After an understandably late start to the day, we regrettably checked out of our hotel and decamped to Florence's Savoy Hotel. It's ideally located on the Piazza della Republica, which is by far Florence's biggest open space and sits at the crossroads of the well-beaten Duomo-Palazzo Vecchio-Ufizzi circuit. It was built about 100 years ago, but totally revamped by the hotelier Rocco Forte, who always produces hotels high in service, stylish, but perhaps missing the wow factor that makes them unique. And this hotel is no exception, with really excellent service and attractive decor that's a big step above the corporate blandness of the big chains. (although weirdly he adopted a shoe theme for the hotel, in homage of the local Ferragamo family, which only really works if you've got a fetish). And the hotel's restaurant, l'Incontro, was always buzzing, and had a real dolce vita feel to it, spilling out glamourously onto the Piazza. Hotel Savoy: Overall-7, Room-6 (but the suites were full so our smaller room might have dragged the score down a bit), Facilities-7, Service-9, Wow-0.