Food & Drink

A Road Trip Through Tuscany That's All About the Food

Cookbook author and local transplant Emiko Davies tells you about those little Tuscan restaurants and wineries you had a hunch were there, if only you knew who to ask.
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Photo by Emiko Davies

A love of history lured me to Florence from Australia to study art restoration in 2005, before relocating to the hills above the city with my Tuscan sommelier husband and our daughter. History is what interests me about the food, too. Every dish has a story to tell. Tuscan ricotta-and-spinach dumplings are called gnudi because they’re ravioli stripped of their pasta clothing. In The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri pined nostalgically for pane sciocco, or “bland” Tuscan bread. And every ingredient has a reason for being, from fresh fava beans in spring, served in the pod with pecorino, to my favorite bakery treat, schiacciata all’uva, a focaccia studded with wine grapes made only during the harvest. Uncovering these stories behind the food inspires my books; it also shapes my family’s travel.

Here are our favorite local trips:

Around the Val d’Orcia

The Orcia Valley is a stunning drive—picture clusters of cypress trees, fields of wheat, and undulating clay hills, or crete senesi, familiar from Renaissance paintings. It’s two hours southeast of Florence, but if you need to stop along the way, pop into the town of Montevarchi for a coffee, and visit Drogheria Enoteca Banchelli, an old-school shop full of spices, tea, conserves, baked goods, and truffles. Then stop by Pasticceria Bonci to pick up a panbriacone, or “drunken bread,” a sweet and airy loaf steeped in dessert wine.

Continue toward Pienza, the so-called ideal Renaissance city known for its pecorino. You can spend an afternoon exploring its winding streets and piazzas (Buon Gusto is an excellent artisanal gelateria on Via Case Nuove), but wait to buy cheese until you visit Podere il Casale, an organic farm on a picturesque hilltop just outside of town. Here, Swiss cheesemaker Ulisse Brandli has been making sheep- and goat-milk cheeses using traditional, natural methods since the 1990s. Some are aged in bran or grape must from a nearby winery; others are infused with truffles. Stay for a cheese­making demonstration, to visit the animals (peacocks, sheepdogs, and a donkey wander the grounds), or for a lunch of pici—thick, hand-rolled noodles—with ragu on the terrace overlooking the valley. From here, drive on to San Quirico d’Orcia (watch on the left for Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta, a tiny, photogenic 12th-century chapel). A must-visit is Horti Leonini, a public garden in the heart of town, donated by Francesco de’ Medici in 1535. Since you’re not far from Montalcino, home of Brunello wine, I advise an overnight stay at Agriturismo il Rigo, a beautifully restored farmhouse that does a great breakfast spread of its own jams and baked goods. The historic town of Montalcino is worth climbing to for the views; in the Piazza del Popolo, duck into Montalcino 564 for covetable linens. There are so many vineyards here, but we like the family-run Pietroso, which owns part of the local cru, Montosoli—the views from their light-filled tasting room are breathtaking—and Le Potazzine, which produces elegant Brunellos and Rosso di Montalcinos. Head to the village of Sant’Angelo in Colle for a hearty, traditional Tuscan lunch at Trattoria il Leccio, and try the house-made tagliatelle served with classic ragu or porcini. They’re known for grilled meat, so sharing a bistecca would go perfectly with a glass of Brunello.

San Miniato white truffles.

Photo by Emiko Davies

En Route to Pisa

My husband’s birthplace of San Miniato, famous for its white truffles, is 24 miles from Florence along the Arno. Just shy of this hilltop town, you’ll hit the Cosimo Maria Masini winery, a certified biodynamic vineyard focusing on indigenous Tuscan grape varietals. The wine to take home is Daphné—a slightly macerated (orange) white made with Tuscan malvasia and trebbiano, a lovely match for cheese and truffles, which you’ll pick up in San Miniato.

We especially love to come here on November weekends, when the town holds a festival dedicated to its precious fungi. Between the stalls selling everything from truffle-laced gorgonzola to mulled wine and every restaurant offering buttery tagliolini or fried eggs in pans with gratings of fresh white truffle, it’s a wonderful day out. At the top of town are the stalls of local tartufai, where pale, nubby, dirt-encrusted truffles are piled under glass cloches. You can also buy truffle products year-round at Gemignani Tartufi.

We always stop by a fourth-generation butcher’s called Macelleria Sergio Falaschi. Andrea and his father, Sergio, seek out local, sustainable produce and make their own salumi. My favorites are their sausages with white truffle and spuma di gota, a creamy paste made of pork jowl fat from Tuscan heirloom Cinta Senese pigs, delicious on just-toasted crostini or tossed with pasta. Out the back of the butcher shop, they’ve opened an informal eatery with one of the best views around.

Barely Outside of Florence

My family and I live in the neighborhood of Settignano, and though it’s just 15 minutes beyond Florence’s 16th-century walls on the No. 10 bus, it feels like a quaint country village. The area was once home to Renaissance sculptors and stonecutters who worked in the nearby pietra serena quarries; Boccaccio, Michelangelo, and even Mark Twain have called Settignano home. You can see the city from here, so it’s a great place for a wander (Via Simone Mosca leads you to a panoramic point) or a hike along the old stonecutters’ route through the woods to Fiesole. But you may also want to simply plant yourself in the piazza at Caffè Desiderio for an excellent panini, aperitivo (I love their enormous spritzes), or a long, slow dinner. I almost always get the San Filippo anchovies with butter on bread, though sometimes it’s stracciatella instead of butter. A pasta dish might be with nettle pesto and anchovy crumbs or prosciutto-filled ravioli and torn ripe figs. I regularly crave their Angus burger, which doesn’t sound Italian, but when you try it with spicy Calabrian ’nduja, wilted radicchio, or chicken liver and a syrup of vin santo (a Tuscan dessert wine), you’ll see what I mean.