Twenty Years of Hilton Garden Inn Florence Novoli, in a Neighborhood That Changed Its Face
Some places change along with the city around them. Twenty years ago, talking about Novoli still mostly meant talking about the outskirts. A part of Florence geographically close to the center but perceived as far away, with an identity still taking shape.
Today the picture is very different. Novoli has become one of the connecting points of contemporary Florence: a university, business and residential district, crossed every day by students, professionals, residents and travelers. More than an edge, it is now one of the areas through which Florence opens up to the outside world.
Infrastructure has played a decisive role in this transformation. Amerigo Vespucci Airport is just a few minutes away, and the T2 tramline, with a stop a short distance from the hotel, directly links the airport area, Novoli and the city center. For anyone coming to Florence on business, it means being able to choose an easy-to-reach area without giving up a quick connection to the heart of the city.
It was in this setting that the Hilton Garden Inn Florence Novoli opened in 2006. And telling the story of its first twenty years today inevitably means telling part of the story of the neighborhood around it.
Chapter Twenty: twenty years told through people
On Tuesday, September 22, the hotel celebrated its twentieth anniversary with “Chapter Twenty – Every Stay Tells a Story,” an evening that brought together guests, staff, partners, and representatives of local institutions and the business community in the hotel’s outdoor spaces.
They were welcomed by general manager Alina Grigoras and the hotel’s management team. Also taking part in the celebration were Dr. Ezio Romani, head of AMAPA, the company that manages the Hilton Garden Inn Florence Novoli; Ramon Tomas Ranz, representing the fund that owns the building; Filippo Ferraro, president of Florence’s Quartiere 5 district; and Jacopo Vicini, a member of the Florence city government.
The name chosen for the evening already held the meaning of the anniversary. Chapter Twenty as the twentieth chapter of a story that began in 2006, but above all as a chance to tell it through the people who have passed through the hotel over the years.
Because twenty years of a hotel can be measured in occupied rooms, overnight stays and numbers. But there is another unit of measure, far less statistical: people.
And that was exactly the key chosen for the celebration.
“Le storie che ci avete scritto”
Ahead of the anniversary, the hotel had asked guests, staff and people who had shared part of its journey to leave a thought, a memory, something that captured their relationship with the Garden.
Twenty-four testimonials came in, which were then collected and also turned into an exhibition inside the hotel titled “Le storie che ci avete scritto” (The Stories You Wrote Us).
Stories that differ in length, tone and experience, yet in which a few words come back surprisingly often: hospitality, friendship, people, home.
During the evening, some passages were read aloud to the guests, woven in with the official speeches and the story of the hotel’s twenty years.
Among them, one person summed up years of stays in a single simple sentence: “I was looking for a hotel and I found friends.” And perhaps this is exactly where a company anniversary stops being just a date on the calendar.
A hotel, but not only for those who sleep there
In the meantime Novoli has changed, and with the neighborhood, so has the way people experience a place like the Hilton Garden Inn.
Its location remains one of its strengths, especially for business travelers. Being close to the airport and the tramline makes the hotel a strategic base for companies, professionals and anyone coming to Florence for work: easy to reach from outside the city and, at the same time, connected to the center.
But reducing it to its role as a place to stay would mean telling only part of the story.
The hotel is in fact open to people who are not staying there, too. You can stop by for an aperitivo, stay for dinner or attend the events held on the property. It is a side of the hotel that brings it ever closer to the life of the neighborhood, and it reflects a contemporary idea of hospitality: not a closed place meant only for travelers, but a space the city itself can use and enjoy.
This is especially interesting in Novoli. If twenty years ago the hotel could stand as an international outpost in an area still searching for a new identity, today it sits at the center of a far more complex and connected neighborhood.
A party all the way to the next chapter
After the official speeches, Chapter Twenty changed pace.
Guests moved between the different food stations – from sushi to pizza and fresh pasta, all the way to tiramisù and gelato – along with an open bar, live music and, later, a DJ set.
Alongside the food came a few experiences created especially for the anniversary. A photo booth dedicated to the twenty years turned the guests into the stars of the evening’s pictures, while calligrapher Laura Mazzetti hand-personalized a Chapter Twenty postcard for each guest.
The music, between live performances and the DJ set, carried a lively, well-attended evening all the way to the closing moment: the cake cutting and a toast to the first twenty years.
A birthday, of course. But also a vantage point from which to see how much has changed all around.
In 2006 the Hilton Garden Inn opened in a Novoli still described as the outskirts. Twenty years later it finds itself in one of the areas that best represent the growth of contemporary Florence: close to the airport, connected to the center, home to the university, offices, businesses and new places to meet.
Perhaps this is the most interesting meaning of Chapter Twenty: not stopping to celebrate what has been, but recognizing that in the meantime the setting has changed, the city has come closer, and new stories have begun to pass through here.
The first twenty years have been written. The next chapter has already begun.
