Porta Rossa Hotel Firenze Colbert Collection reimagined by THDP
Set in the historic heart of Florence, just steps from the city’s most iconic landmarks, Porta Rossa Hotel Firenze occupies a singular place in the Italian cultural landscape. Housed within a historic structure featuring original frescoes, vaulted ceilings, decorative plasterwork, and a 13th-century tower, the hotel received the European Design Award in 2010 – a recognition of the distinctive architectural character it had already long possessed. The brief to THDP, then, was not to add to this legacy, but to honour it.
“The project is rooted in a careful reading of Florence’s identity, where craftsmanship, materiality, and atmosphere form the foundation of the design,” explains Claudia Mazzucato, Associate Director and Project Leader at THDP. “Working within such a layered historical context calls for restraint. The aim was never to change the space, but to reveal it, allowing what is already there to surface naturally through a contemporary layer that sits quietly within it.”
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Hotel Designs.





