Ostello Europa Villa Camerata

Worst place I've ever been to in my whole life. Dirty pavements. A huge layer of dust upon and inside the wardrobe. Blood stains covering the filthy bed sheets. Awful food. Let's not talk about the toilets... Super unfriendly staff. Creepy atmosphere outside at night and you can't even close the window because it's old and broken. If you don't wanna live the worst night of your life, don't go there. You've been warned.

This place was by far the cheapest option we found in Florence and, because we had a car, the location was not much of a worry. It is very far from the city center and getting there without a car seemed to involve a walk through the woods. Rooms and bathroom are very simple. The showers were ok, despite the locker room feeling. There are no real towels for rent, so bring one. Breakfast was fine. For the price, I wasn't really expecting much, and it's not so bad if you have a car, but if not, I don't recommend, unless you're in a very tight budget.

One of the WORST places I've ever stayed at. I wish I had throughly read reviews of this place before I had booked it. For starters my husband and I did NOT pay for this hellhole had we paid we would have demanded our money back. I used points from my work to pay for 9 nights worth of hotels in Italy. I've stayed at hostels before and thought well since we are there only to sleep and that we we're getting a private room and bathroom that it should not be bad. I couldn't have been more wrong. First off the hostel is located on top of a hill. There is a narrow road filled with potholes and barely any street lights. We were arriving late at night and were already tired. There were no signs stating how far up this hill the hostel was. It was beyond creepy to be waking up this hill with barely any lights and questioning if we were even headed the right way. After about a ten minute walk we saw lights and the building. We walked in to be greeted by a flock of about 10 guys just spread out on the couches. You could obviously tell this was the best spot for the "free wifi". Something about all of these guys lounging (by lounge it's like they lived on that couch) really made me uncomfortable. We were so tired and just wanted to sleep. That brings us to the room. We were on the second floor, room 203. As soon as we got on the floor we noticed a horrible smell. We walked by the men's bathroom and it was disgusting. Not like smelling gross but like these people don't care about common courtesy one bit. Water and bottles all over the floor. The guys I had mentioned before were most likely from our floor. We got in the room and it was dirty. There was hair on our blankets (something that no matter where I stay I think is gross!) The noise the guys were making all night was insane. At the other hostels there was some sort of noise ordinance but I guess here it doesn't matter the time of day or night, you can be as loud and obnoxious as you want. Anyways we decided since we were tired and it was "paid for" we would stick it out. That was another mistake. Breakfast is a joke. If you want bread and jelly or corn flakes then this is the perfect place for you. But remember those guys I mentioned a little bit ago? Yep they were still there and being super loud. They acted like they owned the place...come to find out the sort of run the place... We ended up leaving and spending the entire day out of this hellhole. When we got back we were not shocked by the group of more than 15 guys again all over the couch. We needed to use wifi and looked up the wifi to get hooked up only to see "price Nigerian". Things were starting to become clear... We did our stuff on wifi and headed to the room as we had to be up at 4:30am for a balloon adventure! We woke up only to find out we had NO power. We had to shower and get ready with no lights. I was beyond irritated. And no matter what time day or night there were always at least two or three of the creepy guys on the couch. The last night I finally had to ask the guy working at the front if these guys from the couch lived there (because at what hostel Do you see the same people no matter what time of day in the same space? You don't most of the hostel travelers are out exploring!) so anyways the worker said they do live there as they are refugees...so basically they are talking advantage of the European government and making this hostel stays one of the worst experiences in my life. And I've traveled all over the world never have I seen something as bad as this. So in the last night we tried to go to sleep around 10pm I fell asleep until midnight then was woken up by slamming doors and yelling. Now keep in mind I wear a hearing aid and take it out when I sleep and wear earplugs if it's noisy. It was that bad. It kept me up until I fell asleep around 5:30am. I emailed the reception but of course didn't hear anything. I was honestly scared to even open my door. If I were you I would avoid this hostel at ALL costs. I don't care how cheap it is you could find a better location and not be creeped out. I meant to take pictures but I wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as I could. The only picture I snapped was the one of us waking down the hill so you could imagine how creepy it is at nighttime. Once returning home I will be calling the travel company who booked this hostel for me and letting them know they should remove this from even being an option.

This place was terrible! It's NOT 2km from the centre like it's written, it's at the end station of bus 11 and then a 10 min walk into the forrest. The receptonist wanted to keep our passports when we checked in, something that we refused to do, and then he said that we had to pay straight away, which we said of course we would do, we found it the normal procedure, and then we go our passports back. You also have to make a hostel card to be able to stay there, €2 per person, something we found ridiculous. The place felt like a prison right from this first meeting, and the room was not much better. No AC and ants on the floor. The bathrooms were dirty and far from our room. The breakfast concluded of white bread and marmelade, cornflakes and milk that wasn't cold (probably not hygenic to drink) and juice and tea/coffee. The backyard where you would eat was full of pidgeons. This hostel was also filled with male African refugees which decreased the feeling of being at a youth hostel.

On arrival to the hostel, the setting looked very worn and tired. Having booked through Hostelling International, the pictures displayed did not truly represent the run-down facade seen in person. The receptionist, who seemed to be a replacement as the hostel staff were on strike, was helpful and honorable. Unfortunately, I did not realize until upon arrival, that the reception has to take all occupants' passport to register our stay with the police. As we arrived at the dead of night, the person responsible for this registration had left, so the receptionist safe-kept our passport until the morning, when the registrar returned. If we left the hostel between then and the morning, we would have to return the room key, and could take the passport back to wander the surrounding area. Having later done some research, hostels/hotels in Italy do this quite frequently, or they would take a photocopy of the passport. When I told my Italian friend, she looked surprised, but said that this was the case. The room was functional for its purpose, but in line with other reviewers, really lacked power outlets. There were 2 outlets for a room of 4. There was an ample amount of hot and cold water to shower with. With the heat of the summer, we kept the windows open at night. But the light from the corridor (which I was unable to control or cover off), shown into the room through a piece of frosted glass. I think this contributed to the many mosquitos in the room. This really interrupted my sleep, and woke with plenty of bites. The breakfast was minimal, and did not have provisions for lactose nor gluten free food. I feel that this hostel can do with a renovation to make it much more tourist-friendly.

I stayed in this hostel for 3 nights with a friend while we were backpacking around Italy. To start with you get a very good impression of the building itself. The hostel is set aback from any main roads and is pretty cool to look at. The main entrance hall is impressive too. The four bedroom dorms we stayed in were very cheap and spacious enough. The hostel provides a free breakfast every morning. Though this is not of the highest quality there is choice enough and it's hard to fault it when it's free. Similarly the evening meal might cost ten euros but it is convenient and you get plenty to eat. If you don't want to head back into town after a long day then it is a good option. There are several problems with the hostel though. It's a little run down inside, especially the upper corridors which are eerily reminiscent of a mental asylum. The rooms also had their downsides: wifi was poor, the lockers were just cupboards and there was a shortage of plug sockets. I would stretch to call it a problem, but another thing you must know about the hostel is that it houses a number of African refugees. They were mostly a friendly bunch but when they are all hanging around the lobby or dining hall it makes the whole place feel less of a hostel. To conclude, the most important thing to remember about this hostel is the cost. The interior may not live up to the exterior but if you can put up with a fifteen minute bus ride into town everyday then the price of this hostel is unmatched in Florence.

Place is beautiful, historical architecture, beautiful garden. Far away from the city but bus goes every 15 min. English speaking staff. Breakfast like in the hostel, coffe, bread, marmolade. Bathrooms, toilets - old style hostels' standards. Rooms really really poor :( worst is that in fact it is filled with refugies from Africa and it is not creating atmosphere of the international hostel filled with young travellers. It is full of Africans only men and it could feel unconfortable for tourists especially travelling alone ladies. In my opinion it is certainly not the right choice for women.

Villa Camerata is a faded Dame of a building set in highly neglected grounds. The setting is rural yet within a short bus trip to central Florence. I expected it to be a bit worn but simple things were just horrible. The reception sofas were dirty and covers torn, bathroom light was on a timer which kept shutting off before we had finished (no window). Worst of all was the noise. There was a group of lads. During the day I overheard one of them saying he had nearly had a fight then at night they all congregated in the snack bar/reception area. Cue lots of shouting (echoing around the high ceilings) , scraping of furniture, music and what sounded like at least 1 fight. Frankly we were both a bit scared and I was glad my daughter hadn't come alone as she originally intended. Finally quietened down properly about 4 am. We couldn't close the window as it was stiflingly hot. There did not appear to be any staff around at night. We left the next day. They would have refunded our money but couldn't because we had used an agency rather than booking direct. Something to be aware of. So, cheap to book but cost far more in the end.

There were 4 of us staying at this hostel and upon arrival we were happy with our surroundings. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful and the building was located in beautiful grounds. Our room contained two bunk beds and a shower and toilet. We thought we would have to use the shared ones so this was a nice surprise. Getting to Florence from here is easy. We had a hire car and there was a free car park but we didn't fancy tackling the city traffic so we used public transport. The bus tickets can be purchased from the hostel reception desk I think they were 1.50 Euro for 90mins so a return is 3 Euro. The bus stop is just across the road from the hostel so nice and simple also. You just have to validate your ticket on the bus and you're set to go. I believe they were quite frequent but the man at the hostel will print a timetable if you ask him. They also provide you with a map for the city. When we arrived back at the hostel there was some sort of garden party going on and there were a lot of people everywhere. This was fine really as the noise from outside stopped at a nice time. However, the guests staying on our floor were horrendous. They were running up and down the corridor all hours of the night and slamming their doors. We had no sleep and we were not impressed at all. We had breakfast included but this was the worst display of food I have ever seen. Dried bread, some stale cereal and warm milk. It's free but really not even worth trying. I think if this hostel put the prices up by 1 Euro a person they will be able to afford something more decent. There's no plugs in the rooms so you have to use the communal room, however, these were busy and all charging points were occupied pretty much 24/7 so go expecting not to be able to charge anything. The room itself was clean, because of the location there are mosquitoes and other insects at night so bug spray is a must. The shower was terrible. The inside was clean but the door didn't shut properly which meant the floor got soaking wet. Also, the light would randomly go off after 5 mins and the switch is outside the door which is silly. The bathroom door also made a horrendous noise so we had to keep it open so as not to wake each other up, not ideal. In summary, for the price you're getting this hostel is ok. It is clean and the beds are ok. I wouldn't stay here for any longer than absolutely necessary though. Its a shame that this place was so disappointing because it holds so much potential.