Florence and Milan
 

Portrait Firenze


Check in.

Check-in was smooth and quick. We sat at a small table near the desk for the usual check-in process. They checked our green pass (aka CDC card or pass sanitaire). We arrived early and our room was ready. Six night stay.

Room.

Prestige Suite River View. https://www.lungarnocollection.com/p...te-river-view/ A very nice room, with a bedroom big enough to be a junior suite and a living room. Floor to ceiling windows in the living room with a view of the Arno along the long wall. The room was nicely furnished and very quiet. Controls were well thought out, for example, a good night button by the bed to turn off all room lights.

The bathroom had double sinks, a nice shower and Ferragamo amenities (Ferragamo owns the hotel).

Dining.

Breakfast was included, which was a large and tasty continental breakfast (cereal, fruit, meat, cheese, breads and pastries, juice, coffee and yogurt). Hot options were available. We ate in the room almost every day. We had dinner once and it was fine.

We also had dinner at the Michelin starred Borgo San Jacobo in their sister hotel, the Lungarno. This was a huge disappointment. The food was nothing special (although the desserts were very good) and the service was very slow. A five course tasting menu took three hours. It wasn't bad exactly, but not something we'd repeat.

Service.

The staff were very friendly and very eager to please. Every time we saw a member of the staff they greeted us and asked if there was anything they could do for us. Housekeeping worked very well - cleanup and turndown were done when we were out. No dedicated doormen, but someone would be there whenever you arrived by taxi. There were no noticeable glitches, which is an accomplishment.

Location.

Exactly what we wanted. A few minutes from the Uffizi and even closer to the Ponte Vecchio. Florence is small enough that just about everything is a reasonable walk.

Overall.

We would definitely return. Easily our favorite hotel in Florence and in the top few anywhere.

Ristorante Borgo San Jacabo, Florence

Disappointing

We had dinner at Borgo San Jacobo and it was a huge disappointment. The food was nothing special, although the desserts were very good. The food wasn't bad, it just wasn't especially tasty or interesting. The service was slow. We had a five course tasting menu (which included a few amuses) and dinner took three hours. The staff did not seem well coordinated. We were asked the same questions by different staff members, although they were all friendly and did seem to be trying to please.

We were hoping to be wowed and the experience was far from that. We had much more satisfying and tasty meals at other Florence and Milan restaurants and the Michelin starred Ristorante Berton in Milan was in another league. We would not return.

Four Seasons Milan

Check in.

We arrived early and the room was not yet ready, so they sat us at the bar restaurant for about 30 minutes. The check-in person repeatedly welcomed us back, which was odd since we had never stayed there. We got a room upgrade, breakfast and restaurant credit due to the good offices of Hao Tang.

Room.

Executive Suite. https://www.fourseasons.com/milan/ac...ecutive_suite/ Bedroom and living room on the large side and nicely furnished. Only one sink in the bathroom, but a large counter. Acqua di Parma toiletries, including a bath sized bar of soap rather than all soap being hand-sized. View of an inner courtyard which had trees with twinkling Christmas lights. The room was quiet.

Dining.

Breakfast was a full American breakfast. It was tasty and more than enough food.

The bar restaurant was usually crowded with well dressed Italians. It's next to the entrance, which could make things a bit chaotic.

We had a dinner in their Zelo restaurant which was a great high-end restaurant. Very tasty food attractively presented.

Service.

The staff were very helpful. The tone was friendly and a bit formal, perhaps reflecting being in the Milan fashion shopping district. We had no complaints.

Location.

Stores to the right of us, stores to the left. Shopping is not something we are interested in. It was very crowded on Sunday, but not as bad the rest of the week. It seemed a Christmas shopping crowd. Some of the streets in the immediate neighborhood are rather narrow and were sometimes filled with people, cars or both.

Overall.

We would have no problems returning, at least at a less crowded time. I probably prefer the Park Hyatt for locale, but this is a worthy alternative.

Ristorante Berton, Milan

We had the white truffle tasting menu. The food was generally wonderful. Very tasty and well presented. However, the dessert course didn't really work with truffles, a post-dessert panettone course seemed more an exercise in marketing (you can buy it here or buy it there) and we were full by the final pastry surprise (having thought the panettone was the last course). Truffles were added in the kitchen and each course included a generous amount (I'd guess over 5g).

The service was very attentive, with many staff members. They were quick and efficient. The only oddity was replacing water bottles before they were empty and replacing half full glasses with differently colored glasses for the dessert courses.

Whether this was good value depends on how much you value white truffles. It certainly seems a restaurant that knows how to prepare and serve fine food. We would return.

Interesting were you ended. Frankly I don't know one of this places personally. Always made other choices.

We were very happy with both. A short walking distance to the Uffizi, etc. were a major factor for the PF and to the Duomo, Brera, etc. for the FS. As mentioned, rooms and service were great.

The only hesitancy is the immediate FS neighborhood. It could be packed with shoppers - wall to wall people. The road in front of the hotel is one lane, so traffic can be very slow. We saw many people in the hotel with shopping bags or talking about shopping. It might well be less crowded when it's not the Christmas shopping season.

Was the pool in the park open in winter? I hesitated to book for this December and then cancelled the entire trip - but my most preferred place inside of the FS Florence was the pool in the park in the middle of the city when nobody else dares to go outside. It was my best surprise when we stayed four years ago in autumn. It was totally unexpected and even more relaxing than the Spa. I don't think Park Hyatt would be comparable - neither in terms of location, nor in terms of the park in the middle of the city or leave alone the historic spaces on ground floor. I still just love the FS above all the hotels I've seen so far (..-> worldwide :-)

The PH has been closed since May (if not earlier) for renovation and is now scheduled to reopen 16 Jan. I have no information on pools - we don't pool or spa.

Can't speak about current times, but when I stayed in 2014 the main pool was closed, but the whirlpool part was open.

Thanks for the report. We'll be in Milan for a couple of nights in November. Did you get a sense of how the Executive Suite at the FS is compared to the "specialty" suites at around the same price point? The Fresco and Cloister Suites seem kind of cool, but I can't tell if it's just a novelty offering.

Cheers.

Al

Had a fantastic, A+ stay at the Park Hyatt a few weeks ago. Cannot recommend more, other than the blaring electronic music in the bar (Mio) even at 6pm that made it impossible to have a conversation. Everything else about our stay was flawless.

Alas, I didn't get to see any other rooms. As I reported, we were quite happy with the Executive Suite and just about everything else about the hotel.

The renovated rooms at the PH Milan look much too generic and corporate to me, at least based on the pictures I've seen. Did you get a chance to eat at the new restaurant? VUN Andrea Aprea was great, but that closed.

Hey richarddd, back in 2021 you posted a thread where you said, "Florence: Portrait Firenze looks good and gets great reviews. We like the location a lot. Our only concern is street noise interfering with sleep.... The last time we were in Florence we stayed in the Rocco Forte Savoy, which was good other than unacceptable noise at night." I see your post about Savoy here.

Sounds like you didn't have a problem with noise at Portrait?

We did not have any problems with noise. We'd definitely go back to the Portrait and are planning on staying at its sister property in Rome later this year. One caveat is that it doesn't have a doorman. The location is ideal for us - short walk to the Uffizi and a lovely view of the Arno.

As another point of reference , I’ve never had issues with noise when staying at Portrait Firenze and would stay there every time. Also just came back from another great stay at Portrait Roma, with another stay booked later in the summer. Excellent properties.