Sandra‘s Closet

A Weekend at Portrait Firenze: My Five Star Nest Above the Ponte Vecchio

Florence in celebration mode is a beautiful thing. I travelled to the city for my dear friend Petra’s birthday weekend, and while the festivities took me to some of the most magical corners of Tuscany, my home for two nights was a place I have to tell you about: Portrait Firenze, right on the Arno, with my suite overlooking the Ponte Vecchio.

The interiors are the work of Florentine architect Michele Bönan, who designed every house of the Lungarno Collection and drew his inspiration here from local craftsmanship and the birth of Italian haute couture in the 1950s, which explains the mid-century lines, the handmade furniture and that warm, quietly glamorous palette throughout my suite as you can see in the photos below.

Let me start with the feeling, because that is what sets this hotel apart. Portrait Firenze, which is part of Leading Hotels of the World, does not feel like a hotel at all. It feels like your own elegant Florentine residence. Even the check in happens as if you were sitting in a friend’s living room, relaxed, personal, without a classic reception counter in sight. You arrive, you sink into a beautiful chair, and from that moment on, you simply live there.

The service deserves its own love letter. On a Saturday, of all days, I ran into a little crisis: I could not download my photographer’s pictures from the birthday celebrations because I was missing a memory card reader. The team went above and beyond to track one down for me, on a weekend, in the middle of Florence. This is the kind of effort that turns a lovely stay into an unforgettable one.

And then, the food. Breakfast here is truly next level. You all know I am a devoted room service girl, and enjoying my morning coffee in the suite with the Ponte Vecchio glittering right outside the window was pure bliss. One more detail every woman will appreciate: my suite had mirrors in every single corner, even inside the shower.

Caffè dell’Oro, the bar directly in front of the hotel, also facing the bridge, is the perfect spot for a glass of Champagne (I am sorry, Bella Italia … I am not into Prosecco) while watching the Florentines and visitors stroll by. People watching at its most glamorous, I promise.

In the adjacent building, part of the neighbouring sister property, the 4-star Gallery Art Hotel, you will also find the fabulous 701 Rooftop Bar, and great art exhibitions. Portrait Firenze is currently being expanded even further, so there is more to come.

Now for the detail that will make every fashion lover’s heart beat faster: Portrait Firenze belongs to the Ferragamo family’s Lungarno Collection. At check in, you receive a card with lovely privileges, including 10 percent off at Ferragamo and special benefits at the restaurants belonging to the group.

The bathroom amenities are all by Ferragamo, and the suite is filled with wonderful books, many of them dedicated to fashion. Flipping through beautiful fashion volumes with that view? My idea of the perfect day in.

Portrait Firenze is special in the truest sense of the word. Discreet, warm, impeccably run, and steeped in Florentine style and fashion heritage. My weekend there felt like nesting in the most luxurious way possible, a true five star nest experience in the heart of Florence.

Until my next Florentine adventure!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht / Oliver Rauh / Courtesy of Portrait Firenze
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Portrait Hotels: Where the Ferragamo Legacy Meets the Art of Personalised Living

Some hotel collections are built on amenities. The Portrait Hotels are built on something far rarer: the belief that true luxury is not a standard to be met, but a life to be lived.

The Ferragamo S/S 2023 fashion show was held in the open-air courtyard of the Portrait Milano

Born from the Lungarno Collection, the hospitality arm of the Ferragamo family, Portrait is the brand’s most refined expression yet. Three iconic addresses, three Italian cities, one guiding philosophy: that a hotel should feel less like a destination and more like a home you never knew you had.

At the heart of each Portrait property is a dedicated Lifestyle Team whose sole purpose is to dissolve the distance between guest and city. Personal recommendations, curated experiences, and an instinctive attentiveness to individual preference transform every stay into something entirely one’s own. As proud members of the Leading Hotels of the World, the Portrait addresses occupy some of the most storied corners of Rome, Florence, and Milan.

Portrait Roma unfolds across 14 magnificent suites on the Via Condotti, Rome’s most distinguished address, steps from the Spanish Steps and the eternal theatre of the Dolce Vita. The crown jewel, the Penthouse Trinità dei Monti, opens onto a private terrace with views of one of the world’s most iconic monuments. A rooftop lounge completes the picture: breakfast as the city stirs, cocktails as it glitters.

Portrait Firenze is a suite-only sanctuary poised above the Arno, a quiet remove from the energy of the Ponte Vecchio and the boutiques of the Via Tornabuoni. Florentine architect Michele Bönan designed interiors that feel at once personal and timeless, translating the city’s Renaissance sensibility into the language of contemporary elegance. Here, the hotel does not surround the city. The city surrounds the hotel.

Portrait Milano, the collection’s most ambitious chapter, opened in 2022 within a magnificently restored former archiepiscopal seminary on Corso Venezia. Architect Michele De Lucchi oversaw the building’s meticulous transformation, while Michele Bönan furnished 73 rooms and suites with his signature blend of warmth and precision. At the heart of the property, the Piazza del Quadrilatero, a sweeping open courtyard of over 2,800 square metres, creates a new promenade connecting two of the city’s most elegant streets. The property also houses Longevity, a pioneering urban spa that fuses biohacking technology with the holistic principles of Blue Zone philosophy, a first of its kind in a major European city.

Across all three addresses, the Portrait spirit remains constant: craft over convention, intimacy over grandeur, and the quiet confidence of a family that has always understood that the finest things in life are made, not manufactured.

I had the privilege of experiencing this world first-hand at an intimate dinner in Zurich, hosted at Ornellaia alongside Valeriano Antonioli, CEO of the Lungarno Collection. The evening was a culinary journey through Italy in miniature: sparkling Bollicine from Trentino to begin, followed by a menu that moved gracefully from Milan to Florence to Rome, mirroring the very cities where the Portrait houses reside. To sit next to the man who steers this remarkable collection, and to hear the story of the brand told with such passion and conviction, was a reminder that behind every great hotel is a great vision. I left the evening with a deep appreciation for what Portrait Hotels represents and a genuine excitement to experience the properties themselves.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Portrait Hotels and © Sandra Bauknecht
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.