We wished Casa Rovai to be an eco-friendly bed and breakfast in the center of Florence...

Even a guest house in the heart of a city of art can practise sustainable actions that can make a difference and can let our guests feel in a “low energy home”.

Here are some of the green practises followed by our b&b:

• Carbon emission is one of the biggest issues and we are aware that even a deep cultural change in our lifestyle can invert the trend. We can play our role in making the difference: our small house takes care about Earth's health. We therefore decided to reduce carbon emissions and improve overall resource efficiency, through electricity and natural gas supplied by Sorgenia®, exclusively produced by alternative energy sources, without using fossil fuel and carbon emission. This turned out to be a more expensive choice but we believe it is worth.
• Our guest house is located where the limited traffic central area begins so all main attractions are at walking distance. The city is pretty small so walking around without having to drive or catch a bus is probably the main privilege our guests can have... You will enjoy energy-saving tourism in Florence!
• Energy use was significantly reduced by replacing existing light bulbs with energy-saving fittings.
  The three main hallways are provided with motion-sensor lighting and timers.
• We installed a water filtration system that serves pure water: our guests adore it!! A glass and a jar are left in each room so to avoid using plastic glasses and bottles. We very often see that our guests refill their bottles with filtered water so to have pure water for the whole day while exploring the city.
• Annual laundry costs were reduced by introducing a policy to charge our guests for a more frequent (less than every three days) replacement set of fresh towels during their stay.
• Our washing machine is both water and energy conserving and we decided not to have a drier to avoid very strong enviromental impact. After being washed, towels and linen are all hung outside at the window!
• Low-flow toilets were installed in all guest rooms.
• The heating is centralized and programmed by a cronothermometer that sets starting time and temperature automatically. We make sure our staff inform our guests that energy saving rules impose not to exceed 20° C (68° F).
• Everyone working at Casa Rovai was educated to turn off lights and turn down heating/air conditioning when rooms are unoccupied. We always like to motivate our guests to keep the air conditioning off while they are not in the room.
• Our bed and breakfast is located in the no traffic area of Piazza del Duomo. Cars, buses and taxis are not allowed to drive in the very heart of Florence and being our b&b just three minutes away from the Duomo we can testify the good repercussion of this policy. The use of green transportation options is promoted by our staff, from the moment our guests contact us asking for availability, to their check in. We like to give our guests tips on bike rental service, walking maps and information on public transportation. Beware: driving in Florence could make you waste precious time!
• For breakfast, we make sure we buy local food to reduce unnecessary imports. Whenever it is possible, we prefer to buy food in bulk to reduce packaging consumption. The real “star” of our breakfast is the home made cake that every morning leads our guests from their rooms to the breakfast room. We decided to avoid buying packaged cakes and to make our own fresh one!

Here is our message: being green means guests and staff are healthier!