Typical Tuscan cuisine

Fine Dining in San Gimignano… local flavors of Tuscany

Tuscan cuisine is among the most famous around the world: our wine, olive oil, and bread are among the most appreciated.

San Gimignano offers some of the best Tuscan and Italian cuisine that can be found.

The fertile fields around this small town gave birth to the prestigious “Vernaccia“, one of Italy’s finest white wines, known and appreciated throughout the world.
Golden-yellow in color, Vernaccia is a dry white wine with a crisp finish and was the first wine ever to acquire the quality classification: Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin (“DOCG”) in 1993.

This delicious white wine goes very well with seafood and ‘white meat’ and should be served at a temperature between 11-12 degrees C.

The grape variety was introduced to San Gimignano in 1200 by the merchant Vieri de Bardi and the production became significant enough to start exporting the wine at the end of that century.

Documents pertaining to the wine reveal the introduction of a ‘threepenny’ tax for any quantity sold outside of the towon. Hence the birth of the ‘Administrator of Weights and Balances’ of Vernaccia wine: the direct ancestor of our modern-day sommelier.

Even the famous poet Dante in the Divine Comedy’s Purgatorio tells of a greedy soul who was punished for the “abuse” of Vernaccia wine.
The land surrounding San Gimignano offers us delicious saffron, known in days of old as “crocus sativus”.  and called in ancient This rare ingredient plays protagonist in many Tuscan dishes and along with Vernaccia was the product that gave great wealth to the town.
It is said that many of the medieval towers in San Gimignano were built with profits from the sale of this fine spice.

The saffron of San Gimignano is used today in risotto and at times in spicey sauces while in the past it enriched many meat dishes and soups.

You can attend to a cooking course during your stay, for more information and to book contact us!

Salva