In front of the Baptistry of St John, Grand Lyric is right in the thick of things. Florence is known as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and this feels like the perfect place from which to explore it. You might expect somewhere so central to be cramped, but this is actually a very decent size, and can hold six or seven people fairly comfortably. The only shame is that the TV isn’t very large, but when there’s this sort of history on the doorstep, it’s hard to get too worked up. Home truths: *You'll have to take the stairs to the third floor – there's no lift *There's no separation between the mezzanine and the living room below *None of the bathrooms have windows *The double beds are all actually two single bed frames pushed together *There's not much storage space in the third bedroom