Food and Wine of Florence Tuscany Italy - Travel Guide & Information

This description page of Florence in the Italian Region of Tuscany Italy, will guide you in planning your trip to Italy and help you to find useful travel information about the Food & Wine of this Italian Region.

Food (Cibo)

It is said that so admired classical French cuisine has its origins in Firenze.  It was Caterina 'Medici, not trusting the Northern “barbarians” to cook for her, who insisted her own cooks follow her to France when she married Kind Henry IV of France in 1599.  It is said that French crêpes are derived from Florentine crespelle, a delicious dish prepared with layered dough and ham, cheese and tomato sauce, and often spinach.

According to the stories, the French were amazed by the gracious table settings and dining. There were embroidered tablecloths, silver settings, Murano glasses, beautiful china, flowers, and sugar sculptures on the table. Twenty-four cold dishes, twenty-eight hot dishes, fourteen plates of raw vegetables, cheeses and fruit, and nine desserts. And there were good manners, an area in which Firenze far surpassed the rest of Europe, unfamiliar to the French.  In fact, it was Giovanni della Casa who wrote out the rules to good manners and common courtesy in Il galateo in 1588.

Firenze has its specialties.  Foods like the famous bruschetta -- toasted bread doused with olive oil and garlic and usually topped with tomatoes, basil, anchovy or liver past. Or Firenze’s classic, minestra di fagioli -- a delicious white bean and garlic soup, or ribollita -- a hearty bean, bread, and black cabbage stew.  Firenze’s classic bistecca alla Fiorentina, a thick sirloin steak ordered al sangue (literally “bloody”), al puntito (medium) or I (well done) remains a favorite main course.  Local desserts like cantuccini di prato -- hard almond cookies made with many egg yolks dipped in Vin Santo, a rich dessert wine, and gelato, invented in Firenze centuries ago by the Buontalenti family.

Wine (Vino)

Firenze wines have grown over the last decades from a complacent supplier of unremarkable Chianti wines to the nation’s most creative producer of premium wines.  The Chianti DOCG designation applies to all Chianti wines other than those made from grapes grown in the Chianti Classico area. This appellation covers wines from six specific sub-zones. Sample Chianti wines from the Chianti Colli Fiorentini subzone, “Florentine hills,” north of Chianti Classico.

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