Where to stay when you leave.
Flash your Cash at JK Place in Florence
4/09/2008 at 9:15 AM
Tags: Italy Hotels, Florence Hotels, Monica Guy, Boutique Hotes
What did we say about staying away from the centre of Florence?
Only if you're on a budget. If you're not and you want to flash your cash in the shops and slap-bang city centre, take a room in the JK Place boutique hotel in Santa Maria Novella square.
There are only 20 rooms and the staff like to call it a 'house' rather than a hotel. That's going a bit far - décor is stylish and understated but undeniably Italian-design (Michele Bonan, if you're interested). Clean lines, simple colours and cute details everywhere. Breakfast is in an old internal courtyard which has been covered over by a huge glass structure.
Yet we're a bit worried about the pretentious factor.
The website's a bit scary in this respect:
"Environment here means protected space, suspended from the chaotic flow of time, a refuge by choice, a happy landing... JK Place follows a philosophy of hospitality that is truly different, tracing a peculiar microcosm, far from overused clichés and evening routes."
The bar is "uber-chic" and the lounge is the place where "differing stylistic philosophies join together harmoniously".
Still, you can't beat the views from the top-floor wood-planked terrace. And the reviews all rave about the place.
Santa Maria Novella church is one of Florence's most famous religious buildings and it is full - we mean full - of frescoes. The same square holds the busy central railway station as well so either way it's packed with tourists. Anything mentioned in the first few pages of your guidebook will be right on the doorstep.
Rates from €350 ($550) for a standard double, including breakfast and free Wi-Fi, but the standard rooms are a tiny 25 sq metres. Go for a double deluxe if you can (€500/$785), or if you're all out for a good time, the top-floor four-poster Master Room (€1000/$1570).
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