Hotel Savoy: Florence through colour and proportion

Florence sets a demanding context for contemporary interiors. At Hotel Savoy, on Piazza della Repubblica, the response described by WAYFARER Brazil in July 2024 was not to imitate the city in miniature. It was to work with colour, proportion and selected artistic references inside a building with its own history.

The hotel opened in 1893, in a square shaped by the transformation of the old market district. Its later renovation, completed in 2018, brought Olga Polizzi’s design language into conversation with Emilio Pucci accents in the public spaces. Colour provided a distinct contemporary note against Florence’s familiar stone architecture.

The archive described works by Luca Pignatelli, tall ceilings and rooms using gold and grey tones. In some suites, views towards the Duomo returned attention to the city outside. These were not separate decorative gestures: the interior and the view established different scales of the same experience.

Irene, the hotel’s restaurant, appeared in the original account with Fulvio Pierangelini’s culinary direction and visual references to the 1950s. Familiar Italian dishes, including tomato spaghetti, kept the food within a recognisable repertoire rather than making complexity the main attraction.

A spa suite associated with Santa Maria Novella added another Florentine connection. Services and menus may have changed since the report, but the design argument remains clear. The Savoy’s character comes from placing modern patterns and objects within a historic urban frame, giving guests a view of Florence without asking every surface to perform as an antique.

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Adapted from the WAYFARER Brazil archive, first published 2024-07-30. English adaptation: 6 October 2026. This is an archival account, not a report of a new visit. Exhibitions, collections and menu details are described in their original context, not as current availability.