Review of Gallery Hotel Art, by Jamie Dunford Wood

Japanese minimalism may sound odd in the middle of medieval Florence at the Gallery Hotel Art, but in this design hotel in a cramped Florentine town palazzo it works extremely well.

This Gallery Hotel Art is perfectly positioned; a few steps from the Piazza Republica on one side and the Ponte Vecchio on the other, and just far enough off the main drag to make it relatively quiet at night.

The facilities

The concept behind this design hotel is to have a constantly changing art exhibition on the ground floor, a library of art books, and fusion cooking (Thai/Japanese), with minimalist décor in beige and cream colour tones, using grey stone and dark wood.

The rooms

The elevators and corridors at the Gallery Hotel Art are tiny, which helps this design hotel's 74 rooms feel generous, cool havens from the heat of the street outside. All rooms are air conditioned and equipped with wi-fi and satellite TV.

Floors are of dark stained African wood, bedheads of Florentine leather, doors thick and chunky and painted in cream. The art theme continues, with monochrome prints of architectural detail on the walls. You feel that if Brunelleschi had been a hotel designer, and alive today, this is what he would have come up with, as the grey and cream remind you of the Pazzi Chapel.

Bathrooms are cool and modern, with free standing sinks (two in the deluxe rooms). At the top of the design hotel, the penthouse has a terrace where you can sleep out at night under the stars - now that is what we call romantic. There are also several duplexes and ten junior suites in this design hotel with little sitting areas.