I have stayed at Villa San Michele twice before the 18-month renovation closed the property — in 2018 and again in 2022 — and once after the 28 April 2026 reopening, for three nights in mid-May. This review reflects the May 2026 stay and is, by intention, the LTS readout on whether the renovation has held the property at standard.
The arrival
The road to Fiesole climbs out of Florence on the SP54, past the Florence cemetery and the Stibbert Museum, and gains roughly 250 metres of altitude before delivering you, after 20 minutes, to a small turn-off on the right that the GPS will probably not flag. You take a single-lane gravel drive for 400 metres, cross a small cypress-lined approach, and arrive at the main forecourt — a 16th-century stone-flagged courtyard with the Michelangelo-school facade on the far side and the loggia at right angles to it.
The facade is the architectural asset. It is a five-bay, pedimented stone front with a deep loggia on the ground level and the proportions of a serious Florentine villa of the late Cinquecento. Whether Michelangelo’s hand is in it is an open question; that the design is by someone who had absorbed the master’s vocabulary is not. The hotel has, correctly, not tried to overstate the attribution in the marketing.
Check-in happens in the loggia itself, seated, with a small glass of Antinori sparkling and a cold towel. The director who handled the May check-in, Cristina, joined the property six months before the reopening and is a transfer from the Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo in Taormina; she walked me through the building rather than handing me a key.
The setting is the second of the property’s unfair advantages. The villa sits at roughly 300 metres above sea level on the southern slope of the Fiesole hill, with a panoramic exposure to the south across the Arno valley and a direct sightline (from the pool terrace, the loggia, and roughly 12 of the 39 rooms) to the Duomo of Florence. The valley flora — cypress, olive, the small-leaved oaks the Tuscan hills run on — is the canonical view of the Florentine countryside, and the angle of approach from Fiesole is the angle that the early-Renaissance painters used when they put Florence in the background of an Annunciation.
Setting score: 4.8. The half-point deduction is the road approach, which during the May high season ran with light tourist coach traffic on the SP54 between San Domenico and Fiesole, and the absence of a direct walking route to Florence (the descent is possible — a 90-minute walk on a marked footpath — but not casual).
The suite
I took a Heritage room (room 22) on the second floor of the main villa building, a category the renovation has been most thoroughly reset on. The room is 38 square metres with a small private terrace overlooking the formal gardens and a partial sightline to the Duomo. (The full Duomo view rooms — categories Junior Suite and above — run on the western range of the main building.)
Material specifics from the post-renovation configuration:
- The bed is dressed in Quagliotti white linen with a percale handle that the housekeeping team has standardised across all 39 rooms.
- The floor is the original 17th-century cotto, restored under the renovation by a team from Impruneta who specialise in Florentine villa restoration.
- The bathroom is in Travertino Romano with a freestanding tub, a rain shower, and a double vanity. Amenities are Guerlain — the new Spa by Guerlain partnership is reflected in the room amenities, which I take as an honest brand integration.
- The minibar runs an honest Tuscan list. A demi of Antinori Chianti Classico, two small bottles of San Pellegrino, a tin of pici biscotti from a baker in Pienza, and a small jar of Tuscan honey from the property’s own garden hives.
- The room’s new air-handling system — a 2025 install — runs silent. This is the most important post-renovation upgrade and the one the previous configuration most needed.
The renovation has lifted the suites materially. The pre-renovation Heritage rooms had the proportion-correctness of the villa but the bathrooms and the mechanical systems were a decade behind the rate-card; the post-renovation configuration has caught up. The Limonaia (a new two-storey signature suite with a private plunge pool) and the Botanica (the garden-themed signature suite) are the rate-ladder additions; I did not stay in either but walked both with the director.
Suites score: 4.7. The deduction is the Heritage category’s small private terrace, which faces the formal garden rather than the Duomo — guests who want the Duomo sightline should book a Junior Suite (Duomo View) or above.
The service
Service at the post-renovation Villa San Michele is in a transitional period. The 18-month closure meant that roughly 40 percent of the previous F&B and housekeeping team did not return to the property; the management team has rebuilt around a core of returning staff and a substantial intake from Belmond’s other Italian properties (the Cipriani, the Splendido, the Grand Hotel Timeo). The result, six weeks into the reopening, is a service operation that is mostly polished but that has the small frictions of a team still learning each other.
Two moments from the May stay.
On the first evening, the in-room coffee maker (a new Marzocco install) had not been pre-stocked with the right capsule format. The housekeeping team apologised, corrected within 15 minutes, and the F&B director sent a small bottle of grappa with a hand-written note. The response was correct; the original lapse was the kind of small front-of-house oversight that a stabilised operating team would not have allowed.
On the second afternoon, I asked the concierge if it would be possible to arrange a private viewing at the Brancacci Chapel — a Masolino/Masaccio fresco cycle in Florence whose access is now controlled by a strict reservation system. The concierge, Andrea, replied that he would try but could not guarantee. The viewing was arranged for 11 a.m. the following day, with a private guide (an art historian who teaches at the European University Institute) for whom the hotel had been working since before the closure. The chapel viewing — outside the normal reservation system, with one of the few private guides licensed to lecture in the space — is the kind of access the older Villa San Michele was known for, and which the rebuilt team has clearly preserved.
The service is At the Standard at the senior level; the front-desk and housekeeping operations are still catching up.
Service score: 4.6. The deductions are the coffee-machine incident, a slow response from the restaurant reservations team on the second day’s lunch request, and a small but persistent gap between the Belmond house service standard and the on-property delivery during the first weeks of operation.
The table
The Villa San Michele’s principal dining room is the Loggia — the open-sided 17th-century loggia at the front of the villa, reset under the renovation as a year-round dining room (the previous configuration ran the loggia only in summer and shifted to an interior dining room in cool weather; the new operation has glazed the loggia in a removable winter envelope). The Cenacolo, the smaller interior dining room with the original fresco of the Last Supper on the back wall, runs as the breakfast room and as the private-dining option.
The new culinary direction is led by chef Antonella Pochesci, a Tuscan who previously held positions at Pennestri in Rome and at the Four Seasons Firenze. The May dinner I took at the Loggia:
- A starter of pecorino di Pienza with chestnut honey from the Mugello and a small dish of marinated artichoke hearts from the property’s garden.
- A pasta of pici with cinghiale ragu — the Tuscan wild-boar pasta executed with restraint, the portion correctly small.
- A grilled Chianina beef rib-eye from the Banca della Carne in Cortona, served at the correct medium-rare temperature, with a single roasted shallot.
- A pre-dessert of buffalo-milk gelato with a single drop of saba (the cooked-grape syrup the Tuscan tradition runs).
- A cantucci-and-Vin-Santo course at the end, with a credible Vin Santo from Selvapiana.
The wine list runs 480 references — a smaller list than the property carried before the renovation, but one that has been edited rather than reduced. The Tuscan depth is the strongest section (full verticals of Soldera Brunello back to 1998, of Le Pergole Torte back to 2001); the international coverage is competent rather than exhaustive. Sommelier Tommaso Berti is in his fourth year at the property and is engaged.
Breakfast in the Cenacolo is the meal that has not yet caught up to the new operating ambition. The pastry programme runs through a partnership with a Florentine baker (Forno Top in the Oltrarno) and is delivered each morning; the croissants on the second morning were marginally under-proofed. The egg cookery is correct; the cured-meat selection is small.
Table score: 4.5. The deductions are the under-developed breakfast operation and the wine list’s relatively narrow international coverage at the rate-card level.
The detail
The detail score at the post-renovation Villa San Michele accumulates in the architectural and operational decisions of the reopening. The Belmond design team has handled most of these correctly.
From the May stay:
- The infinity pool, on the terrace below the main building, has been retained in its previous configuration and refreshed with a new travertine deck. The pool is heated to 27 degrees in May and has the single best urban view from any hotel pool I know of in Italy — the Duomo of Florence is directly framed by the pool’s southern lip.
- The new Spa by Guerlain — the brand’s first hotel spa in Italy — occupies a converted outbuilding to the west of the formal gardens. The treatment list runs to 18 items, with three signature Guerlain protocols (the Imperial Body, the Orchidee Imperiale facial, the Abeille Royale massage). The spa manager, transferred from Guerlain’s London spa, is engaged and does not push add-ons.
- The kitchen garden has been replanted under the renovation by a head gardener (Pietro, in post since 2019) who runs a 1,200-square-metre vegetable and herb operation that supplies the Loggia kitchen daily. The lemon grove on the western terrace has been expanded from 30 to 48 trees; the May lemons were sufficient for the kitchen’s needs.
- The hotel’s small art programme — a 2026 reopening commission — has placed three contemporary pieces in the public spaces (a Sandro Chia oil in the main hall, a Maurizio Cattelan sculpture in the garden, a William Kentridge drawing in the bar). The selection is curated by Sara Roma, who runs the Belmond contemporary-art programme group-wide.
- Turndown delivers a small Florentine biscotti from the partner baker and a printed card with the next day’s weather and shuttle times.
Detail score: 4.6. The half-point deduction is the spa’s relative size — three treatment rooms for a 39-key property running near capacity in high season is the same uncomfortable ratio Le Sirenuse runs.
The Standard
| Dimension | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | 4.8 | Fiesole hilltop, Duomo sightline, Michelangelo-school facade. |
| Suites | 4.7 | Renovation has lifted the category materially; silent air handling. |
| Service | 4.6 | Senior team at standard; front-desk still catching up post-reopening. |
| Table | 4.5 | Pochesci’s grammar is good; breakfast still rebuilding. |
| Detail | 4.6 | Pool view, Guerlain spa, the kitchen garden under Pietro. |
Property score: 4.62.
Verdict
At the Standard.
The post-renovation Villa San Michele has delivered what the Belmond group needed to deliver: a 39-key hotel in a 15th-century Franciscan monastery with a Michelangelo-school facade, brought to the contemporary rate-card standard without overwriting the architectural envelope. The renovation has lifted the suites materially, has improved the mechanical systems to the standard the rate now demands, and has introduced a Spa by Guerlain partnership that is integrated rather than bolted-on.
The service operation has the small frictions of a team still learning each other six weeks into the reopening; I would expect those to resolve by the end of the 2026 season. The breakfast programme is the F&B element that most needs further work.
If you are choosing between Villa San Michele and the Florentine in-town competitors (the Four Seasons Firenze, the St Regis, the new Helvetia & Bristol) for a Tuscan week, the case for Villa San Michele is that it is the only one of the four that is a hill estate rather than a town palazzo, with the views and the garden ratio that the in-town hotels cannot offer. The 20-minute shuttle to Florence is the cost; the hill setting is the benefit.
Reservations
Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, Florence, Via Doccia 4, 50014 Fiesole, Italy. Reservations: +39 055 567 8200 or via Belmond’s central booking. The 2026 season runs 28 April (post-renovation reopening) to 7 November.
May rates from EUR 1,950 for a Heritage room (garden view); Duomo-view Junior Suites from EUR 3,200; the Limonaia (the new two-storey signature suite with plunge pool) from EUR 9,800; the Grand Tour Suite (the former Napoleon Bonaparte headquarters, extending along the first-floor facade) from EUR 12,500.
Florence Peretola airport (FLR) is a 30-minute transfer; the hotel will arrange a Mercedes V-Class. From Pisa international, the routing runs through Florence by car (1 hour 25 minutes). The Florence-Santa Maria Novella rail station is a 25-minute transfer; the hotel’s shuttle does not service the station, but a private car can be pre-arranged.
Standing Questions
- Did Michelangelo actually design the facade?
- Not personally — the facade is attributed to the School of Michelangelo, not the master himself, and is part of the c. 1600 enlargement by Giovanni di Bartolomeo Davanzati. The attribution has been the subject of art-historical debate since the 19th century; the safest position is that the design is Michelangelesque rather than Michelangelo's hand.
- Is the hotel walkable to Florence?
- No. Villa San Michele sits in Fiesole, a hilltop town 8 kilometres above Florence, with a 20-minute downhill transfer to the city. The hotel runs a free shuttle every 30 minutes during operating hours.
- Is the property open year-round?
- No. It is seasonal, running broadly late March to early November. The 2026 season opened with the post-renovation reopening on 28 April and closes on 7 November.
- What changed in the 18-month renovation?
- The 2024-2026 renovation, led by Belmond's in-house design team, reimagined all 39 rooms and suites, added a Spa by Guerlain (the brand's first hotel spa in Italy), revitalised the gardens, and reworked the F&B operation around chef Antonella Pochesci's new menu. The Michelangelo-school facade and the original loggia were untouched.
- Is there a pool?
- Yes. The infinity pool — set on a terrace below the main building, with a direct sightline to the Duomo of Florence — was retained from the previous configuration and refreshed under the 2025-2026 renovation.
