Villa San Michele, the hotel with Florence’s most magnificent views, reopens

Villa San Michele asks visitors to put modern inconveniences aside. At a building attributed in part to Michelangelo, with a 15th-century bell announcing arrivals, even an urgent request for the Wi-Fi password can seem out of place.

The legendary hotel above Florence has reopened this spring after an 18-month renovation. Guests have returned to see how the Belmond property has adapted to contemporary luxury while retaining the character that made it distinctive.

The dense, terraced garden remains largely unchanged. So does the more than 300-year-old wisteria, which covers the facade in violet flowers each spring. The renovation added an herb garden, an iris garden and a rose path designed for contemplative walks.

Villa San Michele stands on the slopes of Monte Ceceri, behind an oak forest and about half an hour from Florence airport. The Davanzati noble family built it in the early 15th century. It later became a Franciscan convent, was expanded during the Renaissance and returned to secular use in 1817 after Napoleon dissolved the order.

Its terraces overlook Florence on clear days, including Brunelleschi’s dome. The building is also associated with Napoleon, who is believed, though not fully documented, to have occupied part of it between 1805 and 1807. Leonardo da Vinci reportedly spent time on the opposite hill testing flying machines. A sundial from 1600 stands on an exterior column, oriented toward the place where Leonardo conducted those experiments. As chief concierge Adriano Pecoraro puts it, the site connects the austerity of the Franciscans, an inventor’s experiments and an emperor’s ambitions.

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This place was a bridge to the Modern Age.