The Hotel Castri was born in two buildings, designed by architect Poggi when Florence was the Capital of Italy (1865/1870), that look out onto Piazza Indipendenza and Via Nazionale.

Piazza Indipendenza is a large square in the historic center of Florence and was created within the Barbano district, so called by the name of the family of Barbolano Montalto who had lands there; the Barbano district was built in 1844/1855, and was the first of the works made in Nineteenth in the areas remained free inside the walls. Particularly, in this square, happened the insurgency that on 27 April 1859 drove out the Grand Duke Leopold II, annexing Tuscany to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Inside the hotel there is a planted garden of 1000 square meters with a beautiful orange wall. The story begins in 1914's when the ancestors of the current owners decided to buy the building adjacent to the family one and open the "Pension Castri" which became, thanks to its privileged position and refined rooms, a meeting point for tourists, mainly French and British, who stayed in Florence for long periods.