The Grand Hotel Villa Cora is a mansion, originally built during the 19th century by the Baron Oppenheim as a gift for his beautiful young bride. Among the many romantic tales of the Villa Cora is the one about Oppenheim’s wife who, so the story goes, became enamored of one of her many admirers. The jealous baron was so enraged that he threatened to burn the entire mansion, but, luckily for us, he was stopped in time from this mad endeavor by his friends, and today this magnificent villa is a stunning hotel. Although only about a five-minute taxi ride from the center of Florence (or a twenty-minute walk), the Grand Hotel Villa Cora is eons away in atmosphere—you feel more like a guest on a country estate rather than in a city hotel. The interior of the hotel is rather ornate and sumptuous. The villa is set in intricate gardens and even has a pool. You can almost hear the sounds of laughter and music drifting through the gardens, and indeed the mansion has always been famous for its dramatic parties: at one time the villa was the residence of Napoleon’s wife, Empress Eugenia, whose entertaining was the talk of Florence.
