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FLORENCE
HOTEL HELVETIA & BRISTOL
My taxi turned into a side street off the Via degli Strozzi and suddenly I was there. If you like your entrances underplayed, you will love this. It was as if I had arrived at a private town palace. (And which man, being in possession of his senses, does not enjoy arriving at a private town palace?) Built in 1894 in the Renaissance style, the exterior is somewhat sober. But, once within the large, pillared entrance hall, there is less restraint to the grandeur. Bewigged gentlemen and rouged ladies look down from ancient oil paintings and fine fabrics cover the elegantly arranged chairs and sofas. This looked my sort of hotel.
After the courteous and friendly greetings of the staff on the Reception desk, I was taken into the lift for my journey to the first floor. (The grand staircase looked inviting, but a troublesome back was reducing my mobility.) Even during this brief journey, the thought occurred to me that this ship – with its efficient staff, well-kept corridors and general air of serenity – must have a good man (or woman) at the helm. Later I met Pietro Panelli, the General Manager, and I realised I was right. Character, I believe, is a seemless robe. Take proper care of your dress and, the chances are, you will take care proper care of your other responsibilities. Signor Panelli, I am pleased to report, is a very smartly dressed gentleman.
Room 154 (382 to 462 euros a night, according to season, bed and breakfast for two) was of modest size, with green silk on the walls and fawn carpet on the floor. Mirrors, table lamps and a chandelier heightened the sense of elegance. From my window I could admire the stern and impressive façade of the Palazzo Strozzi to the right or, directly opposite, ponder the merits of some new luggage from the Louis Vuitton shop. Below, the locals whizzed hither and thither on their scooters, but – thanks to some highly effective double-glazing – not a sound of their cavorting reached into my bedchamber. In my spacious marble bathroom I found that the control over the tub for the hot water temperature actually worked – highly unusual and highly welcome.
From this first floor room I went to another – in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. No matter how many times I make pilgrimage to Florence, I find there is always something magical I can view for the first time. In this tiny chapel, no larger than my billet at the Helvetia & Bristol, I was captivated by Benozzo Gozzoli’s fresco of the Journey of the Three Kings. Go, and you will be astonished by its precision and its majesty.
Sardinian chef Francesco Casu likes his dishes to be straightforward, carefully executed and prettily presented. My first course of steamed fillets of sole was exactly that: with the white of its firm, tasty fish contrasting well with the red of its peppers and the green of its braised endive. Pappardelle pasta, with stewed boar and vegetable sauce, was also pleasing to the eye, although the dish was a trifle dry for my palate. Sliced sirloin of beef with rosemary, fennel and parmesan was well conceived and full of taste, and the concluding mango parfait with pineapple was both refreshing and satisfying. (74 euros for these four courses.)
Wine here is basically Italian, although there are one or two prestigious French bottles (like 1988 Yquem at 300 euros) if you are desperate for something ‘foreign’. Prices for the home team are highly attractive, and range from 18 euros for a white Tuscan to 250 euros for the 1995 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva from Bondi Santi. My two bottles were both excellent value: the 1999 Planeta chardonnay from Sicily (now deep gold, and a touch honeyed – 38 euros), and the super-Tuscan, Tignanello, also in its 1999 guise (still firmly tannic – 75 euros).
To accompany these delights, there was canned jazz. Not quite my cup of tea, but not particularly intrusive. At breakfast the following morning, also in the Winter Garden, the music had transformed itself – to my delight – into a full-blown classical concert. While I sipped the juice of blood oranges and tucked into crispy bacon and some exceptionally good fruit salad from the buffet, out boomed the cannons of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, followed in swift order by the surging cadences of Beethoven’s Fifth… I rose from my table full of energy for the sightseeing ahead.
With its discretion, its near-perfect location, its high degree of comfort, its good food and wine and its morning shot of musical adrenalin, the Hotel Helvetia & Bristol in Florence is a highly desirable destination.
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ADDRESSES
HOTEL HELVETIA & BRISTOL Via dei Pescioni 2, Florence 50123, Italy. Telephone +39 055 26651 Fax +39 055 288353 Email: reservation.hbf@royaldemeure.com Double rooms from 293-366 euros, according to season Breakfast extra – 27 euros per person
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© Francis Bown 2003
Back for dinner, I found that the dining room had a slight aura of the ecclesiastical, too. The smaller of the hotel’s restaurants, red and intimate, was being restored, so I ate in the light and airy Winter Garden. Water trickled from a lion’s mouth into a marble basin and good Schott glasses caught the gleam of tapered candles as waiters in white jackets went about their business. Service, led by assistant maitre d’ Andrea Tempestini, was polite and efficient. And the ecclesiastical? A black, wrought iron screen halfway down the room, as if dividing the chancel from the nave. Most attractive.