Excellent location. For us, in the outside rooms on level 1, it was a mosquito-infested nightmare. Walls covered with swatted mosquitos testify to this. Bites to prove it. Heating remotely controlled by the hotel and inadequate. Tourism taxes demanded in cash (Ok), but receipt only given when demanded (just as well, as they then claimed we had not paid on departure). Not good.

The hotel is in an ok location - close to great markets and situated on a pleasant square and more traffic free than the rest of Florence. However, it is a 15 minute walk into the main square. The staff varied in their helpfulness. We encountered a lovely lady on our first day, a helpful staff member on night duty but the main day manager had a strange and unapproachable manner. The room was large and well appointed. However, mosquitos in the room were an issue, you have to pay for use of the safe, and the AC is controlled by the reception desk and not automatically turned on upon arrival despite apparent controls in the room. The breakfast was adequate. The hotel has a lovely outdoor area by day but it is poorly lit by night. We felt there was something of a penny pinching mode in operation. While the room was lovely we would hope to find a better hotel next time we return to Florence.

I stayed with my wife and son(11years) for 1 night on 10th October. We reached the hotel around 7.30 am from Paris by train. The guy at the reception was extremely rude. Their check in time was 2pm and when i requested him a couple of times that I was there only for a day and had to go for sight seeing in the afternoon and if he could give a room earlier; he said "I am very busy and I have a lot of work". I wonder what is more important than attending to guest. Finally we had to freshen up in the lobby toilet and went out.The guest floors are like a labyrinth and you tend to get lost looking for your rooms. Last but not the least, they charge you 2.5 Euro(if i remember correctly) for each piece of luggage if you want to leave it in their Left Luggage Area!!

This is a very pleasant, conveniently located hotel on the Piazza della indipendenza with good bus service. It is on a blocked street so traffic is not much, but it is located across the street from a park and playground which was in use until after 1 am and was very noisy. The hotel is known for being quiet, but our room, room 105 was the noisiest hotel room ever. Inebriated young people hung out on the park benches opposite the room and screamed at each other for what seemed like hours. Also this room is by the elevator waiting area so when groups of college aged kids hung our there waiting for the lift they could be very disturbing with their loud, late night chatter.
Also this hotel wants an outrageous fee for the use of WI-FI. This is the first hotel that has charged for WI-FI in several years and I find this totally out-of-line.
Also there was some confusion about the Florentine 3 euro per-night-per-person room tax which I paid in cash on check-in (they said it must be paid in cash) , but which they kept askling me to pay each time I went by the desk. We finally got this straightened out.
All-in-all we enjoyed the Donatello and especially breakfast outside on their terrace because the breakfast room itself was hot and noisy and overcrowded. The woman in charge of breakfast was wonderful and help make up for the flaws elsewhere. We would go back, but to a room on the upper floors.