

Free Internet access is another bonus. A PC is set up on a table in the lobby, next to the small bar, so you can check your e-mail or browse the Web at any hour of the day or night.

If I had to pick out one feature that makes the Bellettini a standout, I'd choose breakfast, which is served in an attractive room with a beamed ceiling, yellow tablecloths, and bentwood chairs. In contrast to the usual skimpy Italian hotel breakfast, the Bellettini offers a generous buffet with croissants, hard rolls, wholegrain bread, fruit- and cream-filled pastries, ham, cheese, yogurt, seasonal fruit, and even vanilla and chocolate custard. The Bellettini's generous breakfast buffet makes the moderate room rates an even better value.

Hotel Bellettini
Via De' conti, 7
50123 Florence, Italy
Phone +39 (0)55 213561 Fax +39 (0)55 283551
Web site: http://www.hotelbellettini.com/
e-mail: hotel.bellettini@dada.it

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