GASTRONOMY
Sober, simple and unsophisticated 

Tuscan cooking is healthy, economical and simple, but uses high-quality ingredients flavoured with excellent oil.
All ingredients are skilfully proportioned so as not to smother the taste of the others.

It makes use prevalently of agricultural products (meat, grain, eggs and vegetables), but along the western coast you can also find tasty seafood dishes.

The products of the Val d'Orcia (honey, extra-virgin olive oil, wine, pecorino cheese and saffron) are certified with a mark of origin. Sienese cooking is characterized by greater use of garlic and herbs.

Bread
Round, rectangular or egg-shaped, a light-and-dark-coloured crust surrounding a soft, compact centre. Quite tasteless, it is in fact produced without salt. It is made with common wheat flour, giving it its characteristic white colour.
It is a basic ingredient in Tuscan cooking and used to prepare hors-d'oeuvres, first courses and soups.

Hors-d'oeuvres

• Bruschetta: a slice of bread toasted over the fire and seasoned with olive oil, a clove of garlic and a pinch of salt.
• Tuscan crostini: slices of bread with spleen and small pieces of pig's liver.
• Fettunta: slices of lightly-toasted bread with just-extracted oil and a clove of garlic..
• Pansanto: a slice of bread seasoned with boiled cauliflower, oil and vinegar.

First Course
Above all soups, hot or cold, and many containing bread, but also typical pasta dishes (mostly with fresh pasta).

• Acquacotta: soup with mushrooms. tomatoes, eggs, cheese and lightly-toasted bread. A dish from Maremma common all over the area.
• Ribollita: minestrone with beans, black cabbage and stale bread. Eaten warmed-up the day after preparation.
• Panzanella: soup-salad with stale bread softened in water, to which tomatoes, onions, basil and other vegetables are added.
• Pappa al pomodoro: soup made with stale bread softened in broth until it becomes mushy, fresh tomatoes, garlic, oil.
• Farro (spelt) soup: soup with vegetables, beans and spelt. Very tasty and typical of the Garfagnana area.
• Pici (or pinci): large-sized spaghetti rolled by hand and made of wheat flour, water, oil and a pinch of salt. Seasoned with meat sauce, sautéd breadcrumbs or, in Chiusi, with garlic sauce. 
• Broad noodles with hare sauce: an old Etruscan recipe. The hare is cooked in red wine, oil and tomatoes; traditionally, it is to be cooked in its own blood.
• Maremma tortelli: a type of ravioli with ricotta and vegetables, seasoned with wild boar sauce. Typical of the Grossetto area.
• Penne " strascicate": short pasta heated up in the frying pan with a rabbit or beef sauce. Typical of Chianti.
• Tortelli alla mugellana: type of ravioli filled with potatoes and seasoned with a meat or mushroom sauce.

Second Courses
Grilled meats predominate: beef, chicken. guinea hen, pork, lamb, rabbit, etc. Seafood dishes are typical of the coastal area. 

• Florentine T-bone steak: sirloin steak with fillet, at least 2.5 cm thick. Comes mainly from the chianina breed. Cooked over charcoal without pricking it with a fork. When cooked, it is seasoned with salt, pepper and extra-virgin olive oil.
• Grilled meats: rosticciana (roast pork ribs), chicken, pigeon and rabbit, sausages, pork chops.
• Peposo: small pieces of beef cooked without oil but with wine and tomatoes. Typical dish of Impruneta, in the Chianti area.
• Stewed meats: stracotto (braised meat with or without potatoes), wild boar.
• Tuscan tripe: seasoned with bacon, tomatoes and parmesan cheese.
• Cacciucco: soup made with different types of fish, garlic, onions, tomatoes and red chili pepper, plus local red wine. Served with toasted bread rubbed with garlic. Typical of Livorno (Leghorn) but found, with variations, all along the Tuscan coast.
• Brustico: fish cooked on lake reeds and sprinkled with oil. Typical of Chiusi.
• Livornese-style mullet: cooked with tomatoes and garlic and served with peas.

Sweets
Very simple and tasty. Those from Siena are eaten with white wine.

• Castagnaccio: made with chestnut flour, water, pine-seeds, raisins, rosemary and a drop of oil.
• Panforte: Christmas sweet with almonds, candied fruit and spices. Of medieval origin.
• Panpepato: similar to panforte, but spicier and containing cocoa.
• Ricciarelli di Siena: small lozenge-shaped biscuits with chopped almonds, sugar and egg-white.
• Cantuccini di Prato: small cirsp almond biscuits which are dipped in Vinsanto.
• Brigidini: anise wafers from Pistoia.
• Buccellato: from Lucca, a ring-shaped anise cake with raisins and candied fruit.
• Ciaccia: fried wafer covered with powdered sugar.
• Zuccotto: Florentine semi-chilled sponge cake filled with cocoa, candied fruit and Vinsanto.

Salumi (Cured Pork Products)
Among the tastiest in Italy: those from the area around Siena are particularly renowned, as they are produced from a local half-wild breed of pig.

• Rigatino: rectangular-shaped bacon covered on the outside with black pepper and red chili pepper. Spicy flavour.
• Finocchiona: medium-sized salame flavoured with wild fennel seeds, giving it a strong taste. 
• Sienese capocollo (pork salame made from the head and neck): typical of the province of Siena. Seasoned with spices.
• Spalla chiantigiana: Tasty and fragrant. Produced mainly in the province of Siena but found all over Tuscany.
• Guanciale (streaky bacon): aged, salted and peppered pork product mainly produced in the province of Siena.
• Siena-area salame: from farms around Siena. Characterized by a dark red colour and an intense fragrance.
• Tuscan soppressata (headcheese): made with pig's head and tongue covered with gelatine.

Cheeses
Tuscan pecorino (sheep's cheese) is produced all over Tuscany using traditional techniques, above all in the Val d'Orcia and the Crete senesi. Pecorino (fresh or aged) from Pienza is especially well-known.

• Fresh pecorino: subtle, delicate taste; soft, buttery consistency.
• Aged pecorino: strong, intense taste.
• Formaggio di fossa (pit cheese): intense taste. Aged in well-ventilated grottoes dug into tufa, following a procedure handed down from the Middle Ages.
• Marzolino: mild, delicate flavour. Made from milk produced in spring, when the grass on which cattle graze is tender and fragrant.
• Raviggiolo: fresh, delicate, mild flavour with a soft consistency. Produced in the Crete senesi, it is left to drain on a bed of woven rushes.
   
  In the past, whole cheeses were wrapped in walnut leaves, whose fragrance was absorbed by the cheese itself.

Wines
A large number of wines, among the worl'ds most-renowned.

• Chianti: bright ruby colour tending to garnet. Well-balanced dry, pungent, slightly-tannic flavour. Very winey, fruity taste with a sweet-violet fragrance.Alcoholic content: 11.5°-12°.
  DOCG wine (origin certified and guaranteed).
  Grapes used in production: Sangiovese, black Canaiolo, white Trebbiano and Malvasia.
  Area of production: Siena, Florence, Arezzo, Pistoia, Pisa and Prato. Goes by different names according to the area where it is produced:
  -  Chianti classico: actually produced in the geographical area of Chianti.
  -  Chianti Superiore.
  -  Montalbano.
  -  Rufina.
  -  Colli Fiorentini.
  -  Colli Senesi.
  -  Colli Aretini.
  -  Colline Pisane.
  -  Montespertoli.
• Vinsanto: amber-yellow colour, intense ethereal fragrance, well-balanced, velvety, slightly sweetish taste.
  Goes well with numerous sweets.
• Brunello di Montalcino: alcoholic content: 12.5 °-13.5°. Minimum ageing: four years.
• Rosso di Montalcino: ruby-red colour, dry taste, pleasing fragrance. Not aged.
• Moscadello di Montalcino: golden yellow colour with a full, sweet taste. Fresh, delicate fragrance with a flavour of honey, raisins and exotic fruit.
• Vino nobile di Montepulciano: garnet-red colour with orange highlights due to ageing; delicate fragrance of spring violets. Dry, slightly tannic taste. Minimum alcoholic content: 12.5°. Ageing: two years.
• Rosso di Montepulciano: bright ruby-red colour, fragrance of spring violets, dry, well-balanced, slightly tannic taste. Minimum alcoholic content: 11°.
• Sassicaia: the result of grafting Cabernet vines in Tuscany.
• San Gimignano vernaccia: yellow colour tending to gold with ageing; subtle, penetrating fragrance, dry well-balanced taste with a bitterish aftertaste. Alcoholic content: 11°- 11.5°.

Oil
Oil is produced in high, cool, ventilated hilly areas (Crete Senesi, Valdichiana and Chianti) from  Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino and Correggiolo olives.

• Frantoio: a fruity, slightly spicy, deep-coloured oil.
• Correggiolo: a fruity, delicate, greenish-coloured oil.
• Moraiolo: an oil with a herbaceous flavour and a bitter touch; yellow-green or yellow in colour.
• Leccino: slightly fruity oil bordering on sweet; green/yellow in colour.

Sienese oil has a spicy flavour with a herbaceous touch and low acidity.
Oils from around Lucca are delicate and gold-coloured. Those from the Florentine hills have an almond fragrance, while those from the Pisa area are slightly fruity.
Processing is now mechanized, but in some areas traditional methods are still in use.