Welcome to
Florence
Housing in Florence
Students are accommodated in various residence halls and/or apartments each term. We have carefully selected, safe, and suitable housing for each student. Each living arrangement is unique and special in its own way.
CIS Abroad guarantees housing on a first come, first served basis dependent on deposit/invoice payments. We source housing from The Social Hub (TSH), local apartments, and student residences throughout Florence. Depending on enrollment, we may offer one or all of these options in any given term.
Please note that while CIS Abroad makes every effort to accommodate student housing preferences, we cannot guarantee any particular choice/option. There are generally no housing changes allowed during the program, unless there are extenuating health and safety circumstances. Housing placements will be emailed to you 1-2 weeks prior to your departure.
Maintenance Forms and/or Requests
If you have a maintenance request at your apartment between 9am - 8pm Monday through Thursday, or 9am-1pm on Friday, please complete the appropriate maintenance request listed below first and THEN contact a site director via email.
Comforts of Italy
You are a resident of a COI apartment if you are at one of the following addresses:
- Via Alfonso La Marmora 53
- Via di Barbano 1
- Via de Neri 23
- Via Fiesolana
COI Check In Form: This form should be filled out within 48 hours of your arrival by each resident of the apartment, and ensures that you will not be held financially responsible for any preexisting damage.
Florence & Abroad (F&A) Maintenance Request
You are a resident of a F&A apartment if you are at one of the following addresses:
- Via XXVII Aprile 9
- Via Vinegia 1
- Via Montello 6
- Via Brache 1
F&A Maintenance Requests can be sent via an online form in the apartment section of Florence and Abroad website. Please allow up to 24 business hours for response.
After Hours Housing Emergencies
If you are experiencing a housing emergency between the evening/night hours between 8pm - 9am or anytime on the weekends, please call the respective Housing Emergency hotlines. Please ensure it is a legitimate emergency (see below) or risk being fined for non-emergencies. FINES START AT 200 EUROS.
Legitimate Emergencies
- Gas leaks (students should report to police/fire department first)
- Fire (students report to police/fire department first)
- Large water leaks
- No water supply for more than 12 hours
- Break-in (visible signs someone has broken into the apartment, broken door and/or windows, etc)
- Power Outage (but only AFTER students check their Blue Binders for COI students, or the F&A website).
- Broken lock
- Regarding broken locks, if the students are in possession of their keys and are still not able to get into the apartment they can call the housing emergency line, for an emergency locksmith. However if it is determined that the lock was broken due to improper usage by the students, they will be responsible for this charge. If the broken lock is due to normal wear and tear (as determined by the locksmith), the students won’t be held responsible for this charge
- Regarding broken locks, if the students are in possession of their keys and are still not able to get into the apartment they can call the housing emergency line, for an emergency locksmith. However if it is determined that the lock was broken due to improper usage by the students, they will be responsible for this charge. If the broken lock is due to normal wear and tear (as determined by the locksmith), the students won’t be held responsible for this charge
- Sewage backup
- If a toilet is clogged, we understand it can be gross, but this will need to be dealt with during office hours when we have plumbers on hand). In the event the apartment is flooding from a sewage backup, again we ask students to use their best judgment to understand if there is risk the whole apartment might flood or if only a little it of water came out. In the first case they can call the emergency line; in the second case they need to clean the water that overflowed and send a maintenance request to be dealt with the following day.
- Mold issues
- Mold isn’t something that forms overnight. Florence is a very humid city and most mold and mildew issues are due to incorrect ventilation of the apartment. Students need to be sure they are opening the windows for at least a couple of hours per day and especially after hot showers to help airflow. Mold issues are something we take seriously but they do need to be resolved during office hours.
- Bed bugs
- While bedbugs can be gross, they are not life-threatening issue and can be addressed during normal office hours.
- Lockout
- Students should try roommates first. If roommates are unavailable, you may need to stay with a friend or get a hotel until someone returns. If the housing vendor has to call for a locksmith, you will be charged for the new locks AND a convenience of fee of 300 Euros. It'll honestly be cheaper for you to get a hotel.
- Internet outage (students should try to go to FUA or a cafe until next business day)
- No hot water or low water pressure
- Appliance malfunction
- Noise complaints
The Social Hub (TSH) - Lavagnini and Belfiore
Visit the TSH website. Students will be required to sign TSH House Rules.
For any housing issues at TSH, please visit their 24/7 front desk.
While rules may vary from program-to-program, our aim here is to provide some general guidelines and principles when it comes to encouraging and maintaining a safe, happy, and healthy living environment. The rules below apply to all housing options in Florence: there may be additional rules in your housing contract.
Financial Liability
You should leave the apartment in the same condition as you found it. If extra time is needed to clean the apartment, or if anything is damaged, you will be charged for it. Key replacement fees may be applied to any lost or stolen keys. Energy use exceeding the allotted amount will also be charged to you. You must immediately report anything broken to CIS Abroad.
Quiet Hours
In Italy, by law, there are quiet hours at night between 10pm and 7am and in the afternoon between 1:30pm and 3:30pm. During these hours, no parties, no loud music or TV, avoid moving furniture, talking loudly, and wearing high heels in both the apartment and/or the stairs. If you receive repeated noise complaints, you may lose your housing.
Please respect your roommates, and neighbors. Be kind and friendly. If your roommates are studying or sleeping, please be considerate. Respect quiet hours, especially during exams or when someone needs to study and/or rest. For example, if you plan to have friends over for dinner or play music, check with your roommates to ensure it doesn't disturb them.
It is not uncommon for building tenants or neighbors to call the police if excessive noise is made during these times. Once the police arrive and knock on your door, the apartment tenants can be fined up to 1,000 Euros.
Overnight Guests
Please be very careful of who you invite over, and remember that overnight guests are not allowed and no guests after 11:30pm. If we learn that you had an overnight guest, you will be fined. If you friends and/or family to visit, we are happy to help you find accommodation for them.
Cleanliness
Keep your living space clean and tidy, and don't leave your personal items in common areas. Sweep or mop regularly. Take the garbage out every two days (especially to avoid cockroaches and mosquitoes!). Recycle
- Plastic + aluminum
- Paper
- Glass
- Organic waste
Utilities and Usage (Apartments and residences only)
If your gas, water, or electricity usage exceeds what is within your contract, you will be notified and charged for the difference. You won’t find any issue with overuse as long as you mind your consumption and don’t use any utility to excess, e.g. by keeping showers short.
Heating and air conditioning should be used sparingly, and are often subject to restrictions around their usage. Wear warm clothing inside during the winter and draw your blinds during the day in summer to naturally regulate the temperature of your apartment.
Locks and Safety (Apartments and Residences Only)
Always double lock your doors when you leave, close all windows, and never carry your address with you. If your keys are lost or stolen, and you were carrying the address of the apartment with you, please notify the housing emergency phone as you will have to pay to have all the locks to be changed and new keys made for everyone in the apartment. This needs to be done as soon as possible.
Lockouts and Key Loss
If you lock yourself out of your apartment over the weekend, you will have to pay for the locksmith to come and let you back in. This will cost about 120€. If you lock yourself out of your apartment outside of business hours (Mon-Friday 9am-6pm, not holidays), you will have to pay for the locksmith to let you back in. This will cost approximately 200 euros. You will have to pay for any locksmith services on-site at the moment the locksmith opens the apartment. Lockouts are free during business hours.
If you lose the keys to your apartment, we will make new copies for you at a cost of 50€. If you do not tell us before leaving, the equivalent of about 250€ and will be charged to your account.
Other Rules (excluding those in your housing agreement/contract)
- Smoking is not allowed.
- It is strictly forbidden to throw any object or substance from windows, balconies, terraces or roofs. This includes keys, cigarette butts or anything else big or small.
- Pets are not permitted in the apartments.
- Students cannot move furniture inside the apartment without permission.
- Students will live in the bedroom they have been assigned to. No bedroom changes can be made without permission from CIS Abroad.
Kitchen Rules
- Wash your own dishes – With roommates, it’s easy for dishes to pile up to the point of nastiness. Make a general rule that everyone will wash whatever dishes they dirty up. Wash them and dry them and put them away. It will not be easier or more pleasant later.
- Don’t leave a sink of dirty dishes overnight – Not only should you wash your own dishes, you should do it every day. Don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight, unless you want to start some new exotic bacterial cultures for a cheese making experiment (you shouldn’t, btw). Seriously, nothing stinks up a kitchen faster than a sink full of dirty dishes left overnight.
- Don’t leave cooked food or raw meat out at room temperature – There’s this range of temperatures called the “danger zone” where bacterias in food like to reproduce and wreak havoc on the guts of those who consume them. Keep food safe by heating it above 140F or chilling it below 40F. Food can stay in the “danger zone” for up to two hours before you run the risk of making people throw up. Raw fruits and veggies that are sold in bins at the supermarket are safe to be kept at room-temp for a few days, but those that get misted need to be kept in the fridge. Baked goods that aren’t too egg-heavy are ok on the counter for a day or two (cheesecakes need to stay in the fridge, cookies can hang on the counter). Canned and packaged things can stay in a regular old cupboard, unless they say “refrigerate after opening”.
- Never prep vegetables on the same surface as raw meat – Meat is one of the more dangerous foods to handle (how exciting!). When it’s raw, it can harbor bacteria like salmonella, which are killed if they are cooked. Vegetables aren’t always cooked before they’re eaten, so cutting chicken and making a salad one after the other on the same cutting board is like dressing your veggies with asiago-peppercorn food poisoning. Hardcore antibiotics for dessert!
- Label your food – You’re probably not in the financial position to provide sustenance for everyone in the apartment, so if you want to keep track of what you’ve bought and intend to use, grab a sharpie and write your name on it SO big, nobody will be able to say they didn’t know whose it was.
- Klepto situations and stealing - Don’t eat someone else’s food without asking! This is just the golden rule here. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want done to yourself. If you need to use a teaspoon of your roommate’s baking soda to finish your cookies, text them (or walk over to them if convenient) and ask. They probably won’t mind, but at least they won’t flip out on you when there isn’t enough soda left for them to bake their cake. Next time, you get to buy.
- Share sometimes – But really, you can’t bake cookies and fill the place with lovely smells only to hoard them for yourself. Nobody needs a full batch of baked goods anyway. Share. Maybe you’ll make some friends from it.
- Don't buy too much food all at once - Better to ration the purchase of groceries for two reasons: 1) Kitchen cabinets and refrigerators have limited space. 2) If you buy too much food and then fail to consume it before the expiration date, you risk spoiling it.
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Above all, respect everyone, including yourself – It’s inevitable that even if your cohabiters agree to this list of rules, they will be broken. Try to be gracious about it, and if you end up doing more than your share of kitchen cleaning, congratulate yourself silently (10 points for Gryffindor!). The status of the kitchen is not worth any tears or slammed doors or boyfriend stealing. You don’t need to be everyone’s mom, and you don’t need to be a doormat, but you don’t need to be a jerk either. Use tact and grace. You have it. How very adulty of you!
Guidelines for Easy Living
Create a Roommate Agreement
Come to an agreement with your roommates on what behavior you expect from each other. Make sure to clearly outline your expectations around quiet hours, acceptable noise levels, shared resources, and cleanliness: consider this template if you need ideas.
Be kind to your neighbors. Remember that you are ambassadors for your country. Say hello when you pass them in the halls, and don’t keep them up at night!
Avoid Mold/Mildew
Minimize the amount of moisture in your room. Dry clothes outside, in the biggest common area or go to a laundromat, and regularly air out your housing to reduce moisture.
Heating in Italy
Switching on the heating in Italy is controlled by regional regulations and is mostly controlled by the condominium. It is turned on according to the needs of the majority of residents. Although it varies from building-to-building, this is generally sometime between 5, 6 or 7 am and 9 or 10 am, and again for a few hours before 10 or 11 pm. Heat cannot be on between 11 pm and 5 am. This means that the hours in between heating are what you could call “Italy room temperature”, which is slightly warmer than the temperature outside.
Wearing warmer winter clothes (ex., wool, fleece, flannel) indoors during winter months is considered normal practice amongst Italians and experienced expats; it is strongly suggested that students adopt this practice for their own comfort.
Should there be a sharp drop in outdoor temperatures, expect to notice the difference even in your unit; it will naturally become harder for your furnace to heat your unit/building. Should you still suspect that your heat is not working, you should:
- Let on-site staff know as early in the day as possible – waiting until late afternoon or the weekend will hinder their ability to service your unit on a timely basis. Please note that services may not be provided until the next business day.
- Check the different rooms in your unit – it could just be that one particular radiator isn’t working. If you’ve got this particular problem, send a maintenance request specifying which radiator needs to be serviced.
- Never play with your thermostat – you could actually be turning the system off!
- Never play with your hot water heater!
- Never use stoves and ovens for their heat – these are NOT suitable heating solutions for you and your roommates!
Stay Warm with Limited or No Heating
- Be smart with curtains: Open your curtains when it’s sunny outside to make the most of passive solar heat. Close them when the sun goes down (or if it’s not sunny). This will reduce drafts and help keep your home warm and dry.
- Avoid putting furniture and couches in front of a radiator, so you can heat up the room instead of just warming up the couch or bed.
- Do as the locals do: wear warm clothes inside! There’s no shame in keeping a jacket, scarf or blanket on indoors.
Stay Cool During the Summer
- Close your curtains during the day, when the sun is at its peak, and open your windows in the evening or early morning to take advantage of the cool air. (Since screens are not common in Europe, you may need to purchase an insect repellent, or close your windows before nightfall.)
- Don't use the oven on very hot days, as it will heat up the house. Choose to eat out or prepare cold meals like salads and sandwiches.
- Dress for the weather in flowy clothing made of linen or cotton.
Maintaining a Harmonious Living Environment
When sharing living spaces, it is important to act responsibly and considerately toward your fellow residents. This includes being mindful of noise levels, turning off lights and windows when not in use, and adhering to specific rules outlined in your housing contract.
The goal is to create a safe, comfortable, and healthy living environment for all residents. Rules may vary depending on the program, but these guidelines are in place to ensure that everyone can enjoy their time in the residence hall.
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- Communicate effectively with your roommates and neighbors. Establish ground rules for noise levels and other activities, and work together to create a peaceful and comfortable living space.
- Show respect to the other occupants in your apartment or residence. Clean up after yourself and ensure your living space is always tidy and organized.
- Be polite to your neighbors, greet them in the hallways, and avoid disturbing them late at night.
- Maintain the safety of yourself, your roommates, and your belongings. Be cautious about inviting guests. Remember that no overnight guests are allowed.
- Take responsibility for your own cooking and cleaning. Wash your dishes right after using them and keep the bathroom clean. Avoid leaving your personal items in common areas.
- Keep in mind that you are financially responsible for the condition of the apartment. Additional cleaning may incur charges. Damages to the apartment will be your responsibility to cover.
What's the difference between a Premium or Standard apartment?
Our apartments in Florence are provided by Comforts of Italy, Florence & Abroad (F&A) and Florence University of the Arts (FUA). All apartments are spread out throughout the historic center of Florence so exact addresses are not shared until approximately two weeks before arrival. Students can expect a fully furnished apartment with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as basic amenities including WiFi. Each apartment has a kitchen space which is outfitted with a refrigerator, an oven, and a stove. All students will be provided with bed linens, pillows, towel set, and basic cookware and cutlery. Apartments are located within walking distance of local markets, grocery stores, shops, restaurants, as well as the FUA campus.
Bedrooms are shared between two to four students. There is limited number of single rooms available. Student apartments can house 3-12 students total with approximately one bathroom for 2-5 people.
Premium vs. Standard Apartments
Please note that no two apartments are exactly the same; therefore, CIS Abroad offers two apartment levels. This helps to establish a basis of comparison. Below are indicators of premium housing features. If an apartment comes with 8 or more premium features, it is considered "Premium". Rest assured, however, that all apartments, even "Standard" apartments still contain all the basics needed to be successful in Florence.
- Higher/Modern Quality Furnishings
- New build or renovated within last 40 years
- Higher Overall Ceiling height
- Common Space - More space per student
- Bedroom Space - More space per student
- Ensuite bathroom
- 3 or less per bathroom
- Bathroom Size - More space per student
- Kitchen Size - More space per student
- Higher Quality of Kitchen Appliances
- Abundance of Natural Light
- Cleaning schedule (More than monthly)
- Regular Linen Changes
- Dryer Available
- Ambiance / Feeling of Premium In Apartment
- Elevator in Building
- More Storage Space / Spacious dressers or wardrobes
- Access to Shared Outdoor space
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