Bologna vs Florence: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Florence edges ahead of Bologna on higher occupancy (26.3% vs 19.7%), stronger RevPAR (£45 vs £32).

Head-to-head metrics

	Bologna	Florence
Median occupancy	19.7%	26.3%
Median daily rate	£150	£166
Median RevPAR	£32	£45
Active listings	3,882	10,534
YoY occupancy	+0 pts	+0 pts
YoY daily rate	+20.4%	+42.3%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Bologna vs Florence

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Florence finishes clearly ahead of Bologna. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 41.1% higher in Florence: £45 against £32. Florence's listings run at 26.3% occupancy against 19.7% in Bologna, worth 6.6 extra points of booked calendar every year. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Florence takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £166 against £150 — and still fills more of the year, 26.3% against 19.7%. A market that leads on price and utilisation at once is normally one where demand has outrun supply, rather than one where hosts are discounting to keep the calendar busy. RevPAR reflects the double advantage at £45 against £32.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Bologna is not simply the weaker market of the two. Bologna is the less crowded of the two — 3,882 active listings to 10,534 — so a well-run property has fewer near-identical rivals to out-rank. Bologna sits at the cheaper end at £150 a night against £166, which lowers the bar for filling shoulder-season dates and usually tracks a lower purchase price too. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Bologna nor Florence currently has a verified short-term rental regulation record in our register, so the comparison above is a yield comparison only. Regulation is the single largest source of downside in this asset class — an unverified market is an unpriced risk, not an absent one.

The two calendars also behave differently. Bologna peaks in September at 70.8% and bottoms in December at 32.8%; Florence runs from 64.8% in October down to 30.5% in December. Florence is the steadier of the two at 34.3 points peak-to-trough against 38 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Bologna concentrates its return into a shorter window and rewards operators who price the peak aggressively instead of holding a flat rate all year.

Who each suits, then. Bologna suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. Florence answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2026-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 3,882 active Bologna listings and 10,534 in Florence.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bologna or Florence better for Airbnb investment?

Florence, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£45 vs £32), higher occupancy (26.3% vs 19.7%), and faster rate growth (+42.3% vs +20.4% year over year). Bologna is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on a thinner competitive field (3,882 vs 10,534 active listings).

Which has higher occupancy, Bologna or Florence?

Florence, at 26.3% median occupancy against 19.7% in Bologna — a gap of 6.6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Bologna can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Bologna was flat and Florence was flat, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Bologna or Florence?

Florence, at £166 a night against £150 in Bologna — roughly 10.2% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £45 in Florence against £32, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Bologna or Florence?

Bologna, on occupancy: +0 points over the last twelve months against +0 points in Florence. Nightly rates rose 20.4% in Bologna and rose 42.3% in Florence over the same window. One year of movement is a direction, not a trend — weigh it against the regulation picture before treating it as momentum.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Bologna or Florence?

Florence, with 10,534 active listings against 3,882 in Bologna. Size cuts both ways: a deep market gives you comparables, contractors and an exit, while a thinner one means fewer near-identical rivals competing for the same search results.

How much can you earn from an Airbnb in Bologna vs Florence?

Florence earns more: roughly £16,422 a year for a median listing against £11,623 in Bologna. Those are gross booking revenues before cleaning, management, platform fees, furnishing amortisation and tax — budget for a meaningful share of them, and note that a median listing is a median operator, not a good one.

Go deeper on each city

Market guide

Airbnb in Bologna →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Florence →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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