Four Seasons Hotel

The Four Seasons Hotel in Florence is a truly unique treasure trove of art and history, tucked behind the protective walls of Florence's largest private park. The Hotel consists of two Renaissance palazzos, formerly the town residence of Lorenzo de' Medici's prime minister, then a papal residence, a convent and the headquarters of Italy's first railway company. For five centuries this was home to the Florentine nobility, before becoming the official seat of the Egyptian viceroy, who sold it when he was refused permission to install his harem. Today the long, fascinating history of the palazzos that house the Hotel lives on in its paintings and wonderful hand-crafted dècor, now restored to their original splendour after seven years of painstaking restoration work.

For the restoration of the Hotel were used a series of precious marbles extracted from Furrer's own quarries in Tuscany, limestones of an eternal beauty as Verde Aver marble that gives elegance and style with its intense green color, White Carrara Campanili marble, one of the most precious and exclusive limestones in the World, Giallo Siena marble, Calacatta Vagli marble and the splendid Bardiglio marble.

The hotel is adjacent to the historic centre of Florence, housed partly in the 15th-century Palazzo della Gherardesca and partly in the 16th-century Conventino, a former convent. Between the two palazzos stretches the magnificent 11 acre botanic gardens of the Giardino della Gherardesca, one of the most beautiful and secluded parks in the city, on the right bank of the Arno river