Palazzo dei Girolami

Top Level, Independent Luxury in a Historical Family Palace

Pass through the 15th-century threshold of this Florentine palace, up its column-lined, neoclassical vaulted stairway, and enter an independent luxury apartment covering its fourth floor. The grand, five-bedroom penthouse was revived by celebrated Rome-based interior designer Ilaria Miani, and features vast, double-height timbered ceilings over sleek open-plan living spaces. The vacation home rental in Florence showcases Miani’s signature style, blending the old, characterful and historically patinaed with new elements, all sleek, angular and artistic.

Leading designer Ilaria Miani has made her name reviving decaying Italian properties, and this majestic, family-owned penthouse is a testament to her talents. Miani approached this restoration in her typical manner, looking back in time to create relevant spaces for the future. In the palace’s spacious top level, she peeled back centuries of refurbishments, demolishing partitions and false ceilings and scraping layers of stucco, plaster and paint to reveal the building’s original bricks and pillars before modifying the space to suit modern living.

The palace originated in the 12th century, but came into its celebrated, palatial form centuries later in the 1600s, when it was renovated by Marchese Anton Maria Bartolommei, who commissioned architect Ferdinando Tacca, the head of the Medici court’s Borgo Pinti workshop, to redesign it. Named for its original, 12th-century tower, the Torre dei Girolami, destroyed by the Germans during WWII, the tower’s historic bricks and pillars have been given new life in Miani’s reconstruction project.

Despite its medieval bones, the apartment feels airy, creative and contemporary. Breezy linen sheers and cool modern art and architectural elements dress up ancient walls, bathrooms are serene and gloriously luxurious, lined with striated marble worthy of their palace address. Panoramic views from the soaring great room overlook St. Stefano church and the tower at the Palazzo Vecchio, and a romantic rooftop terrace places Florence’s mythical cityscape—including the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signora—front and center at alfresco meals.

Read more about designer Ilaria Miani here.

AROUND

Covering the top floor a noble palace, this vacation home rental in Florence overlooks the leafy squares and elegant narrow lanes of the city's art- and culture-filled center. Situated only steps from such iconic sights as the Uffizi, the Piazza della Signoria, and the Ponte Vecchio arching across the Arno River, the neighborhood is glamorous and walkable, a safe urban zone of glinting palaces, Renaissance facades and aristocratic villas. 

The nearby Ponte Vecchio is filled with shops and boutiques, and lively restaurants, both white table cloth and more casual family-run affairs, line the surrounding streets. Art lovers need no introduction to Florence’s astonishing collections. Don’t miss the Uffizi (admire the Botticellis), the Galleria dell’Accademia (be awestruck by Michelangelo’s David) or the Barghello (brimming with Renaissance scultpures). The astoundingly large Pitti Palace’s halls are breathtaking in their scope, and the Boboli Gardens surround the Pitti Palace, showcasing formal French geometric gardens, lush green courtyards and squares, and a spacious Italian Renaissance garden. 

Taking a break from Florence’s art-filled indoor spaces is well worth your time. Amble up the San Miniato al Monte for a breathtaking panorama over the city’s rooftops, stroll the riverfront, and expand the city’s artful horizons beyond museums with a visit to the famed Duomo by Brunelleschi or Giotto’s Bell Tower, or pop into any of the city’s ornate churches or gilded chapels.

LOCATION

Florence, Italy. Nearest airport: Florence

BEST TIME TO VISIT: Year ound