The Excelsior Florence

The Excelsior Florence stands on Piazza Ognissanti on the bank of the Arno, in a Renaissance palazzo a short walk from Santa Maria Novella station, the Duomo and Via de' Tornabuoni. It is the sister hotel to The St. Regis Florence directly across the square, which makes the pair useful when a programme needs more bedrooms than one building can hold. For events there are five rooms totalling 451 sq m. The Vespucci Room is the main space at roughly 150 sq m, taking 90 theatre, 60 classroom, 130 for a banquet and 110 for a reception. The Library (130 sq m) works as a 100-person reception or a 30-seat dinner, the Caminetto Room (117 sq m) takes 80 reception or 60 seated, and the Cosimo Private Lounge (91 sq m) holds 60 reception or 36 seated. The Intermedia Room (54 sq m) and the Donatello Private Room (40 sq m) are the breakouts, at 30 theatre and 28 seated respectively. That scale suits board meetings, private dinners, roadshow stops and drinks receptions rather than large plenaries — for anything over 130 seated, the Salone delle Feste at the St. Regis across the piazza takes 250. With 171 rooms and suites, the SE·STO on Arno rooftop restaurant, the Cosimo bar and terraces overlooking the river, the hotel can hold a bedroom block, the meeting and the dinner in one place in the centre of Florence.