The Florence Hotel Which Understands It’s The Small Pleasures That Count

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The James Suite Hotel in Florence is the perfect spot from which to explore the city's rich culture

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Opened in July 2025, The James Suite Hotel Firenze 1564 in Florence is the vision-turned-reality of designer and architect James Cavagnari. Where most easily move on from their childhood homes, only occasionally looking back with a twinge of nostalgia, James had different plans for his family property: he decided it would be the perfect spot to open up a new Florentine hotel. On a trip to visit the Fra Angelico Exhibit at Palazzo Strozzi and Museo Di San Marco (read our review here), Kamin Mohammadi checked in to give her verdict.

Review: The James Suite Hotel Firenze 1564, Florence

Nestled in the quiet by-lanes of Florence’s lesser-known Sant’Ambrogio quarter, The James Suite Hotel Firenze 1564 is first and foremost a refined reinterpretation of the palazzo stay: a 14-suite boutique offering rather than a grand hotel narrative. The luscious new hotel leans into the eclectic feel of the boutique without feeling theatrical. It is confident, neatly edited and unapologetically interior-led: a palazzo reborn as a small-stage hotel whose aim is to be lived in rather than be photographed. Not that it’s not wildly photogenic of course…

The building itself dates to 1564, the year etched into its lintel and celebrated in the hotel’s name. At once a historical marker and a design cue, the building’s 16th-century bones are used sparingly: fresco fragments and carved details are used as punctuation, allowing contemporary fittings such as velvet sofas, sculpted lighting, heavy draperies to sit comfortably alongside them. Each suite is individually curated: think generous proportions, soft velvets, bold upholstery, polished ceramics, artworks, well-considered lighting, and an attention to small comforts (well-judged minibars, considered bedding) that make longer stays really pleasant. Bathrooms are generous for the Renaissance city (freestanding tubs in some top suites) and the attention to detail is tangible: high-end bath products, discreet tech, and design fittings that don’t shout.

The public courtyard and a tucked-away lounge feel like a hotel’s private drawing room: useful, sociable and discreet. The message is subtle: craftsmanship, restrained luxury and layered interiors. The designer host, James Cavagnari, has drawn on his heritage in Florence and London to fuse Tuscan materials and palazzo tradition with a calm modernity. The rooftop terrace is a particular highlight, a rare slice of private skyline over terracotta rooftops and city towers, offering a peaceful vantage point from which Florence reveals itself.

Dining is given its own quiet stage: the James Restaurant is intimate and thoughtfully designed while the stylish 1564 Lounge Bar (notable for a curated cocktail list rooted in local narrative) provide substance rather than just shine.

Service is individualised and professional, offering a practical warmth that is precisely right for a city where competence is the best kind of hospitality: directions to a quieter trattoria, a prompt taxi, a sensible check-in, flexibility around the unexpected.

The location is bluffingly good. On the edges of one of the centre’s last fully functioning residential quarters, it is only a short walk to Santa Croce, the river Arno and San Lorenzo, making it an excellent base for those who want to be within reach of the museums without living in the hypertouristic crush of the immediate historical centre.

The James Suite’s modestly radical claim is this: it understands that in Florence the smallest pleasures matter; the way velvet catches the light, the creak of historic floorboards, a courtyard that reads as an invitation rather than a spectacle. For travellers who want to be near Florence’s historic heartbeat yet retreat each evening to a hotel that feels like a piccolo private palazzo, this hotel is the one.