I live in Florence on a digital nomad visa. This post is about coworking in Florence: what four spaces actually charge, and what I learned using one for a month.
Enough people are looking into this visa that I’ve been documenting the whole process, from application through settling in, and if you write about it long enough you eventually arrive at this question. So where do you actually work?
I do industry and company analysis, the same work I did before leaving my corporate job, and it takes long stretches of concentration. Working from home suited me. The view out the window, the birdsong, the light coming in made it feel like sitting in a café, and I concentrated well. (Most Italian homes are one to three storeys, which puts trees and birds close by.) Then my child’s school holidays started, the house was never quiet during the day, and I needed somewhere else to sit.
I have no idea whether Florence is a better city to work in than Milan or Rome; I’ve never compared them. What I can say is that most people pass through this city as tourists, and I get to work with its beauty next to me. That makes me happy.
I asked four coworking spaces for their rates, picked one, and used it for a month. A fair amount of what I learned doesn’t turn up in a search. The number on the price list and the number that leaves your account are not always the same, so I’m writing it down.
Four coworking spaces in Florence at a glance
All figures exclude VAT. Italian VAT is 22%.
| Location | Character | Monthly | Per visit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Social Hub Lavagnini | Viale Lavagnini 70–72 | Hotel-coworking hybrid, large | €150 unlimited | around €30 |
| Ruby Dante Workspaces | Piazza della Libertà 14 | Boutique, small | €50–220 (by tier) | €18 (10-pass) |
| Impact Hub Firenze | Via Panciatichi (Novoli) | Community-driven, outer city | €190 unlimited | €1.70/hour |
| SpazioBrick | Via Faentina 105B (Le Cure) | Neighbourhood, very small | €195–260 (incl. VAT) | none |
All of them sit outside the ZTL, Florence’s restricted traffic zone in the historic centre, or right on its edge. None is in the middle of the tourist district, which here counts as an advantage.
Full tier-by-tier rates are at the end of this post.
What the price lists don’t say
These came out of the email exchanges. The headline prices weren’t what decided things; the conditions below were.
Memberships are tied to one person
Only the registered person can use them, so a couple can’t share one. Two people means paying twice. Ruby Dante’s multi-visit passes, by contrast, are stated to have no expiry and to be transferable. If you’re planning to alternate with a partner, that single condition changes the answer.
Where the tiers cross over
Where the structure is “N days included plus a per-day overage,” as at Ruby Dante, a higher tier isn’t automatically cheaper. Tier M is €95 with six days included and €16 per extra day. Tier L is €180 with twelve days. At ten days a month, M costs €159 and L costs €180, so M wins. From twelve days on, L pulls ahead.
Expiry dates and August
August is the month Italy stops working. If you’re away for two or three weeks on a monthly plan, that money is simply gone. Multi-visit passes survive; subscriptions don’t. Worth weighing together: Ruby Dante’s passes have no expiry, while Impact Hub’s expire in three to twelve months and the space itself closes for two weeks in August.
Opening hours vary by product
Within the same space, it depends on what you buy. A day pass at Ruby Dante puts you out at 17:00; a membership lets you stay until 20:00. If you work into the evening, those three hours may matter more than the price difference.
Registered business address
Registering as a sole trader in Italy means obtaining a P.IVA (partita IVA, the VAT and business registration number), and that requires a business address. Ruby Dante’s Everyday tier (€220/month, plus a one-time €79 setup fee) includes a registered address and mail handling. The Social Hub offers the same at its higher tiers. It’s a real alternative if you’d rather not put your home on the register, or if your lease makes that difficult. It’s tangled up with tax treatment, though, so it’s worth checking with a commercialista (accountant) as well.
Trial day credited
Use a day pass and convert to a monthly plan that same month, and they deduct what you already paid. Both The Social Hub and Ruby Dante told me this. Nobody volunteers it, so ask when you book the trial.
A day at each
Ruby Dante is quiet and refined. The location is good. Being small, it never feels crowded, and the space is carefully put together. There’s a proper coffee machine. You make your own espresso, cappuccino, or latte, and they walked me through it the first time. Fruit is free too, bananas and the like.
The Social Hub shares a building with a hotel, so there’s a current of people moving through it. The space is large and well maintained. The outdoor area is shared with the hotel, and I liked being able to work inside or out depending on the weather. The coffee machine is a simple one but always available, and there are events on set days of the week. It looked like a place where the people using it get to know each other.
Both share facilities with a hotel, which means a discount at the café and bar. I used it and it applied without any fuss. It makes me think running a coworking space alongside a hotel is a good model. The space and the facilities are already there, and they come with a standard of upkeep that coworking alone couldn’t sustain.
Choosing coworking in Florence
My criterion was simple: divide the cost by the number of visits and take the lowest per-visit figure. That calculation gives the table below. Excluding VAT, one person.
| Visits/month | Choice | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 | Ruby Dante S or 5-pass | €50–90 |
| 6–9 | Ruby Dante M | €95–143 |
| 10+ | The Social Hub monthly | €150 |
| Short and frequent (2–4 hrs) | Impact Hub Nomad | €1.70/hour |
| Two people sharing | Ruby Dante multi-pass | €180 / 10 visits |
On an hourly basis Impact Hub wins outright. If your pattern is three-hour sessions, that’s your answer. It sits out towards the edge of the city, though, so factor in the travel.
Different criteria give different answers. If quiet matters above all, SpazioBrick with its ten-odd desks is the one. If you want to meet people and build a network, Impact Hub runs the most community events. If you work into the evening, you’re down to the places open until 20:00.
The free option
There’s a way to spend nothing: the public libraries. Free, with wifi. They should be more comfortable than nursing a coffee in a bar for four hours, since Italian bars run on turnover and sitting too long gets noticed.
- Biblioteca Filippo Buonarroti (Viale Guidoni 188) — a villa with a garden
- BiblioteCaNova Isolotto (Via Chiusi) — larger, with a small café inside
I only looked these up, though; I haven’t actually used either. Worth checking the hours first, as many days they open only in the afternoon, which rules out morning work.
After a month
I went with The Social Hub. €150 a month unlimited, and planning on three or more visits a week, it had the lowest cost per visit. It’s a converted nineteenth-century palazzo, spacious and pleasant to be in. The wifi never once gave me trouble.
What I appreciated most over the month were the desk and the chair. The chair especially: I could sit for hours without discomfort. When your work means five or six hours in a seat, this makes more difference than you’d expect.
My worry about noise turned out to be unfounded. The open areas and the members-only areas are separate, and the working side is quiet. The current of people is over by the lobby, and the workspace sits apart from it.
I cycled there. In a city the size of Florence, a bicycle is the fastest and least stressful way to get around.
Once term starts the house goes quiet again during the day. I only came out because of the school holidays, so the reason to go out every day disappears too. If my monthly visits drop below eight, moving to a multi-visit pass is the right call. I’ll run the numbers again then.
Appendix: full rates
Excluding VAT (except SpazioBrick). Obtained directly in August 2026; subject to change.
The Social Hub Lavagnini
- Flex desk €150/month
- Day pass around €30
- Flex desk weekdays 8:30–18:30; dedicated desks 24/7
- Rooftop pool, gym, ground-floor bar and bistro. What’s included varies by tier, so confirm before signing
Ruby Dante Workspaces
Day passes (no expiry, transferable)
| Price | Per visit | |
|---|---|---|
| Single | €20 | €20 |
| 5-pass | €90 | €18 |
| 10-pass | €180 | €18 |
Memberships
| Tier | Monthly | Days included | Extra day |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | €50 | 3 | €16 |
| M | €95 | 6 | €16 |
| L | €180 | 12 | €16 |
| Everyday | €220 | Unlimited, 24/7 | — |
Everyday carries a one-time €79 setup fee and includes a registered business address. Day passes 9:00–17:00, memberships 9:00–20:00.
Impact Hub Firenze
| Price | Hours | Valid for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nomad 5 | €90 | 50 | 3 months |
| Nomad 10 | €170 | 100 | 6 months |
| Nomad 20 | €320 | 200 | 6 months |
| Nomad 60 | €810 | 600 | 12 months |
| Nomad Unlimited | €190/month | Unlimited | — |
Dedicated desks run €210/month on a 24-month commitment up to €250/month on a rolling one. Nomad access weekdays 9:00–18:00. Closed for two weeks in mid-August.
SpazioBrick
| Commitment | Monthly |
|---|---|
| 12 months | €195 |
| 6 months | €230 |
| 3 months | €260 |
VAT included. No day pass, three-month minimum. First visit free. Around ten desks.