Since it’s opening in August 2021 Florence’s most elegant new boutique hotel Dimora Palanca has been making waves in the hospitality industry. Just four months after the 18 room villa first opened to guests, Dimora Palanca has now been selected to join the exclusive Mr and Mrs Smith Collection.
Dimora Palanca has attracted worldwide attention since it’s launch and has fast become Florence’s no.1 boutique hotel. The property represents a new breed of hotel, where guests can enjoy a unique experience immersed in contemporary art and set within a luxury 5* environment. The new listing with Mr and Mrs Smith perfectly encapsulates the essence of Dimora Palanca’s charming yet timeless character…
Mr and Mrs Smith Introduce Dimora Palanca…
Let us paint you a picture, beginning with the fine form of Dimora Palanca, a 19th-century villa with a full-of-grace façade in the foreground and an aperitivo-ready courtyard garden to the back. Within, richly hued ceiling frescoes and ornate stucco mouldings shape its image alongside tailored furnishings from B&B Italia and Maxalto, plus custom pieces and dramatic light installations.
There’s clear influence from Florence’s artistry, with modern work from local artist Paolo Dovichi throughout. The restaurant serves elegant compositions and Tuscan wines to polish things off. Mount on a backdrop of iconic monuments and – mwah – you have a masterpiece for the ages.
Mr and Mrs Smith’s favourite room
The piano nobile is traditionally the floor where Florentine big-wigs were hosted, and there’s no exception here – the hotel’s Master Suite is their Medici-level hideaway, albeit modernised in glamorous style. For one thing, it has a private terrace that smugly overhangs the tables in the garden, which is ideal for Aperol Spritz-sipping; and within you can even fall asleep while musing on art – a lavish chartreuse and lavender fresco with gilded edges, and sprays of flowers and birds play out over the ceiling above the four-poster bed.
But don’t spend all your time craning your neck up – the 19th-century stucco mouldings, modern art, furnishings from Maxalto and B&B Italia and a soothing jetted bath tub deserve your attention too. And up to two extra guests can stay here on twin beds on request.
Hotel restaurant
The generous à la carte breakfast and lunches are served in the light-flooded morning room, on padded latte-hued banquettes under a net-draped chandelier that seemingly floats like a cloud. Things get sultrier in subterranean restaurant Mimesi, set in the hotel’s original 19th-century kitchen. Here, at softly lit tables, couples can enjoy delicacies from ports of call across the Med: red tagliatelle with caviar and Armagnac consommé, anchovy salad, chicken and bell pepper in a demi-glace, conceived by head chef Giovanni Cerroni.
The Garden
Gardens are something of a rarity this close to the centre of Florence, so the hotel’s private, jasmine-scented patch of green is quite the coup. Set between the villa and the original orangery in a peaceful courtyard, it’s beautifully landscaped with trim lawns, flower boxes and shaded tables set for aperitivo hour. A gentle breeze cutting through the dying heat of the day, the low hum of cicadas, the scent of jasmine: spending the idling hours in the garden is really rather special.
Hotel bar
Waft to one of the garden’s tables with a glass of wine in hand, or shuffle into the bijou bar’s long banquette to chat, read or work at one of the marble tables. There’s a fresco on the ceiling for you to gaze in awe at too.
For more information on Dimora Palanca, check out Mr and Mrs Smith’s listing at https://www.mrandmrssmith.com/luxury-hotels/dimora-palanca
