Food and Drink

Like many sophisticated cities with many visitors, Florence has many fine restaurants and many not so good touristy ones along the main streets.

The Medici may have put on some legendary food bags in their time (Catherine de' Medici, they say, introduced peas to Paris and taught the French how to cook when she married Henri II) but in more recent times Florentines and Tuscans were known by their fellow Italians as the Mangiafagioli, or bean eaters. Some say it is part of their famous austere Tuscan character. Others say it's a sign of their alleged miserliness (they don't even put salt in their bread, although they will insist to a man and a woman that's how they like it).

But it is true that beans as well as tripe often feature on the traditional Florentine table, the former in ribollita, a chunky soup made with yesterday's bread and Tuscan black kale, the now trendy cavolo nero, or fagioli all'uccelletto (with garlic and tomatoes) or fagioli in fiasco (with olive oil and black pepper, simmered in a terracotta pot). Other classic starters include crespelle alla Fiorentina (crepes stuffed with spinach and ricotta, and baked in béchamel sauce). One for the bold is cibreo, made with cockscombs and chicken livers, although the famous restaurant of the same name is one of the few to serve it.