Accademia Residence

Lovely little traditional style apartment – ours had a small balcony overlooking the central courtyard and views on two “streets”. It was wonderful to wake up hearing the bells of the churches each morning, have the Tuscan sun stream into our bedrooms and bathe the walls in sunshine, turning them a gorgeous gold like a renaissance painting! The location is excellent with very easy access to all the important icons within the historic old walls – Piazza Duomo, Emperor’s castle, Monash University, shops, plenty of restaurants/cafes and the Piazza Mercatale where there is a huge flea market each Sunday. You will have to travel further to reach a supermarket for food supplies. It’s a short 5min or so walk to the train station – Prato Porta al Serraglio – which trains will take you to Florence in about 20 minutes. The rooms were clean and traditionally decorated. Beds were really comfortable and linens were nice. The kitchen was compact and could do with more utensils, eg. not enough cutlery for 4 people and we did have fun trying to improvise! We attempted some basic cooking one evening and found that it was pretty impractical so chose to have only breakfast in the apartment from them on. The kitchen houses a small bar fridge, two cooktops, a toaster oven and very limited cupboards to store pantry items. The sofa/sofa bed could do with a refurb as you sunk right into the middle when sitting on it. The staff we met were just lovely and helped with anything we asked about. Reception is open for limited hours each day. We booked a week for four people, but had just one night with that many guests. Glad that was the case as it would have felt pretty cramped with 4 people in the apartment for an extended period of time, with one small shared bathroom and a small living/kitchen/dining area. It worked very well for 2 people sleeping in separate rooms. Of note, in our apartment you have to pass through one bedroom to access the second bedroom. This may not be suitable for two couples travelling together. We were a family so it wasn’t really an issue for us. If you are a light sleeper or want to go to bed early, this may not be an ideal location for you – the night life here starts around 8.00pm and continues until early morning on most evenings. It’s people coming together for food, drinks and lively conversation. There was no loud music and we didn’t feel unsafe wandering about the immediate vicinity. For us, it only added to the ambience. If travelling to Prato again, we would very much consider returning to stay here.