Our family of 5 spent 7 nights in the Botticelli Apartment. Two-bedrooms on the 3rd floor with frescoed ceilings and a view of the duomo and baptistry. There was a small kitchen area, two of the four burners worked on the stove and a large refrigerator. There is a grocery store close by, which we took advantage of. The bus stop is across the street as is the ATM machine.

Negatives, the noise level is extremely high - young people hang out of the steps of the church til at least 2 a.m. each night singing and drinking. Four ambulances are stationed across the street and are constantly on the go, sirens wailing at all hours. The beds are extremely hard and fairly uncomfortable. The bathrooms (2) were both very small with leaky showers that drained very slowly.

Positives: Location, location, location. It couldn't be beat. In several minutes you could be at the Ponte Vecchio, The Uffizi, Accademia, Boboli Gardens, Piazza della Signora, The Pitti Palace, or just strolling along the Arno.

Cristiano and Jessica were very helpful at the check-in. But as has been pointed out, the hours of 12 noon to 8 p.m. are not convenience if you have a late flight from the United States and arrive in Florence at 9 a.m. It is a 15 minutes taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. Cost about 25 Euros plus an additional 1 euro for each bag. We needed two taxis.

The weather was extremely warm for October. It was in the 80's every day and no rain. The city was more crowded than I expected it to be. The tour books tell you October is quieter, but it wasn't true. Shop owners we talked with said September and October are becoming as busy as June and July.

Because of the weak dollar, the cost was about $360 a night.

Would we stay here again, yes, because of the location and convenience but certainly not because of a "quiet, relaxing atmosphere" as the hotel advertises.

This was an amazing experience. It won the prize for the best views in Italy. My husband and I as well as two friends stayed here for three nights. It was the best location for walking around the city. We were in the penthouse so the view was amazing. We spent every night sitting on our deck and we felt like we could lean out and touch the Duomo. The kitchen was small but quite adequate. The shower in one of the bathrooms was tiny and flooded the floor. It was also noisy. Earplugs solved that problem. That said the location and the views won out and we loved our stay here.

I often turn to Trip Advisor reviews for guidance so I was surprised to find only eight, somewhat dated, but very good reviews about Palazzo Gamba on TA (but I did find lots of positive reviews on another popular website). The small number of reviews made me a bit apprehensive to book (2) two-bedroom apartments at the Palazzo Gamba for our family’s 4-night stay in Florence, but as it turns out, I’m so glad I did and I’m delighted to share information on this fantastic find!

The apartment building is in the historic center of Florence, about 40+ feet from the Duomo. It’s within a 10 minute walking radius to all the major sights: Piazza della Signoria, Accademia, Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo market, Medici Chapels, etc. The start of the pedonale - pedestrian zone - is across the street from the apartment.

We had the Raffaello and the Leonardo apartments on the 2nd floor. These are the only ones with balconies overlooking the Duomo and Battistero. Both apartments were VERY spacious and clean. In addition to the beds, each apartment had a sleeper sofa. Having a small kitchen fully supplied with kitchenware was an added convenience. We didn’t use it for cooking as there were so many great restaurant options nearby, but we did make good use of the fridge for our drinks and the kettle and cups for tea.

The relatively minor shortcomings are: the lobby is small and unimpressive (I was initially worried about the place when we walked into the lobby, but it’s not a good indicator of what’s to come); the elevator is small and can accommodate about 3 people (you might have to make a couple trips if you have lots of luggage); and the surrounding area is not exactly quiet at night as it’s in the historic, well-visited section of town (for those bothered by noise in the evening, ear plugs should do the trick!). With these things aside, everything else is top notch.

A few things to know about:
•The reception desk is only available between 12noon – 7:30pm, so if you need front desk help, you must check in or make inquiries during these hours.
•Towels are changed every few days unless you request a set of fresh towels daily (for a flat fee of 10 euro) which will cover the entire stay, not per day.
•Danielle and Cristiano at the reception desk were very helpful during the booking process and throughout our stay. They can also book tours.
•You’ll only have one (large) key set for each apartment; included is a key for the building and one for the safe.
•Rooms can be rung up from outside the building as there are door bells labeled with the room name; a video cam allows you to see who is ringing your room from outside.
•There’s a cafeteria style deli next to the apartment that serves sandwiches and salads.
•Close by is the wonderful pasticceria, Robiglio’s – a great place to have your morning pastry and cappuccino.
•The bus stop is across the street.

Palazzo Gamba was such a great find! If you’re looking for comfortable convenience with lots of space at a reasonable price, Palazzo Gamba would be perfect for family or friends traveling together.

We rented a two bedroom apartment. It was on the second floor.
It was nice for our family of four and a family friend. As my family have one of the bedroom facing the Duomo and my friend has the other bed room. We had nice high ceiling. There are two small bathrooms off the living room area.

It was bit noisy but we got used to it.
The kitchen was ok. You can't turn on two burners at the same time on the stove, otherwise you will have to go down stair to flip the power switch. AC was adequet as we had 90 F temperature weather.

No daily towel services, cost 10 Euro extra, don't know if it is daily or the whole stay. Elevator is very small but we usually just walk up.

My family and I would stay there again because of the location, convinience and spaciousness of the facility.