On 16 October 2026, La Reserve will open its first Italian address in Florence, bringing a deeply residential model of luxury hospitality to one of Europe's most visited cities. La Reserve Firenze is not a hotel in any conventional sense. There is no reception desk, no breakfast buffet, no sprawling spa. Instead, six private apartments ranging from 170 to 210 square metres sit inside a restored 15th-century palazzo on Via Santo Spirito, in the Oltrarno district, where guests live as Florentines rather than passing through as tourists.
The Oltrarno Setting
The location is deliberate. Cross the Arno from Florence's tourist-heavy centro storico and the city changes rhythm. The Oltrarno retains something of the old city, its streets lined with aristocratic palaces, artisan workshops, galleries and neighbourhood trattorias. The Palazzo Pitti is a few minutes' walk in one direction. The Ponte Vecchio is close by in another. Yet the quarter keeps its own character, quieter and more lived-in than the streets around the Duomo.
The palazzo itself was acquired in 2022 by Olivia and Gregory Marciano, a Parisian couple who fell in love with Tuscany and relocated to Florence in 2019. They partnered with Michel Reybier, founder of La Reserve, to create something that sits between a private home and a luxury hotel. The building underwent four years of restoration before opening its doors this autumn.
Gilles and Boissier's Interior Vision
The interiors are the work of Patrick Gilles and Dorothee Boissier, the design duo whose portfolio spans La Reserve properties in Paris, Geneva and elsewhere. Their approach here was not to freeze the building as a heritage museum piece but to make its historic architecture converse with contemporary design. Coffer ceilings, carved woodwork and frescoes restored by Florentine artisans sit alongside furniture with clean, restrained lines. Original artworks and historical tapestries from the Marcianos' personal collection are placed throughout the spaces without pretension.
Materials were chosen for continuity with the building's origins. Sienese travertine lines the bathrooms, terracotta cotto returns to the floors, and local stone extends the palette the palazzo already carried. The result feels less like a designed interior and more like a home that has evolved over centuries, which is precisely the intention.
A New Model of Hospitality
Each apartment is laid out as a private residence rather than a hotel room. One to three bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, generous living spaces. The smallest measures 170 square metres, larger than many Florentine apartments in their entirety. Guests can cook with produce from the Santo Spirito market, dine out in the neighbourhood, or arrange for a private chef. Room service comes from Trattoria Camillo, established on the same street. A maitre de maison, housekeeper and concierge are available, but presence is discreet.
Shared spaces include a library devoted to Italian art and design, a games room with billiards, a fitness room and a shaded patio. The rooftop terrace opens views toward the Arno, with the Florentine skyline as the only decoration needed. It is the kind of setting where a Negroni at sunset feels less like a cliché and more like a civic duty, given the cocktail was invented here.
Living Florence From Within
What La Reserve Firenze proposes is a different relationship with the city. Rather than retreating from Florence into a hotel bubble, guests are encouraged to inhabit it. The concierge team can arrange private visits to cultural sites outside opening hours, tastings at Tuscan vineyards, or days spent on the coast at bagno favoured by Florentines. Olivia and Gregory Marciano know the city from the inside and aim to share that knowledge with their guests.
With only six apartments and the full weight of La Reserve's hospitality infrastructure behind them, the property represents a growing trend in luxury travel: smaller, more private, more residential. Bloomberg noted the shift recently, observing that luxury hotels are getting smaller for guests who value privacy above all else. La Reserve Firenze, opening 16 October, is a clear example of where the high end of hospitality is heading.