The Verdict
The summer salad of Tuscany — bread, tomato, basil, onion, oil, vinegar. Eat it in the heat, when the garden is ripe.
Why go
To taste the cold Tuscan bread salad, in a Florence trattoria or a farmhouse summer lunch.
What makes it worth going
The Tuscan bread and tomato salad, the cold summer cucina povera.
Things to do
- trattoria
A Florence trattoria in summer
The benchmark panzanella, in the heat. The bread, the tomato, the onion, the basil, the vinegar. Reserve.
2 hrs
- farm
A Tuscan agriturismo in summer
The panzanella is made on the farm; the bread is the day-old, the vegetables are the garden. The farm is the source.
half day
- experience
A Tuscan cooking class
The panzanella is the lesson; the stale bread, the ripe tomatoes, the vinegar. The technique is the cold.
Eat
- salad
Panzanella
The classic: day-old Tuscan bread, soaked and squeezed, with tomatoes, onions, basil, oil, and vinegar. The cold salad of the Tuscan summer; the bread is the base, the vinegar is the bite.
Stay
- neighborhood
Florence center
Near the best trattorias. Walkable.
- farm-stay
A Chianti agriturismo
In the hills, where the panzanella is made on the farm.
Experiences Worth Booking
Tuscan summer cooking class
3 hrsPanzanella, pappa al pomodoro, bruschetta. The cold Tuscan classics in one class.
The panzanella is a cold bread salad; a class shows you the soak, the squeeze, and the dressing.
Suits: Anyone who wants the Tuscan summer table at home.
What's nearby & pairs with
More food from Toscana
Cured Meat
Finocchiona
Tuscan fennel-seed salami — the everyday salume of Florence, coarsely ground and fragrant with wild fennel.
Dish
Bistecca alla Fiorentina
T-bone steak from Chianina beef, grilled over wood, served rare with nothing but salt and olive oil.
Dish
Pappardelle al Cinghiale
Wide egg pasta ribbons with wild boar ragù — the dish of the Tuscan hunting season.
Dish
Ribollita
Bread and bean soup with cavolo nero, reboiled (ribollita) until thick — the peasant dish of Tuscany.
Cheese
Pecorino di Pienza
Sheep's milk cheese from the Val d'Orcia — pecorino at its most varied, from fresh to aged and ash-rubbed.
Cured Meat
Lardo di Colonnata
Cured pork fatback, aged in marble troughs with herbs — the marble-quarry town's most singular product.
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