The hostel is only a short walk away from the train station and is also central. However, there isn't much else that I can say positively about it. I was thoroughly disappointed and unfortunately somewhat ruined my stay in Florence. The receptionist/hostel owner was incredibly rude to me and my friend. What's more he was hardly present during the day (although the hostel advertises a 24 hour service.) In fact, he was only there 9am-1pm (if you're lucky) although the lock out hours are 10am-2pm. On our last day, I tried to ask him (the owner) about the washing machine whilst he was on the guest computer during the only 4 hours he was actually there but he wouldn't really acknowledge my presence and just vacantly agreed to everything I asked him about. He was very unprofessional and clearly doesn't appear to enjoy his job... the nicest member of staff was the italian cleaner. Our room was incredibly cramped. The whole hostel was very dark. There are kitchen facilities however he refused to explain how to use the cooker. Although there were numerous pots and pans to use on the mystery cooker, there was only one knife.

A friend and I made a booking online for this hostel and paid ten percent up front as well as a booking fee. Upon arrival to the hostel, we were given a price higher than what we agreed to months before. The man at the front desk insisted that the 10% up front was our booking fee and refused to listen to us. He then spent about 10 minutes playing with his phone and deliberately avoiding us. He refused to talk to us so we agreed on a cancellation of the room for no charge. Two days later, I noticed a charge on my credit card from this hostel.

The hostel itself was also disgusting. It was very dirty and had people who looked homeless and dangerous hanging around the lobby. I highly recommend avoiding it at all costs, go somewhere else!!

Many travellers have left poor reviews of this place and I can only agree with them. I go backpacking regularly and have travelled across several continents: I've hardly ever had such an unfirendly experience as in this hostel. Every service costs extra and the manager even tried to charge me for things I didn't order. The overall standard was way too low for the price paid. The location is not bad, but there are many more central hostels around. I moved to a different hostel for the following night and was much happier there.
There are quite a few nice places to stay in Florence, even for those travelling on a tight budget - chose one of those and stay away from this.

I'm a bit surprised to see the poor reviews that have been attributed to this hostel! "Giuseppe" who runs the place is a true character - he added such a warmth and friendliness to the experience. I thought it was an excellent and highly affordable place to stay, in a great location only a few minutes walk away from the train station. My only constructive criticism would be that it is quite dimly lit inside, and I couldn't find the light switch to the stairway coming back late at night. Also there was only one bathroom in a room shared by six, but we all got up at different times so none of us were left waiting. Overall it was a lovely hostel.