Apartment Review: La Farina Apartments Florence, Italy

Justin and I traveled from Venice to Florence by high speed train in the morning. We had to transfer to a regional train at Firenze Santa Maria Novella station to reach Firenze Campo di Marte station. Even though I had read about the trains online and thought I knew the details, we still couldn’t figure out which train to board from looking at our tickets.

Purchasing a ticket from the machine was a simple enough process, but we couldn’t figure out which train was ours. After dragging our suitcases back and forth the station a couple of times, we found an employee who told us to board a train headed to Rome. (Later, we would discover that we needed to look at the final stop for the train to figure out which one to board, as our destination was just one stop along the way.)

When we boarded the small regional train, it was incredibly hot and crowded. Even though it was only a five minute train ride, we were feeling thoroughly tired and a bit stressed out. Thankfully, we were headed to our apartment at La Farina Apartments where we could fully unwind and relax.

Our Home Away From Home

From Campo di Marte station, La Farina Apartments was only a five minute walk away. We found the apartment with ease and were greeted by the friendly and smiling Simone at the front desk. Within seconds, the bad mood that was triggered by feeling stressed and overheated seemed to melt away. After all, we were in a brand new place for five days and we had the entire city before us to explore.

When planning our trip to Italy, we made the conscious decision to stay at apartments throughout our travels. We wanted to have our own space that felt like home. We wanted a kitchen where we could prepare some meals to save money. And we wanted to stay in an authentic neighborhood away from the hectic tourist spots.

La Farina Apartments offers all of those things; however, it was also like staying at a hotel in a small way. We were provided with toiletries, the linens and towels were refreshed after a couple of days, and there was a front office with helpful staff.

Simone is a lovely lady who provided us with a map of Florence, and told us about the best spots in town and how to get there. La Farina offers the best of both worlds: it is an apartment that feels like home where we also had extra assistance from the staff. The building also has an elevator which meant that we didn’t have to carry our luggage up any flights of stairs!

The Location of La Farina Apartments

If you’re traveling by train like us, La Farina Apartments is ideally located. It’s really close to the Campo di Marte train station, so you can travel there with ease. It was also very simple to travel from our apartment to other spots in Tuscany by train, like Lucca and Pisa.

Another perk of La Farina Apartments: if you’re traveling by car, the building offers one parking spot included in the rental price. While we didn’t drive cars at all in Italy, I could definitely see this coming in handy for anyone deciding to drive around Tuscany on their own.

As for the location compared to the rest of Florence, it’s about a 15 minute walk to the main touristy spots, including the Duomo. We love walking and didn’t mind the stroll into town each day. It was also nice at the end of the day to walk away from the busiest areas in the city back to our apartment. If you’re looking to step out of your accommodations and be right in the middle of it all, this might not be the place for you.

We actually found this apartment and Florence to be the perfect home base for Tuscany. We wanted to spend three days in Florence, and this apartment gave us very easy access to the whole city. At the same time, we wanted to discover the Tuscan countryside and we were able to take tours and travel by train easily to Tuscan towns. I would highly recommend this approach while visiting the region.

The Apartment

When we walked through the front door of our apartment, we immediately noticed the bright orange couch against a wall. How fun and cheery! We adored the decor at La Farina Firenze. It was bright, clean, and modern.

The appliances and furniture are mostly all white with a splash of color here and there. In this case, there is a bright orange couch and a bright orange lamp. The curtains separating the kitchen area from the bedroom are white, but there is a splash of color in the sunset photo above the bed and the pale purple bedspread.

The apartment was completely spotless and looked brand new. There is a flatscreen TV across from the couch with many channels. By the bedroom, there is a large wardrobe where we were able to store all of our clothes. I am one of those people that chooses to unpack their suitcase while staying at an apartment or hotel. It makes me feel way more at home.

The apartment is also very spacious. There was plenty of room to walk around, relax on the couch, sit at the kitchen table, or prepare a meal. I probably could have done a couple of cartwheels across the living room if I wanted to (don’t worry, I didn’t attempt this!). We stayed in a Studio Apartment there, meaning that there were other suites and deluxe suites that were even bigger!

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The Kitchen

The kitchen had all of the basic necessities: a fridge, an oven, a dishwasher, cutlery, and even little espresso mugs and a Moka pot to brew our own coffee. We prepared all of our own breakfast here in the morning, but didn’t end up making anything too complicated in terms of meals.

There are way too many delicious restaurant options in Florence to make any food at home. There are grocery stores within a short walking distance of the apartment, including a natural grocery store. Simone pointed these stores out to us on a map when we arrived.

Also, if you don’t feel like cooking or traveling very far, there is a restaurant on the ground floor next door to the apartment building where you can order food quickly and easily. There is a menu on the kitchen table, including one for breakfast (there wasn’t anything vegan on the menu so we didn’t bother, though I could see that this would be a fantastic option for other visitors).

The Bathroom

The bathroom is large and had a long shelf at the back where I was able to store all of my own toiletries. There is a spacious shower with great water pressure. We received a courtesy set of soap, shampoo, and shower gel. There is also a hair dryer as well. We definitely enjoyed this very luxurious bathroom which is at least twice the size of the one in our apartment at home!

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Amenities

The apartment comes with free Wi-Fi that was fast and reliable. There was air conditioning and we could control the temperature with our own thermostat. This was very helpful as it was pretty hot outside when we arrived in Florence, so we were able to cool down fast!

Though we didn’t use the following services, they were available: a washing machine and a dryer available on the ground floor for use, an intercom system in each apartment so you could buzz visitors in from outside, and bicycles were available to rent for both adults and children. As I previously mentioned, there was free underground parking on site for guests, as well as a fully equipped kitchen.

I only had one concern with this apartment. We were staying on the first floor facing the street. Justin and I both found that there was some noise coming in from the street at night that made it slightly difficult to rest. We decided to purchase some earplugs at the pharmacy and had no issues on the following evenings.

The curtain that separated the bedroom from the kitchen made the sleeping area incredibly dark, which assisted in a great night’s sleep. If you plan to stay here in the future, I would recommend that you rent an apartment that faces towards the back of the property, or bring some earplugs with you if you’re a light sleeper.

The Verdict

Without hesitation, I would highly recommend that you stay at La Farina Apartments Florence. The apartment is clean, comfortable, and spacious. You’ll receive great care from the front reception staff who can help you with directions or even organizing some tours.

The apartment has all of the amenities that you would require, including a full kitchen, a bathroom with basic toiletries, free Wi-Fi, air conditioning, and free parking. The location was ideal – it was just a brief walk to get to the primary tourist spots in Florence, while remaining close to a train station for exploring the rest of Tuscany.

Book your stay at La Farina Apartments in Florence, and feel free to read more reviews by fellow travelers.