This Florentine Boutique Hotel Will Take You Inside the Historic Workshops of Italy’s Master Artisans

Nicola Leigh Stewart
·4 min read
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Are these the new Dark Ages? From weavers to gold smiths, the artisans that filled Europe with museum-quality handicrafts have largely disappeared, their skills outsource to machines. But, now one top hotel is working to support and showcase traditional trades—and naturally it’s located in the cradle of the Renaissance: Florence.

Starting this week, the Place Firenze—a boutique, house-hotel frequently voted one of the best in the world—has launched a new project under the rather dreamy name, the Place of Wonders (TPOW). Part guest experience and part foundation, the program will connect curious travelers with the behind-the-scenes of six “wonders” of Florentine craftsmanship in a bid to preserve dying skills.

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The Place is a hotel in Florence.
A former private home, the Place itself is filled with craftsmanship.

Start at Pineider, a Florentine firm that has been producing some of the best handmade paper, writing materials, and leather goods in Italy since 1774. Next stop is the historic factories of master luthiers Paolo Sorgentone and Michele Mecatti, and then Ginori, a ceramics firm since 1735 now owned by Gucci. Also on offer is the third-floor workshop of Piccini, the last jeweler on the Ponte Vecchio, where a tiny window looks out across the Arno River. Cap it off with a trip to the Marino Marini Museum, where the work of the contemporary Italian sculptor is on display inside a deconsecrated church of San Pancrazio—inside you’ll also discover the Rucellai Sacellum, one of the timeless masterpieces of Italian Renaissance art designed by architect Leon Battista Alberti between 1455 and 1471.

A room at The Place Florence.
The rooms have a refined but homey feeling.

“We really want this artisan knowledge to stay in Italy,” Michela Babini, whose family owns the hotel, tells Robb Report. She created the program with Claudio Meli, the proudly 100 percent Florentine general manager of the accommodations.

“We want guests of the future to still be able to see this Italian heritage in 10, 20, or even 50 years,” she said, noting that none of these experiences are normally open to the public.

Dating far back into the 18th-century, the ceramics shop Ginori is now owned by Gucci.
Dating far back into the 18th-century, the ceramics shop Ginori is now owned by Gucci.

Of course, they’ll be time to shop, too. Browse the finest Italian cashmere, woven on centuries old looms by artisan Marco Cini, or commission bespoke pieces at the aforementioned factories.

Even more “wonderful:” Access to these artisans is free, sort of. TPOW does expect clients to make a donation, but it all goes to a worthy cause in the form of the Place of Wonders Foundation, which will use the money to offer scholarships to Florence’s next generation of would-be artisans at prestigious institutions such as Le Arti Orafe di Firenze, the city’s famous goldsmith school.

Step inside the third-floor workshop of Piccini, the last jeweler on the Ponte Vecchio.
Step inside the third-floor workshop of Piccini, the last jeweler on the Ponte Vecchio.

That’s why the hotel has even opened the program up to non-guests. Whether you are staying in a villa
outside the city, or in another five-star Florentine hotel, Meli will help introduce you to Florence’s most exceptional craftsman.

The city’s famous goldsmith school, Le Arti Orafe di Firenze, passes knowledge to a new generation.
The city’s famous goldsmith school, Le Arti Orafe di Firenze, passes knowledge to a new generation.

“It’s also about the hospitality experience,” he said, noting that the the Place Firenze has just reopenned after a partial but still ongoing refurbishment, set to be completed in 2024. “I would say that we are also like artisans.”

The hotel plans to expand the program to their sister property Londra Palace Venezia, with a focus
on Venetian arts and crafts, and eventually to Borgo dei Conti in Umbria, slated to open spring 2024.

The Place is in the center of the action in Florence, with the views to prove it.
The Place is in the center of the action in Florence, with the views to prove it.

For Babini and Meli, tailoring each collection of wonders to the city is key to offering an authentic experience for guests.

“When you go shopping now you could be in Florence, in Porto or in any airport in the world,” Meli said. “When people come to stay with us in Florence, they ask me, ‘Claudio, we know that through you we can buy something that is really made in Florence.’ And this makes the difference.”

Rooms start at roughly $645 per night.



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