A new kind of hotel is coming to Florence, and from the street, you might never know it was there. La Réserve Firenze opens on October 16 in the historic Oltrarno district, home to the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens among many other classic Renaissance favorites. The newest addition on Via Santo Spirito occupies a 15th-century palazzo that has spent most of its existence as a private residence. Neighboring homes bear the names of some of Florence’s most famous families, including Machiavelli, Frescobaldi, and Manetti.
The property makes no attempt at a grand hotel entrance. There is no signage announcing itself to the street. Guests pass through the courtyard before gradually discovering the spaces inside. That discretion is intentional. “We would love their first thought to be: I wasn’t expecting this,” Grégory Marciano, one of La Réserve Firenze’s co-owners, tells T&C. “More than anything, we want guests to feel immediately at ease. The greatest compliment for us would be that within a few minutes they stop thinking of it as a hotel.”
The project began with Grégory and his wife Olivia, a Parisian couple who moved to Florence with their family in 2019 and acquired the palazzo in ...