Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence, Italy

When we booked the Gallery Hotel Art, a Lungarno Collection property, which belongs to Salvatore Ferragamo we received free entrance to the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo beside some other perks. Normally entrance costs 6 Euro (ca. 7.90 USD).

The museum is located in the basement at the headquarters of Salvatore Ferragamo at Via dei Tornabuoni.

We were greeted friendly. In order to pay no entrance we had to show our key card and fill out a form.

The museum was entirely different than what we expected. There were some Salvatore Ferragamo shoes, designed by the master himself and some of his tools. The museum, though, evolves around myths, fables and fairytales and how shoes/shoemakers have influenced culture over the centuries.

There were video installations; one was inspired by Salvatore Ferragamo's autobiography, telling how he managed to make a pair of shoes for his sister without ever learning how to do it.

The museum is good, but in our opinion it has too few Salvatore Ferragamo designs exhibited and makes it difficult to learn something about the company's history.

We needed around 45 minutes to see the complete museum. Photography isn't allowed.

Would we return? If the entrance is included in our overnight rate at a Lungarno Collection hotel, yes. Otherwise the price feels too high for what you get.

©2013

Gallery Hotel Art, Florence, Italy

We arrived with Volainbus / shuttle Bus from the Airport to the Florence Train Station and bought a return ticket, which cost 10 Euro per person (ca. 13.40 USD). The driver was so nice to give us directions to the Gallery Hotel Art.

The Gallery Hotel Art belongs to Salvatore Ferragamo's Lungarno Collection. This and having been the first design hotel in Italy were the reasons we choose this hotel.

The hotel has the ideal location, just steps away from the Ponte Vecchio, in a very quiet side street. The building was formerly a work shop for Salvatore Ferragamo.

The hotel was easy to find. The lobby looked like an art gallery and had an exhibition about bicycle racing going on.

Check in was friendly and quick.

Our rate included breakfast, free internet access, free entrance to the Ferragamo Museum and an upgrade at check in, if available. We were lucky and were upgraded.

We were accompanied by the bell captain to our room on the fourth floor, who also took our suitcase.

He gave us a quick room description. Then we were alone.

The room was large with twin beds pushed together, two chairs in front of the beds, a writing desk and a cupboard, containing the mini bar and storage space.

There was also a small hallway with a large wardrobe including safe.

The bathroom was medium in size. There was a double sink, weighing scale, toilet and bidet and a bath tub with shower combination.

The amenities were Salvatore Ferragamo Tuscan Soul.

The color scheme was brown, beige, black and white.

24 hour room service was also available.

We loved the details, like artwork depicting Florentine landmarks or that the leather handles to open the wardrobe were also made by Salvatore Ferragamo craftsmen.

We could see the part of the Ponte Vecchio from our window or looking in the next door apartments.

Everything in the room was comfortable.

There was also the biography of Salvatore Ferragamo and a Lungarno Collection magazine.

TV channels available were mostly regional but all important international channels were also there. Some channels also allowed changing the language by pressing a button via remote control. We watched one evening Bag of Bones with Pierce Brosnan on Italian TV using this service.

Breakfast was something to look forward to. We could have had breakfast at the Continentale or the Lungarno Hotel, but choose to have it at the Gallery Hotel Art, because we wanted to have a surprise element when returning to Florence and staying at one of the others within the Lungarno Collection.

Breakfast was served at the Hotel's lounge which can be seen as extension of the Fusion Restaurant and Bar. It was divided into different areas, insuring that the people flow was manageable. There were some hot items like bacon, scrambled eggs and turkey sausages, cold cuts, different types of cheese, fruits, cereal and much more. My favorite was the rice tart, but most of the days it was finished by the time we arrived. So if you want to have them better come early. All other items were replenished frequently.

The juice choice was good too. We loved the detox juice and the energizer, but there were peach, pear and orange juice available.

Other hot items, like omelets or pancakes could be ordered a la carte. They were charged extra. One of us had pancakes, and they were delicious. The cost was 6 Euro, ca. 8 USD.

One evening we also had dinner at the restaurant. It was fantastic and included 2 cocktails, a bottle of water, two main courses and two desserts. It came in at 78 Euro (ca. 104.40 USD).

All the staff was very friendly and attentive.

One example was the maid. On our first night the twin beds were pushed together, our preference. The next day, when the room was made up, the beds were separated. Before going to bed we pushed them together. The following morning the maid took note of what we liked and the beds stayed the way we preferred it for the rest of the stay.

Check out came too quickly. It was efficient and fast.

©2013