Monday, August 31, 2026

The Top 42 Places to Eat Near Al Baccanale


  1. Rank 2. Bracali

    Contemporary Italian

    A discreet door in the tiny hamlet of Ghirlanda opens into a Michelin-starred contemporary Italian restaurant where two brothers have divided the work neatly: one cooks, one pours. The tasting menus move between meat and fish with modern confidence, and the wine cellar is split into two rooms, Italy on one side and the rest of the world on the other. Reservations are mandatory, which the hamlet's population of roughly twelve probably appreciates.


  2. Rank 3. Il Sottomarino

    Mediterranean Seafood

    A seafront terrace with panoramic views of the Tyrrhenian has made this family-run seafood restaurant a seasonal booking scramble for years. The menu leans classic Mediterranean, fish-forward and unfussy, but the desserts take a detour: dark chocolate cannoli, served upright, filled with gianduja semifreddo and finished with a Moscato d'Asti zabaglione. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks with the crowd's general mood of pleased-with-themselves regulars.


  3. Rank 4. La Pineta

    Classic Seafood

    You drive through a pine forest and land practically on the sand before you spot the low, unassuming building that holds one of Tuscany's most quietly serious seafood restaurants, a Michelin-starred one. The Zazzeri family has been running this room forever, and the interior feels pleasantly stuck in another era. Classic techniques, local catch, no trend-chasing. The beach view does the decorating.


  4. Rank 5. Oasi

    Mediterranean Seafood

    A beach club that quietly grew up around its restaurant, Oasi sits on the Follonica waterfront where a husband and wife split duties between kitchen and floor. He's self-taught and lets it show in small, confident ways, the kind of seafood place where the classic preparations get a personal nudge rather than a makeover. The Ligurian coast crowd who wander in for lunch sometimes forget to leave before dinner.


  5. Rank 6. La Trattoria Enrico Bartolini

    Contemporary Mediterranean


  6. Rank 7. Le Viste

    Italian Seafood






  7. Rank 12. SaleGrosso

    Italian Seafood



  8. Rank 14. Al Moro

    Mediterranean



  9. Rank 16. Bottega Dani

    Gourmet Pizza

    A pizzeria in Cecina where the gourmet pies go through a double cook, steamed then baked, landing somewhere between pillowy and crisp in a way that takes a little explaining. The dough work is clearly the obsession here, and the raw materials are chosen with matching care. While you wait, there's an aperitivo in a garden overlooking a pool, which feels like a reasonable way to spend a Tuesday. The cellar and beer list both punch above what you'd expect.




  10. Rank 19. L'Uva e il Malto

    Tuscan Seafood


  11. A converted joinery on a sprawling Tuscan estate, Terraforte is a country-house restaurant where the menu is essentially a tour of the land around it: farm-reared meats, game, poultry, vegetables, herbs, and honey, almost all from the estate itself. You choose how many courses you want and the kitchen composes from there. In warmer months, the terrace earns its reputation without trying. The estate's own wines, including the celebrated Lupicaia, pour by the glass.


  12. Rank 21. Saporium

    Contemporary Italian

    Hundreds of candles light the dining room each evening, and in fair weather the tables move under a 13th-century portico facing the garden and the Valle Serena beyond. This is the fine-dining room of a Tuscan country estate, and a Michelin star sits above it. The kitchen draws heavily from the property's own groves, orchards, and vegetable gardens, turning that harvest into precise, seasonal Italian dishes. The wine list runs to over 1,300 labels.


  13. A medieval hilltop village in the Sienese countryside is a bold location for a pizza joint, but the terrace view over rolling Tuscan hills makes a strong argument for the commute. La Pergola turns out light-dough pies that run from revisited classics to more adventurous combinations, all backed by good local wine. The family-run warmth of the room is part of the point, not just a bonus.



  14. Rank 24. Arnolfo

    Italian

    The iron-and-glass dining room is built to frame the Tuscan hills from every seat, and the open kitchen behind a yellow Siena marble wall gives the chef somewhere worthy to work. This is a two-Michelin-star fine dining restaurant in Colle di Val d'Elsa, where Gaetano Trovato runs tasting menus alongside à la carte. The bread alone has been a talking point for years, and the wine list runs to 7,000 labels.


  15. Antonino Cannavacciuolo, one of Italy's more recognizable chef personalities, has planted his flag in a quietly beautiful corner of Tuscany, inside a restored borgo where the dining room opens onto an actual working kitchen you can watch. The food is contemporary Italian with a formal spine, precise without feeling surgical, which is an achievement. It holds a Michelin star, and the service has the kind of unhurried confidence that comes from people who've worked elsewhere.



  16. The drive in through cypresses and vineyards does a lot of the work before you've even sat down. This Michelin-starred restaurant sits inside a medieval castle at Castello Banfi, with wine-themed frescoes lining the interior and a terrace that turns the surrounding Tuscan hills into the main course. The chef brings a Pugliese sensibility to the tasting menus, with the territory and the kitchen garden doing most of the talking.


  17. Books used as table centrepieces set the tone at this Michelin-starred fine dining room tucked inside San Gimignano's medieval walls. The chef runs two tasting menus, one built around house classics, one left more open to improvisation depending on what you're after. The wine list is in good hands, and the contemporary art on the walls keeps things from feeling too reverential about the whole tower-town backdrop.


  18. Rank 29. Tosca

    Tuscan

    Inside the medieval Castello di Casole, Tosca is a tasting-menu restaurant where the stone walls and candlelit fabrics make it feel like the estate has been expecting you. The kitchen leans into the surrounding 1,300-hectare organic property, pulling herbs and produce from the castle's own gardens. In summer, dinner moves to the open courtyard, with Tuscan hills doing the decorating. Dressy but not stiff, and priced to match the setting.


  19. Tucked into a small medieval hilltop village, this agriturismo restaurant runs on produce grown right on the property, with a charcoal grill doing serious work on Tuscan ribeye and a spit-roasted pigeon and quail dish that earns its place on any table. The setting is rustic farmhouse with the views to make you forget about the drive. In summer, the outdoor tables under the lime trees fill fast, so booking ahead is the move.


  20. The estate outside Volterra raises its own pigs, presses its own olives, and keeps its own bees, so dinner at Villa Pignano's restaurant is essentially a tour of the surrounding 300 hectares plated up as contemporary Tuscan cooking. Lunch runs simpler; evenings get more elaborate. The wine list leans into organic Tuscany, with a fair share of bottles from the property's own vines. A long way from the nearest delivery truck.


  21. Rank 32. Nannini

    Seafood, Modern Cuisine



  22. Fresh pasta made every morning and recipes passed through four generations set the tone at this farmhouse trattoria in the hills just outside San Gimignano. Stone walls, heavy wood, and a terrace with an uninterrupted view of the Tuscan countryside make the room easy to settle into. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, and the apple cake with custard at the end will make you rethink leaving.


  23. An osteria tucked into a medieval hamlet off the Via Francigena, inside what were once a monastery's wine cellars. The format leans into fixed tasting menus built around whatever the kitchen garden is producing, with portions that suggest the monks ate well. The Florentine steak over embers is always on, and the cured meats and cheeses are made and aged in-house. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, with a terrace that earns the word atmospheric.


  24. Rank 36. Oscar

    Seafood


  25. A craft beer bar and meat-skewer spot on Piazza Cairoli that was pairing local brews with quality cuts before it became anyone's idea of a concept. The menu runs well beyond burgers into pork, chicken, and other skewered things, with a beer list long enough to require some help from the genuinely enthusiastic staff. It looks like a pub from the outside, which keeps expectations honest and the room easy.


  26. A preserved oak tree grows from the center of the dining room, lit up like it knows it's the main attraction. This creative restaurant in a stone building on the edge of Colle di Val d'Elsa serves modern tasting menus alongside an à la carte that moves between meat, seafood, and vegetables with the seasons. The kitchen leans into technique without losing the comfort of familiarity, and the front-of-house team keeps things warm and loose.


  27. The old Arnolfo space in Colle di Val d'Elsa's historic center has a new chapter: a relaxed Italian restaurant running a short, seasonal menu where the main courses are simply called "Italian specialities," which is either charmingly modest or very confident. Bread gets serious attention here, including a dipping option designed specifically for the Cinta Senese pork sauce. On warm days, the terrace is quiet enough to feel like a secret.


  28. Rank 40. Il Frantoio

    Modern Italian

    The old millstone and olive press are still in the dining room, left exactly where they were when this was a working oil mill. It's a restaurant now, all vaulted ceilings and rough stone walls in the hills of Colle di Val d'Elsa, with piazza tables in summer. The setting promises rustic simplicity, and the chef quietly ignores that promise, turning out dishes that are technically precise and a little unexpected, the kind of food that makes you put your fork down and reconsider.


  29. Rank 41. San Martino 26

    Contemporary Italian


  30. Rank 42. Chicco

    Wood-fired Pizza

    A wood-fired pizza spot in Colle di Val d'Elsa where the dough gets long leavening times and the toppings lean into local PDO producers rather than the usual suspects. The team will walk the table through a tasting menu, which is a nice way to eat here, and there's a pairing of craft beers and oils that sounds odd until it doesn't. Comfortable room, attentive service, and the kind of place the town has quietly relied on for a while.


Recents

  • No recent searches yet.

Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

    How we score →

    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. It runs on the scored places nearby: more good stuff within reach, higher score. If it looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.