My daughter had a very disappointing semester stay in the Buontalenti Exclusive apartment. While…read morethe apartment was nice and as pictured in the online photos, there was a MAJOR mechanical disruption in the apartment for over 6 weeks of her stay! A very loud, high pitched drilling noise that CONSTANTLY came from the HVAC unit. My daughter and I contacted the agency over and over, and the noise was NEVER repaired. It truly was torturous. My daughter was given the run around for weeks and weeks and kept being told parts were ordered and mechanics were going to repair the noise. I called and emailed from the US dozens of times and never communicated with the same person. I asked to speak with the owner and this was never allowed. Their attitude was "this is beyond our control" and all we can do is"strongly urge" the owner to repair the noise. At exam time when it became obvious the agency had no intention of helping my daughter, I asked for her to use another nearby empty apartment to study and sleep. At first this request was completely denied despite all she had suffered for weeks. After a few days, they said she would have to completely move out of her present apartment into the new apartment during finals. Mind you, this was with only a week left of the lease. After all of the inconvenience and complete failure to help in any way or offer any solution for my daughter,, I asked for a fair credit on the rent (which was over $3500 a month). All they offered was a $150 credit on the already sky high utility bills. I stated this was not acceptable for the months long unlivable condition, and they seriously did not care and offered nothing else. Please take my advice and do NOT rent from this poorly managed agency. Don't let the nice photos online fool you- if anything major goes wrong in the apartment, they will not follow through with repairs. Several of my daughter's friends also rented from Apartments Florence and also had serious maintenance issues. One friend went without hot water for over 2 weeks. My security deposit also wasn't returned within the 30 days specified in the lease, and I had to contact the agency several times inquiring about the refund. I'm sad to say that this agency seems to take advantage of American students.

The following is my opinion based upon my experiences as described below…read more The costs to get in to the apartment were a deposit of 4,000€, a cleaning fee of 312 €, and the first month's payment (1,360 € rent + 100 € condo fee + 40 € wifi = total of 1,500 €). The agency fee was 1800 €, this did not seem unreasonable as they were to be the property managers through whom rent and other issues were to be managed. Certainly, the owners pay another fee for the management of the property. That being said, I have two cats and requested that they be considered. The agency made it seem that the owners insisted on a higher security deposit in order to allow the cats. Upon meeting the owners, they assured me that they had told the agency that they had no problem allowing the pets and no discussion of any additional fee had taken place. Upon moving in, I found that there was no key to the post box and no key to throw away the trash (Florence has controlled bins for trash and various recycling). I messaged and emailed at least once a week regarding both of these necessities. After four (4) weeks of wandering the streets with my garbage and recycling, searching for an open bin, they finally secured a control key for me. It took nearly 8 weeks for a key to open my post box. This ONLY occurred because after sending an email listing the many problems with the apartment, they finally contacted the property owners and arranged for them to meet me at the apartment. When I mentioned the post box key to them, they knew nothing about it. They were able to resolve the problem within 2 days! The property owners also seemed surprised at several elements within the home that the agency had not appraised them of. Of lesser importance, but to explain the lack of quality provided by Apartments Florence SRL, this is an excerpt from an email sent to them: I hope to address some outstanding issues and to communicate very clearly that things are off to a difficult start in regards to our professional relationship. This will also serve as proof of communication of the state of the apartment for assessment at end of the lease. After four weeks of repeated requests, I received the means to properly dispose of garbage. We are into the fifth week and I still do not have the means to open the postbox. Fortunately, I was home when the registered letter from the Questura arrived, but that does not negate the need to provide all of the necessary elements of a normal rental. I have spent many hours cleaning the apartment. I have date/time stamped video of every inch of the apartment and can say without doubt that it was not properly clean upon moving in. Issues include: * The walls are in a terrible state. They are filthy (sudicio) and damaged in places . I wiped fourteen mosquito corpses from the walls upon arrival. * Under the beds and under the refrigerator were not clean, there were areas of dried liquid and dirt which I have cleaned. * The beautiful tile backsplash in the kitchen is not properly sealed where it meets the plastic strip at the bottom, the area is open to water damage which has already occurred behind the faucet and to the right of the sink. * The pergola in the kitchen and anteroom to the bathroom is separating, creating a place for the growth of bacteria . *The window in the door leading to the terrace is broken. . * The outside area under the windows (where clothes should hang) is filthy, including someone's old underwear that they hung out and let fall, this seems like a matter covered by the condominium fee Within the contract I agreed, and will uphold my part, to pay their stated utility rates which are: Gas 1,50 € x mc / water 4,00 € x mc / electricity 0,60 € x kWh). Having looked at various offers in the free market, comparing three of the most popular companies for gas and electricity, rate ranges were: gas from 0,5311 to 1,05 € x mc and electricity from 0,115 to 0,129 x kWh). As to water, the rates set are best outlined by Publiacqua. I do not take issue necessarily with the prices, as I had no choice but to agree in order to secure the lease. The problem is Apartments Florence SRL's complete lack of transparency. I requested a copy of the statement from the utility companies for my records, showing that what I paid is what the utility actually charge. The agency refused, stating that my payment rates were agreed upon in the contract. I very much like the apartment and the zone. I recently met the owners of the property who were incredibly helpful and kind. That being said, I am most pleased that the contract has a clause requiring only a three-month written notice in order to terminate the contract, which I have given, cutting my one year lease down to 5 months.

Great location and host. Near everything and very comfortable. Well maintained and equipped…read more would stay there again. Spiral staircase is a bit narrow but not a problem for us seniors.

We rented this apartment through VRBO for our stay in Florence with 4 adults and 2 small children…read more From the pictures online it looked really good and in real life it was a great place. The rooms were large, the living room and kitchen were nice. There was free wifi. The location is excellent, walking distance to all the sights in downtown Florence. But here was the bad part. I was trying to contact the owner a few days before arrival to check in and make sure we were all set. Didn't receive any response. I just wanted to confirm our arrival and asked a few question about how best to get from the train station to the apartment, esp. since we were traveling with luggage and a small baby. No response. I had a phone number that I was supposed to call when we arrived, so I called that upon arrival in Florence. We talked to Osvaldo and he said he would meet us at the apartment in 45 minutes and gave us directions. We walked from the train station to the apartment in 10 minutes and waited outside. We waited for much longer than 45 minutes and Osvaldo finally showed up. When he did get there, he didn't have the right keys for us so while he could let us in, he needed to get different keys. It took a long time for him to get the keys and come back. Even when checking out I emailed the owner and he said we should talk to Osvaldo. The owner didn't seem involved at all, which I thought was kind of strange. It didn't make us feel very welcome. And the lack of communication beforehand stressed me out and made me very uncertain about whether I had done the right thing. It all worked out in the end, but the experience would have been a lot better if the owner had been more responsive.

absolutely horrible, dirty, smelly apartment called Mignon. Key to front door was an issue, hot…read morewater stopped, nobody seemed to care. Place was absolutely awful as well as the responses from both the local representative and the agency.

The stairs were really narrow and steep, and it was a pain to carry our luggage upstairs. It was an…read moreold house. The shower stall in the bathroom was really small, just a little bigger than shower stalls in cruise ship rooms. And the guy who checked us in was not the most polite guy in the world. The power would go off several times daily because the electrical circuitry was old and the main fuse would trip. The AC in one of the bedrooms was not working properly - it made the room too cold, even in summer. There were mosquitoes in the apartment. On the positive side, there was a decent kitchen and fridge. There was free High Speed Wi-Fi in the apartment. There were several restaurants on the street block. It was within walking distance to places like Uffizi and the Duomo. It was also close to grocery stores like Conad City and Carrefour Express.

A warm and cosy place to call home during your stay in Florence. This apartment sleeps up to four…read morepeople. It is a one bedroom apartment with a queen sized bed and a pull-out couch that is very comfortable for kids or another couple. All of the furniture is new and tasteful (mostly from IKEA). There is a spacious kitchen, complete with all the essential gear for cooking or baking. There is also a toaster, Italian Moka Pot (Espresso), Teapot, dishwasher, refrigerator/freezer, gas stove, oven and of course many (new) plates , bowls, utensils, wine glasses etc. The bathroom is clean and bright which includes sink, toilet and shower. One of the nicest features of the apartment is the small intimate terrace that seats two people and is fantastic for a romantic morning coffee or having a glass of wine at sunset . The apartment gets its' name "tra i tetti" or "among the rooftops" from the beautiful view of the Italian terra-cotta rooftops. The apartment is on the top floor so the view is quite nice. That being said, those with knee problems or who are not able to do stairs, this apartment may be problematic because the apartment is on the top floor of a building with no elevator. If you are here for the first time, the location of the apartment couldn't be more perfect. It's only 5 minutes from the central train station and easy to walk to. Plus you are right in the center of Florence! Being on the top floor there is very little noise once the windows are closed. There are no trash bins on this street so you won't be bothered by the noisy garbage collectors that come early in the morning. The apartment has all your basic needs ready upon check-in. All linen and towels are provided, as well as your basic condiments for cooking like oil, salt, sugar, coffee, tea and soap for dishes and laundry. Check in/out times are often flexible as well. Great place to call home for first time visitors or seasoned travelers of this beautiful city.