Of Italy’s regional cuisines, all rooted in simplicity, Tuscany is where the less-is-more (or meno è meglio) philosophy reigns especially supreme. If “low-intervention” were a term applied not to wine but to food, it would be reserved especially for Tuscan cuisine: even today, very few whimsical accents are added to traditional Tuscan recipes beyond the foundational ingredients, whether it’s a meat dish (Tuscany does love its meat) or one of the (also numerous) vegetable-based antipasti and pastas from old cucina povera traditions.
This is rustic comfort food – thick spindly pastas, long-cooked ragù, hearty but bright soups, and extra-sweet sweets. It may not be as bold as Roman cooking or as decadent as Emilia-Romagna’s, and there may be noticeable restraint with salt and pepper even with their bread, but Tuscan cuisine gets away with this because the local terroir is blessed with high-quality raw materials, from produce to meat. And when you venture beyond Florence (please do), you’ll discover Tuscany’s surprising diversity of local dishes and micro-cuisines.
If you feel you simply must go to well-frequented Chianti, head further out afterward – take the winding roads south and west of Siena for more dramatic hills (and more small-production, high-quality, ethical wine). While you’re at it, spend more than just a day in Siena to really feel the rhythm of the quirky medieval city, equal parts calm and festive.
As always, it’s important to eat at trusted businesses that you know will source and treat the ingredients well. Tuscany has wonderful small farms and producers, as well as restaurants that support them; but after decades of astronomically increasing tourism, the region is not immune to less-than-optimal-quality sourcing. Here’s a guide to eating authentically Tuscan:
Siena and Around Siena
Pici all’Aglione: Osteria Del Gatto (Siena)
One of the most typical pasta shapes in Siena and southern Tuscany is pici, a fresh flour-and-water pasta that, historically, is rolled by hand into fat, long, squiggly strands. Do yourself a favor and don’t settle for the dried, packaged version you’ll see in food stores – pici deserve to be savored in their original fresh, handmade form. They can come dressed several ways, but a classic treatment in Siena and throughout its surrounding valleys is all’aglione – a tomato sauce made more special than usual by local aglione, a mild, delicate variety of garlic that grows in the region during the summer months (keep an eye out for it at local markets – each head of aglione is so large that it’s often referred to in English as jumbo or “elephant” garlic).
Wind your way through Siena’s streets past the Duomo and through the area of the “Castelvecchio,” the highest point of the pre-medieval city where you’ll find the old cathedral, to Osteria del Gatto, a perfect, no-frills local spot with the best pici all’aglione in town (beware of super-thick pici at other eateries, which are often store-bought). It’s one of the mainstays on Del Gatto’s weekly-rotating menu, and a definitive example of pure and simple Tuscan comfort cooking.
BROWSE: The Best agriturismo in Tuscany.
Ragù di Cinta Senese: Bottega di Stigliano (Stigliano, Sovicille)
Also in Siena’s provincial area, cinta senese is a rare heritage pig breed that was once at risk of extinction but is now being raised by a growing number of farmers. As such an example of local agriculture, cinta senese meat is a source of pride in the area and thus is a popular base for ragù in southwestern Tuscany.
After you hike in the Val di Merse and visit the must-see Abbazia di San Gaglano (Tuscany’s first Gothic church, now a gorgeous ruin), take the scenic drive to the village of Stigliano for a restorative meal at the “Bottega,” an osteria-trattoria with a lovely outdoor patio that will give you some of the best country cooking in what feels like the most delightfully hidden away location. The drive through the valley’s gorgeous roads is worth the journey alone (and you can hike up the hill behind the restaurant for more amazing views), but so is the Bottega’s ragù di cinta senese served on top of pici.
Salame al Cioccolato: Vineria Tirabusciò (Siena)
“Chocolate salame” is one of those things like “mincemeat” or “cotton candy” that in English sounds positively not appetizing. But salame al cioccolato (also called salumaccio) exceeds expectations with the delicious sweet that it is – a fudge-like log of chocolate with pieces of cookies and sometimes nuts mixed in, sliced into rounds just like salame (though the name is also a nod to the appearance of the log as a whole, which is often coated lightly in powdered sugar and mimics the look of the cured meat casing).
It’s easy to put the cured meat association aside when you realize how perfect a dessert it is, a refreshing (cold), simple, light bite after a big meal. At Vineria Tirabusciò, a cozy natural wine bar just down the street from Siena’s Duomo, the salame al cioccolato is the quintessential dessert and is served with a dainty amount of orange marmalade, the perfect match.
READ: Our guide to Things to do in Siena.
Chianti
Pappa al Pomodoro: Cecchini Panini, Panzano in Chianti
Tuscany is one of the most tomato-loving regions in Italy, and pappa al pomodoro is arguably the region’s first-in-command recipe when it comes to the revered vegetable. One of the hallmarks of Tuscany’s peasant cuisine, historically, is using leftover stale bread in vegetable-based dishes, both for avoiding waste and for making simple food more filling.
Pappa al pomodoro is a paragon of Tuscan simplicity, essentially only composed of tomatoes, bread, basil, and olive oil, seasoned with garlic and (poco) salt. It is equally good in the winter (warm and hearty, bright and spirit-lifting) as it is in the warmer months – served at room temperature or even chilled, pappa al pomodoro is a pleasant surprise of refreshing, peak-tomato-season flavor.
Nowhere is this truer than at the legendary chef Dario Cecchini’s food truck in Panzano in Chianti. The Cecchini name may be famous as a renowned butcher, but at the Cecchini Panini truck (just down the road from the butcher shop and restaurant), the pappa al pomodoro is the sleeper hit beyond the meaty sandwiches.
The truck is open year-round, but going in the warmer weather (even as early as March or as late as November) will mean you can eat your food outside in total relaxation, for as long as it takes you (and your pappa al pomodoro, so often relegated to dimly lit, winter-ready dining rooms) to fully enjoy the view of the Chianti hills. That’s an almost obligatory mindset in a place like this.
Panzanella: Bar Dante, Radda in Chianti
Stemming from the same cucina povera tradition of turning leftover stale bread into something new as in pappa al pomodoro, panzanella is a bread-and-tomato salad, for lack of a better word, tossed with olive oil, vinegar, and basil (additional ingredients vary depending on the cook, but could include cucumbers, olives, or anchovies. In traditional panzanella, the bread is in fact crumbled into tiny pieces (contrary to some more modern versions with large, crouton-like chunks) and is moist rather than dry, because it’s been soaked in water and/or vinegar to revitalize it.
Even today’s Tuscans are committed to using only leftover, truly stale crumbs as an anti-waste practice – but also partly in recognition that the local unsalted bread really shouldn’t be destined to any other fate. If you’re driving through Chianti in the summer, take a pausa at Bar Dante in Radda, a classic, low-key Tuscan eatery owned by a Tuscan and UK-born couple (Fabrizio and Carolyn), and enjoy a plate of panzanella on the terrace with a glass of local wine.
BE INSPIRED: By the Best towns in Tuscany to Visit and Explore.
West of Florence
Bistecca alla Fiorentina: Sergio Falaschi, San Miniato
San Miniato is a charming small city (or large town) just 30 minutes from Florence (which you can very easily reach by train) but it is worth spending more than just a day in. For one thing, it plays host to the region’s annual White Truffle Market Exhibition in November, but at any time of year it’s a lovely place to spend a few nights with its balance of calm surroundings, rich dining scene, and lively local atmosphere. Basically, in San Miniato you can find everything that you might get in Florence, including amazing art and architecture, without having to deal with – or add to, frankly – the crowds of Florence.
This is also true when it comes to bistecca alla fiorentina, the famed Florentine steak; San Miniato is naturally within the borders of where one can be on the hunt for such a specialty. Your carnivore compass should be pointed toward the Sergio Falaschi, a Slow Food macelleria (butcher) in the center of town that acts as both shop and casual restaurant for all things meat. Ask for a table in the back for the gorgeous view (in the front there are also some spots for a casual aperitivo of wine and cured meats), and your bistecca will be grilled to order.
Buccellato: Tadeucci, Lucca
Lucca is an architectural gem of a city in western Tuscany, famous for the impressive and elegant sixteenth-century walls that surround the center (and yet, blissfully less “discovered” among other Tuscan cities). But it’s also worth visiting for the hyper-local dishes that give Lucca its own culinary character, despite its proximity to Florence, Pisa, and Livorno.
The walls are great and all, but we should be talking about Lucca’s dolci more: for one, the buccellato, a yeasted sweet bread (it might remind one of panettone) studded with raisins and anise seeds, deemed fit for nobility when the recipe is said to have been created in the early Renaissance. Buccellato is so historic and beloved in Lucca that an old lucchese saying goes, “If you go to Lucca and don’t eat buccellato, it’s almost as though you’ve never been there at all.”
At the historic pasticceria and bar Tadeucci, the buccellato is unsurprisingly their most treasured offering; you can sit in the literal shadow of the beautiful Church of San Michele and try a slice for a teatime snack, or for breakfast alongside a nice and bitter caffè. Nota bene: Lucca is also obsessed with pine nuts; look out for Tadeucci’s pine nut cookies as well as pine nut liqueur to take home.
EXPLORE: Things to do in Lucca.
Lydia O’Brien is cookbook editor, writer, and recipe tester based in Italy. She has lived in Rome, Florence, and Siena and spent a summer cooking at an agriturismo in Tuscany, after leaving the full-time publishing world in New York. Originally from Washington, D.C., she has a degree in English literature and spent a university semester in Rome studying food and art history.
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