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Tornabuoni Beacci

COST: $$$

<p>Fashion insiders love these 28 characterful rooms rambling through a pair of 15th-century palazzi, surrounded by haute couture boutiques and across a small piazza from the fresco-filled Santa Trinità church. Writer Frances Mayes and Barbara Bush are among those who've shunned more luxurious establishments to stay here. The antiques in the rooms may be a bit shopworn, but they're genuine, and this 80-year-old hotel is full of cozy nooks, like the reading room hung with a 17th-century tapestry and warmed by a crackling fire in winter. It has an unbeatable location for shopaholics, right at the foot of Via Tornabuoni, the main drag of Florence's designer shopping district.</p> <p><strong>Insider Tip:</strong> Don't miss the flower-filled roof garden with its view of the Bellosguardo hill across the Arno.</p> <p><strong>Room to Book:</strong> Rooms 303 and 204 (a suite) both have 17th-century frescoes. </p>