I want to echo the reviews by travelinfamilyof4 from Chicago in Aug 2006 and the re-submitted review of brendastarr of Thousand Oaks CA in Sept 19, 2007. We just returned from our trip to Florence and Tuscany and there are not enough wonderful things to say about Hotel Ungherese, especially the hotel keepers, Sabina and her husband Leonardo. My husband and I were travelling with another couple (friends) and we booked for 7 nights at the hotel. We had a car and planned to see Florence and the Tuscan countryside. Since this was a first trip to Europe for our friends, we wanted them to have a good experience in comfort with the local Italian flair. All the reviews for the hotel were 98% positive and excellent. I felt I could do no wrong in staying at this hotel. It is in Fiesole, an Italian neighborhood very close to the center of Florence. I asked my Italian customers (I am in medical sales) and they all had positive things to say about the area and our veterinarian had stayed in Fiesole and liked the area. The "noise" that you hear is the daily noise of people living in a neighborhood. I highly recommend the location, especially if you don't want to stay in the center of Florence where it can be noisy. The rooms we stayed were on the second floor and they were sufficiently spacious. The bed was comfortable and there was enough space in the room. The private bath was equally spacious with a shower stall. Breakfast was downstairs: European continental breakfast with hardboiled eggs, cheese, breads, wonderful yogurt, fruits and excellent cappuchino, hot chocolate or tea. There is a wonderful garden terrace that you could sit, relax and have some wine in the evening or have your morning cappuchino and contemplate the day while playing with Peggy, the cat or Pongo and Golia (the two dogs are fenced in the courtyard below). They love to come up the stairs to say hello to the guests and Pongo loves to have you throw his stick and play fetch). Sabina and Leonardo do EVERYTHING at this hotel: manage the desk, clean the rooms, make breakfast every morning, help the guests, etc....and they are gracious, helpful and pleasant to all the guests. They had guests who came in at 2 am and Sabina stayed up to let them in. I have never seen 2 people who work so hard all the time - literally 24/7, 365 days with no break. Sabina was helpful prior to our trip with our email and telephone correspondence. I made certain that she was aware of our arrival date and time and the type of room. Everything was perfect. There is no problem if you have a car. There is street parking outside the hotel and the next street (park between the white lines); Leonardo was nice enough to move his car the first day we arrived so we could park right in front of the hotel. The hotel is very close to the airport (on A11) in Florence - maybe 20 minutes away, Firenze Sud off A1towards Roma-Bolgna and follow the signs to the Stadio when you get off A1. I must mention how patient and helpful Sabina's friend (Sabina and Leonardo were out on errands) was in directing 4 tired Americans (who usually have a very good sense of direction but for some reason couldn't think straght that afternoon) to the hotel. Sabina and all of us had a good laugh and it is forever a memorable story of our trip.
There is a local bus that goes to the center of Florence, so there was no need to drive into Centro Storico. The bus stop is right around the corner from the hotel and the cost is 4.50 euro for 4 trips. Sabina mapped out the route for us and also let us know where to purchase the ticket and where the return stop was in Florence to get back to the hotel.
We would definitely come back to Hotel Ungherese but ALAS, Sabina and Leonardo are leaving the hotel at the end of this month (Oct 31, 2007). I don't want to pre-judge the next hotel keeper but Sabina and Leonardo will be a tough act to follow. They are the Hotel Ungherese (we re-named it "The Hotel Sabina") as far as we are concerned. We felt as if we were staying at a good friend's house. It was definitely sad for us to leave on Monday morning, October 15, 2007. We asked our friends how they liked their first trip to Europe: "We had a wonderful time in Italy and it was special staying at Hotel Ungherese and meeting Sabina and Leonardo". We second that sentiment!
Judy and Ernie Kennedy, Yorktown Heights NY