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

Bottom line

Bologna and Florence score similarly on the metrics that matter most for short-term rental returns. The right pick depends on whether you optimise for yield (lower regulation risk, higher RevPAR) or capital growth.

Head-to-head metrics

	Bologna	Florence
Median occupancy	30%	30%
Median daily rate	£125	£116
Median RevPAR	£25	£32
Active listings	3,544	10,305
YoY occupancy	+10.3 pts	+0.4 pts
YoY daily rate	+15.7%	-8.7%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Bologna vs Florence

There is no clean winner between Bologna and Florence. Bologna posts 30% occupancy and £25 RevPAR; Florence posts 30% occupancy and £32 RevPAR. Weighted together with regulation risk the two finish inside the margin we are willing to call, which is the honest answer rather than an evasive one — a scoring gap this small would flip on the next data refresh. When markets are this close the decision stops being about the market and starts being about the deal: what you pay, what it costs to run, and how quickly you could exit.

Bologna takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £125 against £116 — and still fills more of the year, 30% against 30%. 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 £32 against £25.

A tie does not mean the two are interchangeable — it means each holds something the other does not. The twelve-month direction favours Bologna too: occupancy there moved +10.3 points while Florence moved +0.4 points. Across a full year the median Florence listing grosses £11,735 against £9,223 in Bologna. Pick the one whose advantage matches how you intend to operate, because the composite score will not do that job for you.

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 72.3% and bottoms in December at 32.5%; Florence runs from 65% in October down to 31.2% in December. Florence is the steadier of the two at 33.8 points peak-to-trough against 39.8 — 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 and who can hold rate through the shoulder season rather than discounting to fill the calendar. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Florence answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal: it is the market for an owner whose economics survive high turnover — more bookings, more cleans, more guest contact per pound of revenue. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2025-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 2,043 active Bologna listings and 5,209 in Florence.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bologna or Florence better for Airbnb investment?

Neither pulls clearly ahead. Bologna runs 30% occupancy and £125 a night; Florence runs 30% occupancy and £116 a night. Once occupancy, revenue per available night and regulation risk are weighted together the two finish within a couple of points of each other, so the decision turns on purchase price, how far you are willing to travel, and which rulebook you would rather work under.

Which has higher occupancy, Bologna or Florence?

Effectively neither — they are level. Bologna sits at 30% and Florence at 30%, a 0-point difference that is inside the noise of a median drawn from a listings snapshot. Over the last twelve months Bologna gained 10.3 points and Florence was flat, so the gap is widening.

Which has higher nightly rates, Bologna or Florence?

Bologna, at £125 a night against £116 in Florence — roughly 7.3% more. The nightly rate is not the whole story, though. On revenue per available night — rate multiplied by how often the room actually sells — Florence comes out ahead at £32 against £25, so Florence's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

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

Bologna, on occupancy: +10.3 points over the last twelve months against +0.4 points in Florence. Nightly rates rose 15.7% in Bologna and fell 8.7% 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 10,305 active listings against 3,544 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 £11,735 a year for a median listing against £9,223 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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