Directly across the piazza from Leon Battista Alberti's marble-inlaid facade of Santa Maria Novella — one of the great achievements of Italian Renaissance architecture — the Grand Hotel Minerva holds what may be the most charged address in Florentine hospitality. The nineteenth-century palazzo has sheltered travellers on this square for well over a century, its warm ochre facade punctuated by tall shuttered windows that frame the basilica like a living altarpiece. Following a thorough renovation, the interiors were reimagined with a palette that keeps faith with the building's classical bones while introducing a quietly contemporary register: pale oak floors, leather-upholstered headboards in champagne tones, Saarinen-esque tulip side tables, and four-poster beds dressed in sheer linen — the Duomo's campanile visible through the window behind, making the view function as the room's primary artwork. The 102 rooms carry a consistent material language — geometric patterned throw textiles in chocolate and cream, lacquered headboard panels, softly illuminated mirrors — while the restaurant interior, visible in the images, deploys a more assertive midcentury confidence: black-and-white marble chequerboard floors, sage-green plaster walls, brass-framed glazing opening onto a garden courtyard, and dark walnut dining chairs set against gold-legged tables. The rooftop terrace, furnished with woven resin armchairs in ivory, trains its sightlines directly onto the basilica's green-and-white marble facade across the parterre garden, collapsing any distance between guest and one of Florence's defining monuments.

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Grand Hotel Minerva, renovated in 2018, is a 4-star superior hotel in the heart of Florence's historic center in its illustrious Piazza Santa Maria Novella, which is close to the main railway station. Florence's key tourist attractions are all just five or ten minutes' walk from us as well as the Congress and Fair Center. The hotel boasts 97 rooms, suites and family solutions and a breathtaking rooftop terrace (open all year round) with a heated (28°C/83°F) open-air swimming pool (open from April to October). It also offers a restaurant with its "al fresco" extension on the Piazza and five meeting rooms with day light. High speed wi-fi is free in all common areas and rooms.