Grand Hotel Minerva, Renaissance palazzo near Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy.

Grand Hotel Minerva stands at Piazza Santa Maria Novella 16, its north front facing the square and its south side opening onto inner courtyards. Edoardo Detti, with Carlo Scarpa, rebuilt the rear in 1959–1961, adding an L-shaped wing with 120 rooms. The new block runs parallel to the west side of the Santa Maria Novella cloister, and its ground-floor dining room projects over a water basin on bow windows.

The hotel began in the 18th century, when several adjoining residential lots were combined for this purpose; by the early 1920s its layout was fixed. In the mid-1950s the Thoenes family commissioned Edoardo Detti, assisted by Carlo Scarpa, to rebuild the rear volumes. Work began in 1959, lasted 24 months, and the hotel reopened in 1961 with 120 rooms.

The hotel's name comes from the Minerva, and its entrance faces Piazza Santa Maria Novella, next to the church's square cloister. The 1959–1961 rebuild by Edoardo Detti with Carlo Scarpa linked the old front on the piazza to a new L-shaped wing around an internal garden courtyard. The rooftop pool was placed on the visual axis of the Florence Cathedral dome.

The hotel sits directly on Piazza Santa Maria Novella with straightforward access to Florence's main train station and walking routes to central attractions. The rooftop area with a pool operates seasonally and offers a convenient place to cool off after exploring the city.

The rooftop pool was designed by Edoardo Detti and Carlo Scarpa to align with the visual axis of the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore, so swimmers look straight toward the cathedral dome. The hotel's interiors by the two architects no longer survive: later work changed the layout, finishes and furnishings.