The property owner speaks very little English. Interaction is through the owner's young adult daughter.
Communication was only via VRBO and WhatsApp. When we had just arrived in Florence, our international WiFi/phone service was not working properly, yet the owner was trying to reach us only via WhatsApp calling, and we never connected. Thus finding the place and getting situated was a gaffe from the start.
There were no written instructions inside the apartment, for things like trash removal, door locks, washing machine, etc. We had to figure these things out on our own, and with significant frustration and delay to starting our days touring. As a safety professional, being able to quickly exit the apartment from the INSIDE is important.
The door to the street (what I would call a security door) had a defective lock. It was very tricky to operate - to open- even with instructions. I worried that we'd come back late at night after a long day of sightseeing and find ourselves locked out. When I raised this with the owner, the response was that a locksmith had evaluated the lock and said it was ok, and that they'd never had an issue with security before. Not very reassuring.
There were several lightbulbs burned out upon our initial entry - over the stove, bathroom vanity light (making it very difficult to use the bathroom sink), living room overhead light. Why these weren't fixed between occupants it's bewildering. When brought to the attention of the owner, they offered to replace the bulbs, but it would have been 2 days into our stay.
The apartment has the world's smallest shower, maybe 6 square feet. It worked, but very tight. And there was no shelf or rack to place soap or shampoo, so all of that had to go on the floor; gross. Half way through the stay, the shower drain trap clogged completely causing water to get several inches deep on the floor, which we had to stand in. I had to remove the drain cover and clean out a bunch of hair. It had to have collected over time, not from our couple of showers before it clogged. Apparently the cleaning service is only cursory. The toilet seat was missing 2 of 4 screws causing it to wobble significantly. When I brought this to the owner's attention (that the toilet seat was broken) I was told, with a patronizing tone, that the immediate prior renters didn't have a problem with it and that it wasn't 'broken' it just needed fixed!
The 'discounted' parking garage arrangement was a sham.