Spacious apartment with garden in a beautiful part of Florence

We are a German-Irish family with three children (aged 6, 5, and 2) who moved to Florence in September 2017. Fergal and Helen both work at the European University Institute, which is based in a former monastery in the north of Florence, halfway up one of the famous Florentine Hills in the direction of Fiesole. We chose our apartment near Via Boccaccio because it combines the benefits of living in a friendly, vibrant neighborhood with all amenities within walking distance to Giotto's Duomo with the advantages of cleaner air and ease of access to the countryside without getting trapped in traffic. The bus stop for bus # 1, which goes to the main train station, is just around the corner, around 50 meters from where we live.

The apartment, on the ground floor of a two-storey building, is located on a quiet one-way street. High ceilings (3,60 meters) ensure that it stays reasonably cool in summer. Apart from a large live-in kitchen and small separate laundry room, there are three bedrooms, one of which features an en-suite bathroom and French doors onto the garden. Upon moving here in September 2017, we invested money into comfortable beds. The two double beds both have new ergonomic matresses with washable anti-allergic covers. All rooms have parquet floors. The window frames and most of the furniture, including kitchen cabinets, are also made of wood, lending a natural atmosphere to the whole place. This main part of the apartment is 100 m2 in size. In addition, there is also a large room in the basement with tiled floors. It currently houses a drum kit and a large Brio train set, but could also serve as a guest room. The basement windows do not provide much light, but they allow the room to be aired, and central heating keeps it warm and dry. The garden is around 70m2 in size, with a spacious terrace and optional peddling pool.

Fergal grew up in Dublin, and we spend the summer in Ireland every year. This is our first attempt at a home exchange, but we are experienced airbnb hosts (with our apartment in Cologne, where we lived before moving to Italy) and airbnb guests. Please feel free to inspect our reviews. You'll find them at https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/64969

Apart from the apartment, we would also be interested in swapping cars. Ours is a Renault Scenic, with two booster seats and one toddler seat. We also have a mountain buggy pram.

Pictures of the apartment will follow shortly. Please do not hesitate to contact us in the meantime. We'd be delighted to hear from you.