Rooftop Bars in Florence

Angel Roofbar & Dining

Angel is on the 5° Floor of Hotel Calimala at Via Calimala 2, and its own site promises 360° views with 'the Duomo, right beside you'. The same hotel runs The Lobby, a ground-floor aperitivo lounge, as its second venue. The roof opens 12:00 to 00:00, with lunch from 12:00 to 15:00 and aperitivo and dinner from 17:00 to 00:00, and it is closed Tuesdays.

Reservations go to +39 055 093 6360 or [email protected]. Because it opens at noon, it is open at sunset in every month of the year, including December, when the sun sets at 16:38. The one day that fails is Tuesday.

Dress code and prices are not stated on the venue's page.

Divina Terrazza

Divina Terrazza is the 6th floor American bar of the Grand Hotel Cavour at Via del Proconsolo 3, open to hotel guests and outside clients. Two warnings come straight from the hotel's page. First, the terrace is accessible only via a staircase, which rules it out for anyone who cannot manage stairs.

Second, opening times are 'subject to change' and not printed, so phone ahead rather than plan to a timetable. Tables are limited and reservation is strongly recommended. It is the one roof that says outright it is open all year, with heating lamps and a full cover in winter and vaporisers in summer, and the only one that prints a price: gift vouchers from €20.00 per person, redeemable within the year.

B-Roof

B-Roof is on the fifth floor of the Grand Hotel Baglioni at Piazza dell'Unità Italiana 6, a few minutes' walk from Santa Maria Novella station, and it used to trade as Terrazza Brunelleschi. The 360° view runs from Santa Maria Novella and the Medici Chapels to the Dome, Palazzo Vecchio's tower, San Miniato and Piazzale Michelangelo. The American Bar is open from 3 pm to midnight, aperitivo runs from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm, and the restaurant serves lunch from 12:30 to 14:00 and dinner from 19:30 to 22:00.

In summer the aperitivo moves to the B-Green pergola and the outdoor terraces. Book on +39 055 2358 8560 between 09:00 and 19:00. A 15:00 opening means it is open for every sunset of the year.

701 Rooftop Bar

701 is on the seventh and top floor of the Gallery Hotel Art at Vicolo dell’Oro, 5, steps from Ponte Vecchio, with views from Brunelleschi's Dome and Giotto's Bell Tower to Palazzo Vecchio. Architect Michele Bönan built it out of the former Suite 701, and it has two panoramic terraces. It opens every day from 3:00 pm to 11:30 pm and takes bookings online, by email at [email protected], on +39 055 3966721 or on WhatsApp at +39 342 1234710.

The list includes a dedicated low-ABV selection. Every Thursday night brings 'Piano & Cocktails Under the Stars' with live piano, and every Sunday a soft 'Daylight & Beats' DJ set. The operator's old La Terrazza page now serves the 701 page, and no separate La Terrazza details are published.

Cosimo

Cosimo Rooftop Restaurant & Bar is on the 6th floor of The Excelsior, a Luxury Collection Hotel, at Piazza Ognissanti 3, and it calls itself the largest rooftop bar in Florence. That is its own claim, not a measurement we can check. The 360° view takes in the Arno, the Tuscan hills and the city's rooftops.

The bar pours Monday to Sunday from 12:00 pm to 01:00 am, with lunch from 12:00 to 14:30 and dinner from 18:30 to 22:30, which makes it the latest close of any roof that prints its hours. The signature cocktails are named after Medici women, the Contessina and the Eleonora among them. Reservations go to +39 055 27152783.

Dress code and prices are not stated.

Disopra

Disopra is the rooftop bar of Hotel degli Orafi at Lungarno degli Archibusieri 4, on the river, and it looks at Brunelleschi's Dome, the Arnolfo Tower and the Arno. It opens every day from 12:30 PM to 11:30 PM, which puts it open for every sunset of the year. The catch is its aperitivo.

The daily 'Aperivista', served from 12:30 to 22:00, is by reservation only, arranged on WhatsApp at +39 335 675 7726. The hotel does not publish what happens to a guest who arrives without a booking, so message ahead rather than find out at the door. No drink prices or dress code are published.

Loggia Roof Bar

The Loggia Roof Bar is on the third floor of Hotel Palazzo Guadagni at Piazza Santo Spirito, 9, and it looks the other way from most roofs on this page: from the Oltrarno back over the city and the surrounding hills, with Piazza Santo Spirito below. It is open daily from 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM, and the hotel pitches it for a relaxed lunch, afternoon tea or an aperitivo, so it works as a daytime terrace as much as a sundowner. Reservations are recommended.

The 22:00 close still covers the latest sunset of the year, 20:59 in June, and the last usable light at 21:35. The square below is the evening centre of the Oltrarno, covered on our bars in Florence page.

Minerva

Grand Hotel Minerva at Piazza Santa Maria Novella 16 has a bar with a swimming pool on top of a 13th-century palazzo, a 360° view and a signature 'Terrace Negroni'. The hotel's own pages disagree on the season. The rooftop page says April to October, while the pool-bar page says open to hotel guests May to September, 11:00 am to midnight.

We print both, because only the hotel can say which is right. The rule for visitors is consistent: the pool is for guests, and non-guests can use the rooftop cocktail bar every day from 7:30 pm to midnight in season. Set that door against the sunset table and the sun sets after 19:30 from April to August, and before it in September and October.

Empireo

Empireo is the rooftop and pool American bar of Hotel Plaza Lucchesi at Lungarno della Zecca Vecchia 38, open since 2014. It is open during summer only, and the hotel does not print the start and end dates. The pool is for hotel guests.

After 7:30 pm non-guests are welcome, but only with a reservation, so the booking is part of the plan rather than an option. In the warm season the hotel moves its Segno restaurant to the roof as the Segno Rooftop Experience, open every evening from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM, with reservations at [email protected]. In June, July and August the sun sets after the 19:30 door, so a booked non-guest sees it from the roof.

Do You Need to Book?

It depends on the roof, and the rules differ more than the views do. Reservation is recommended at the Loggia Roof Bar and strongly recommended at Divina Terrazza, where tables are limited. Disopra's daily Aperivista is by reservation only.

At Empireo, non-guests need a reservation to come in after 19:30. Minerva's pages state no booking rule for non-guests. Angel, 701, B-Roof and Cosimo publish phone numbers, and 701 also takes bookings online, by email and on WhatsApp.

B-Roof answers its reservation line only from 09:00 to 19:00, so call during the day. Our advice, not a rule from the venues: if the sunset is the reason you are going, book the table for the half hour before it.

Dress Code and Prices

None of the hotel pages on this list publishes a dress code, so a rule you have read elsewhere comes from a review site, not the venue. Smart casual is our advice as a safe default, and a booking email is the place to ask. On prices the picture is just as thin.

No roof publishes a drink price, and no minimum spend is stated. The single published figure is Divina Terrazza's gift voucher from €20 (about $23) per person, redeemable within the year at the terrace. Budget for a hotel bar, and treat any cocktail price you see quoted online as unconfirmed until the hotel prints it.

Access

Divina Terrazza is the one roof whose page addresses access, and what it says is that the terrace is accessible only via a staircase. That rules it out for wheelchair users and for anyone who cannot manage stairs. The other hotels state nothing about lift access to their roofs, so call before you go rather than assume.

The streets around each address are covered by our accessibility notes. Every hour, phone number and booking channel on this page comes from the venue's own page, and where a venue prints nothing, we have said so rather than fill the gap.

Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato

The famous lookout in Florence is Piazzale Michelangelo, the terrace on the south bank where the centre lies below you, dome, towers and river. It costs nothing and needs no reservation, which is the one thing none of the hotel roofs can offer at sunset. The logistics, from the walk up to the hour to be there, are on our Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset page.

Above it, San Miniato al Monte adds a Romanesque church and a second, higher view over the city. If you would rather not climb at all, the e-bike tour to Piazzale Michelangelo does the uphill for you in two hours.

The Dome and the Bell Tower

The last kind of view in Florence is from on top of the buildings themselves. The Dome and bell tower climbs put you on Brunelleschi's dome or on Giotto's bell tower, and the dome climb ticket sells a timed climb, 463 steps with no lift, together with a three-day pass for the cathedral complex that includes the bell tower. Unlike a hotel roof, the climb runs on a timed slot, so the time on the ticket decides when you are at the top, not the sunset.

B-Roof and 701 both name the same Dome in their views, and they are the options for anyone who would rather sit with a drink than climb.