Hotel Porta Rossa is an NH Collection hotel and claims to be the oldest hotel in Italy. It is located on a narrow street in Florence, close to the Uffizi Gallery and a short walk away from the Duomo and other sites. The historic building has modern updates but retains its charm.
The staff at the hotel was fantastic. They were friendly and helpful in making reservations and providing us with directions and suggested activities.
We had read widely positive reviews about the hotel but there seemed to be one underlying complaint… the noise level. Surely it can’t be that bad, we thought. We were wrong. It was worse. Our room faced the main street, and I don’t think it could possibly have been any louder had our bed been in the middle of the street itself. Our room had large beautiful windows, which did absolutely nothing to keep the sound out. The people on the street below sounded like they were in our room with us. Being there on the weekend only magnified the problem.
The rooms were large and though this is an historic hotel, it is currently owned and operated by a chain, which I think makes it more family friendly. They even had a few family rooms that could accommodate up to 6 people. But while the building and rooms are beautiful and the staff helpful, I don’t think I could ever recommend this hotel to families because of the noise level. I can’t imagine how difficult it would have been for our kids to fall asleep with the lively street activity below.
One note – we had booked the hotel using credit card points. It was unclear to us through the booking process that although we were booking a double room, it defaulted to single occupancy. When we went to check in, they said there would be a charge for the additional person in the room. This was not the hotel’s fault and seems to be commonplace in Italy. We had the same issue at the Rome airport hotel we stayed in for our last night, which was also booked on points. So just a word of warning for booking Italian hotels on credit card points – make sure you are selecting double occupancy or you will be charged an additional fee.