Westin Excelsior
A landmark Florence hotel on Piazza Ognissanti, loved for Arno views, refined rooms and rooftop dining above the city.
The Westin Excelsior has one of Florence’s great hotel tricks: it lets the city do the showing off. Set on Piazza Ognissanti by the Arno, the hotel pairs historic grandeur with views that pull the river, rooftops and Tuscan hills into the frame. Those 360-degree perspectives matter, and the rooftop bar and restaurant remains a defining feature.
Rooms and suites lean classical, with the kind of comfort that makes sense after a day of Renaissance intensity. The rooftop is the real theatrical flourish: glass, terraces, cocktails and Florence arranged like a very persuasive argument.
Stay here if you want Florence at full volume but not at full chaos. You can walk to the centre, cross towards the Oltrarno, return for espresso or an evening drink above the Arno, and keep the city in sight without being swallowed by it. The Westin Excelsior is not the newest mood in town. It is the enduring one, polished and river-lit.
