Renting an Apartment in Florence

After spending a week in Florence, I would highly recommend having a very centrally located apartment, which means as close to the Duomo as you can get, but on the Arno River side. The Renaissance part of Florence is very walkable city, relatively flat and reasonably small. So if you are big walkers, it really doesn't matter where you stay. But for me, especially early i the stay, when I have yet to fully acclimate to the new time zone, being able to easily walk home after dinner is a huge plus. That is the compelling reason for me to be centrally located. Here is where we stayed: http://www.vrbo.com/287830. It was perfect. The building was one from part of the Medici family's sprawling Florence houses--so not unique, per se, but old, and all that that entails. It had a gorgeous entry way, and this picture is for a first floor apartment that is under renovation (our apartment on the second floor was significantly less grand). It was nice to be able to amble back to our place after extensive purchases and off load them. Since we were in the heart of the Chianti Classico wine region, we did feel compelled to try a a number of them, and carrying several wine bottles around takes it's toll after a few kilometers, so it was very nice to be able to detour back to our apartment between museum and shopping trip.