🤗 Be
Welcome in Firenze
special notices for winter 2022
very often some spam filter send in the spam folder my replies,
so if within a few hours you have not received my reply, better you
look in the spam folder.
If you are so strict not to accept my email in your mailbox how can I be
accepting you in person in my home?
In this period I rarely have any non-movable errand or task, so usually
I should be able to receive you at the time more convenient for you.
This however is true only if you send me your request at least four
days in advance, since for last minute it is possible I had already plans
to go out early in the morning or come back after 20 or on the other way
be unable to delay dinner.
In particular requests for arrival on tuesday and wednesday must be made not
later than previous sunday.
On some days you will see a hourglass symbol with a date nearby: it means
that I have unconfirmed plans for that days that could lead me far from home
so until the specified date cannot give a firm confirm; on the other way dates
more than 4 weeks away could not appear, feel free to ask but do not
expect to have immediate confirm for such dates.
About last minute requests: If you ask for staying here less than 4
days in advance I expect you are ready to answer to my answer quickly.
After 4 hours from my reply without acknowledgement I will assume you changed your
plans and would not reserve space. If request is for the same day
this limit is just one hour.
I expect to have dinner together (cooking alternatively) every evening,
if you stay more than one evening and you do not expect to have your day
of cooking, look for another kind of accommodation.
it is not fair to have to remain home alone just to wait
someone spending the night out, when you could have other options
if you stay 3 or 4 night you may choose to stay one evening out
(as long you are back before 0035 and you tell me at least 4 days
in advance).
In this period it will not be planned in advance many vegetarian
friendly day: you will be free to cook what you prefer the day it will
be your turn but the other days leave
complete freedom to the one[s]
that will have their cooking turn; not eating what has been prepared
for you is considered rude both for the cook and for the host; asking
someone to cook something different that what had expected to cook is
easily leading to get unhealty meals.
in particular until
25/2/2023 cannot be accepted requests to avoid one or more of following
ingredients:
Onions, potatoes, wheat, rice; pork, chicken; butter, cheese; eggs.
If you are a group of 4 or more -up to 7- please
read
first here, if in the day you arrive do not appear enough free places
Due to maintenance works scattered all around in the area of
the province of Firenze public transportation in this area
is less reliable than usual.
For this reason, unless you are using your own mean of
transportation for all the way to Firenze, the exact travel
plan to arrive here will be a major point on the decision
to accept you or another group and could not only lead in
some cases to accept you only "conditionally" that is
confirming only a few days in advance when transit situation
for the service you chose is more clear, and I can
know if a possible delay would harm or not, but also will
lead to restart the process of acceptance in case you change
one or more of the details of arrival trip.
my e-mail address for contacts:
leo5ucc@trail.it
If
you arrived here it is because you wanted to come in my home.
We
say "patti chiari amicizia lunga" (clear pacts, long
lasting friendship), so read carefully:
When can I host you ? home
The dates for which I can take in account requests at this time are:
On 2023-01-29 I can host 3 people, maybe too late!
On 2023-01-30 I can host 3 people,
On 2023-01-31 I can host 5 people, ↓,🌙
On 2023-02-01 I can host 5 people, 🌙
On 2023-02-02 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-03 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-04 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-05 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-06 I can host 3 people,
On 2023-02-07 I can host 3 people, 🌙
On 2023-02-08 I can host 5 people, 🌙
On 2023-02-09 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-10 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-11 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-12 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-13 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-14 I can host 5 people, ↓,🌙
On 2023-02-15 I can host 5 people, 🌙
On 2023-02-16 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-17 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-18 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-19 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-20 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-21 I can host 5 people, ↓,🌙
On 2023-02-22 I can host 5 people, ^🌙
On 2023-02-23 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-24 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-25 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-26 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-27 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-02-28 I can host 5 people, ↓,🌙
On 2023-03-01 I can host 5 people, 🌙
On 2023-03-02 I can host 5 people,
On 2023-03-03 I can host 5 people,
If you see changing the availability after I have sent
you an e-mail reply it does not mean that I cannot longer
host you, but just that I set aside for you the space!
In the days marked with ↓
for different reasons I cannot accept new people arriving at my home exactly
on that days while place is still available for people that were here since
at least the previous day (so you may freely ask even these days as a final
or intermediate days of your stay).
Unless differently stated, if after my reply I won't receive a
reply from you within a reasonable time (two days if request is more than 3 weeks away,
one day if more than 5 days, 8 hours if it is less than 5 days,
two hours if your arrival were within 26 hours),
I will not keep longer on hold the place for you.
When I say that I want a phone number I want to say
that I want to have a globally reacheable phone number, so a number that
can be dialed by any public service and route the call to you cellphone
that have to be active. Actually I will send you all details to arrive at my
home within 300 meters at the time you send the request so you know exacly how
much time you need to the various points of interest, and print the maps
and timetables in advance (or you may read here :-)),
but I will give my complete address only by calling you at that number a
couple hours before arrival, once -three days before arrival- I will have
received a call from you, to confirm that phone is working and numbers are
correct.
🌙: This note
means that on that evening I could be home as late as 2125 and dinner will be at 2145
The dates shown above are the ones opened to everyone for which I
may confirm hospitality at the time you read it.
However to give opportunity to bigger groups to found an accomodation together,
since I am one of the very few hosts in Firenze able to host 5 or more people,
such larger groups may ask and have confirm also for further dates
until a reasonable future.
Also, irrespectively of what is written in the calendar, one day stays are
subject to final confirm only at a maximum of
two weeks in advance, often less.
my e-mail address for contacts:
leo5ucc@trail.it
How much time can I host you ?
Preferred stay is 2 to 4 nights, but I can make exceptions, just ask.
Normally
I will confirm once we have had an e-mail exchange and all personal
informations; according the period of the year I may have one to
four rooms available for guests.
Only two have single beds. So, if you are more than one
person, when requesting, tell me if you prefer single or double beds.
If you say that is just a preference for single or double, but not a
constraint, this would help a lot.
In case you ask only single beds, tell me if you
accept to share the big room, that has three single beds,
with other guests.
In your request
please state clearly the exact date (and where possibe approximate time and
mean of transportation used) you expect to arrive, and also date and time
when you plan to leave.
Include also a list with the complete names and e-mail of all the people
in your party, as well at least one working GSM phone number that I can use
to call you while arriving and. -very important- an indication if some of
you have dietary constraints.
I will consider the request complete only when I will have all these
informations
"dates are flexible"
does mean that in case I had no availability in the day[s] you ask,
rather than declining, I may offer you an option to shift dates, not that
you reserve you the right to change dates last minute!.
Once accepted, the dates become fixed.
I expect that, unless differently specified, that
you reply after my confirm message no later than 2 days, if arrival date
is more than 2 week apart, 24 hours in the other cases but within
3 hours if request were sent less than 48 hours before arrival
(keep phone on, if last minute I may directly call you)
Note that if you ask to change the dates
after I have confirmed, not necessarily means that you will still be
accepted.
What
if we are a large group (or a family)? home
I can host even groups of 5 or
more people, up to 9: since I am one of the few ones in my town that is able to
host such a large group, to give them more chances I may also accept requests
for dates more than 5 weeks ahead, up to a reasonable future. For groups of
4-7 people I can carve out two more places when availability if the calendar
says 3 or more, and up to four if it says 5.
For last minute requests: I cannot accept same day requests from groups of 5
or more; smaller ones can try also last minute
(but see notes on availability after the general availability
calendar at beginning).
Note about families: a family is defined a group when there is at least one person
and at least one of its parents. Except certain "family friendly" periods
(currently not yet scheduled)
I will host families only if at least one of following conditions is true:
a. at least one
of the person among parents or kids has been my guest before, or I have been their
guest; b. at least one of the parents and at least one of their kids has
(proved by references) had at least one experience as a guest (not by the same
person) somewhere out of their home country.
What can I offer ?
home
I am in east part of town, about 20 minutes by transit to the center (or 4 km walking or cycling)
click here to visualize a map of the area
Breakfast
is at 740(MWF)/845(ThSS), dinner usually around 2115
In
Italy communal meal with guest is an institution, and many people come to my
house for the "kitchen sharing" so your host will expect guests to share at
least one main meal together, the day they arrive, two if they stay more than 2 night.
More details on meal sharing HERE
In general omnivore
diet. There are every month some vegetarian friendly days, listed in the general availability calendar,
when vegetarian people may ask to have vegetarian food, while in all the other days who will cook has
the right to decide what to cook.
Since if you are vegetarian often the number of vegetarian friendly
days are in certain months too few, I can give you some extra days, as long you arrive on
tuesday, wednesday friday or saturday before 1845, in a day when there are
no other guest (usully when on that day are marked 5 available places, 7
on june-september) and it is not a last minute (less than 3 days in advance)
request.
Read the specific page for more informations!
Please remember that in Italy «vegetarian» is one that anyway eat eggs and
cheese and drink wine and beer, but do not eat any kind of meat, including
seafood.
House
policy says that when there is no people of the family, even the
guests are out. If I want not to be late at work, I have to exit
from home at 7:15 on Tuesday and sometimes Friday, at 845 the other days and unless
there is a prearranged plan, won't be home before 1940.
Free internet access.
If you have bicycles you can use my garage.
-->
- Do not expect that I will take you around
to visit the city unless you have some specific interests (but -if weather
allows- we can easily organize excursions in the nature around);
if you write
in advance telling me your interests I can give some suggestions or prepare
a thematic itinerary.
- My home is in east part of town, 4.8 km
walking or cycling from the city hall (2.8 km from city historical center)
click here to visualize a map of the area.
please note that due to (long time) roadworks, from february 2021 the stop for
buses arriving from city center is 750 m far from here (I have not updated the map
on this site since situation could have changes almost every month until end of 2023).
- Dinner is usually around 2115
- In Italy communal meal with guest is an institution,
and many people come to my house for the "kitchen sharing" so your host will expect guests
to share at least the main meal together, the day they arrive, 2 if they stay 2 nights or more.
More details on meal sharing HERE
-
In general omnivore diet.
Since the number of people that did change their plan really last minute,
sometimes even after dinner had been prepared, has been quite consistent,
this lead to often have to freeze something that had been prepared for them.
For this reason until my freezer will not have been emptied by all stuff bought
for people that did not show,
I won't be able to accept guests with special dietary requirements unless
with very special arrangements and conditions.
Read the specific page for more informations!
If you stay three or more days and expect one evening not being here for
dinner, please tell it at time of sending the request.
- House
policy says that when there is no people of the family, even the
guests are out. In general I do
not leave home early, at least not before 940; just on some days it
is possible that I leave earlier, but normally these are marked
in the calendar with 🕖.
In general I ask guests to leave the room free, on the day they leave, no
later than 820, to give time to clean it. If it is not a day I
leave more or less early you may stay longer, but if you
leave after 820 you are expecteded to do a complete cleaning
of the room before leaving.
.
- Free internet access.
In case you need to use it after you leave my house, it is accessible
also from the benches on the park in front ot the house.
- If you have bicycles you
can use my garage, but ask me at time of request or at least 36 hours
before arrival, same advanced request if you need space in the fridge
or need to do laundry.
What
i am asking you ? home
Some people complained that i
had too many rules: I wrote the rules here, so you can
decide if they are reasonable for you and then send me a request or not:
- Call me using your phone
to confirm arrival 3-4 days in advance,
including your estimated time of arrival, if you don't not only I
cannot help with logistics, but I will cancel your request.
Please do not use other ways to confirm than voice calls since sometimes
(expecially but not only) while roaming certain phones do not work correctly
with SMS (sometimes it is also
a question of phone_model-operator-installed_software triplet!).
- if you plan not to stay
with me for dinner on one of the evenings, please tell me at
least 3 full days in advance. (preparation of certains typical food
certain times spans on more days and I don't want to throw away food).
for
last minute requests of course people should be ready to get what has
been prepared, so if you have alimentary constraints tell me when you
send the first request.
- We will share expense for food; people that stay more than one day
is expected to cook at least one day.
In that case think about a recipe that you know you can prepare
(possibly, but not necessarily from your region), and take a list
of ingredients with quantities (by mass), this would help in buying the
right quantity and adapt according the number of people that evening,
also is possible I already had ready most of the ingredients.
- do not smoke in the house, nor in
the balcony
- The guests have one bathroom all for them. also cleaning
is left to them, so keep it clean, for the people that come after you.
- do not contaminate
recycle bins (or you have to clean it too)
- do not take anything out
of kitchen (glasses can be get lost or broken in strange places,
food could have been a key ingredient for next dinner)
- if you help cleaning in
the kitchen never put knives in dishwasher, on the other part
plastic and glass cannot be safely washed by hand
- do not open the window in
the dining room unless you remain inside that room ready to close it.
(if there is just a bit of wind current will be strong and internal
doors can slam and be damaged)
to
get a quicker reply - Last
minute requests home
When you send a request or
reply to a last minute invitation, to be sure to get a quick reply
always send an email to the address that appear at beginning of this page,
specifying there your username and adding the e-mail addresses of all other travelmates,
and expecially your cell phone number, caring that my reply could
arrive from a different email address, or a different phone number,
so check that you accidentally
(or voluntarily) had not set your spam filter to ignore messages,
or your phone not to ring from unknows callers.
When you send arrival and leaving dates,
unless differently written, I assume that you arrive at my home
between 1950 and 2020 on the arrival day, and leave between 0700 and 0830 on
departure date (too many people set as end day the last night,
so actually end requesting a day less than they expect).
If you send a request very
close to arrival date remember to give answers, in your request, to the
questions about the kind of bed that you prefer, the time you plan to
arrive and leave and if you have food intolerances. This would help
to know immediately if there are problem or on the other side accept
immediately.
I will try to reply to your
request in the shortest time possible, but since often I receive more
requests than I can accommodate (Firenze has a lot of people coming
...) I have to ask also you to be quick in replying, so to be helpful
to as many people is possible.
So, if it is a request more than 8
days in advance, I can wait for your reply even 24 hours, but if you
require a couch in short advance I ask you to reply within a few
hours, in general I will wait one eight of the time remaining to your
arrival (1 to 6AM is neutralized).
If I will not receive an answer
within that time and have other requests I will consider it as
cancelled.
If you expect not to have internet access for some time
please post in your message a note about when you will be able to
read the message.
If I think we need a quicker turnaround in replies, I will send
you a SMS or will call you in voice, so please keep the phone on:
sometimes I need some immediate clarification, or I had
problem replying by e-mail.
I am not picky if any person
in the group does not have a personal profile, if the person
that makes the request has an adequate hospitaly exchange experience,
But I ask as a
minimum that the person
that makes the request indicate name, gender, age, place of origin
and languages spoken, beside a personal contact [email address], for
each one in the group.
In particular I
ask that all the people in the group share a common language with me.
I can make an exception just if there is just 1 person not sharing my,
or the other guests', languages.
If you are one of the people
that do not want to have a cellphone, or do not want to give to other
people their personal number you can buy a SIM just for the trip!,
otherwise I will be usually unable to host you, expecially on last
minute or when you cannot adjust your arrival time to my movements.
If there is more then one group for dinner not knowing where they are
when they are late is not nice.
Some
things you should know (even if you do not come at my home). home
When planning a visit to Firenze remember these things:
Some bus operators sell tickets to Firenze offering three
different stations: Piazzale Montelungo, GuidoniT2 and Villa Costanza. While
Piazzale Montelungo is in the center, adjacent to SMN station,
Villa Costanza is NOT in Firenze, but in Scandicci at 8 km SW from city center.
There is between 0430 and 2345 a direct tram line to Firenze center, but this takes
at least 25 minutes (plus time to buy tickets and wait departure).
(and I live 4 km E of city center) GuidoniT2 is still in the city but
distance (in time) is more or less the same than villa Costanza.
If you expect to arrive from Bologna and Venezia or go to such
cities after Firenze know that on sunday afternoon and often on friday it
is extremely common that expecially train services to/from that direction
be sold-out.
I recommend to buy such tickets at least 3 days in advance to avoid surprises.
On public holydays (in 2023 they are 11/4 25/4 1/5 2/6 15/8 1/11 8/12 25/12 26/12)
all public transit services start at 0600 (while on weekdays
at 510, 520 on saturday and 532 on sunday),
so take it in account if you have a long distance services leaving from a
distant terminal early in the morning.
About museums: check always the opening days on their site.
I remind that if you plan to visit Uffizi,
the same ticket is valid also for a subsequent visit in the next 48 hours to Museo Archeologico and Opificio delle
Pietre Dure (Uffizi must be the first visit - mind that Uffizi is closed on monday
and opificio pietre dure on sunday). You may buy also a combined ticket including
also palazzo pitti and boboli, but in any case uffizi MUST be the first visit.
tha same option is available for visiting Giardino Bardini after Boboli (on the same day)
People age 18 to 24 (citizen of EU plus ch,li,no,is,uy) pay 2 euro for each entrance
(this fare is valid also for Bargello and San Marco).