When visiting the historic and totally gorgeous Italian city of Florence, plenty of visitors – understandably, tbh – want to stay near the historic centre. After all, who doesn’t want to be plonked in the heart of the action, just steps from the Duomo and Uffizi?
But soon visitors to Florence will be faced with a much smaller number of central accommodation options, as the local government has announced a ban on new Airbnbs in the city’s historic centre. And it’s not just Airbnbs: all new short-term holiday rentals have been banned.
The idea behind the policy is to help address Florence’s chronic shortage of affordable housing for locals. Over the past couple of decades, thousands of buildings in the city’s city centre have been taken over by short-term rentals such as Airbnbs. The new policy defines a ‘short-term’ rental as covering anything under stays of 30 days.
All of which isn’t great news for visitors but, hopefully, will make the city much more liveable for its permanent residents. And that’s, overall, certainly a good thing. After all, what’s Florence without Florentines?
Besides, Florence has plenty of great hotels to choose from – so this is no reason not to get planning your next big trip to one of Italy’s (and Europe’s) most dazzling cities. To get you in the mood, here’s our list of the most essential things to do in Florence.
Did you see that this is the world’s best destination for LGBTQ+ travellers?
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