Eating & Drinking

Tuscan food is rustic but robust, nourishing the soul and the spirit as much as the body. This area offers both homely Tuscan cooking and fine-dining options. Although tiny, San Gusme and neighbouring Villa a Sesta and San Felice form a foodie hot spot, with gourmet cuisine the norm, but not always at gourmet prices.

Our recommended wine estates are featured in each of the individual Chianti guides. The following selection is just a taster to the Chianti. See our restaurant recommendations below and also see our other guides to top Chianti towns and villages, all accessed through our Destinations listings.

Set in a stone farmhouse, this Michelin-starred restaurant is in Villa a Sesta, neighbouring San Gusme. This is creative, French-style cooking with Tuscan ingredients, led by a Parisian proprietor.
Diners are encouraged to take the tasting menu to do justice to the cuisine. Typical dishes include: spinach and ricotta ravioli in a truffle sauce; crunchy cod on a bed of kale; pork liver confit with fennel; roasted veal cheek; pappardelle pasta with duck and fennel ragout; maybe with lime and ginger parfait dessert. La Bottega is only open for dinner except for Sunday lunch in summer.

Address: Via di Santa Caterina 2,
Villa a Sesta,
53019
Castelnuovo Beradenga

Tel: 0577 359226
Web: www.labottegadel30.it

This gourmet inn in Villa a Sesta, neighbouring San Gusme, provides good-value but creative fine-dining. Expect a surprising menu, attentive service, cosy atmosphere and a charming terrace. Typical dishes feature unusual flavour combinations, such as gnocchi in a rabbit and broccoli sauce. Duck, pigeon, venison and quail are often on the menu but so are creative pasta dishes and curious vegetable combinations that work. The good-value tasting menu depends on the chef’s imagination.

Address: Via Nuova 6
Localita Villa a Sesta
53019
Castelnuovo Beradenga

Tel: 0577 359279
Web: www.asinelloristorante.it

Just north of San Gusme, this pricey, fine-dining restaurant specialises in creative Chianti cuisine and beyond, using only local, artisanal ingredients. Saffron from San Gimignano or spring onions from Certaldo find their way into imaginative dishes. Consider risotto with porcini mushrooms, goat’s cheese and cauliflower or seabass with artichokes and chick peas. This Michelin-starred gastro inn is only open for dinner but for simpler dining, choose the resort’s L’Osteria Del Grigio, which is also open for lunch.

Address: Borgo San Felice
Localita San Felice
53019
Castelnuovo Beradenga


Tel: 0577 3964
Web: www.borgosanfelice.it

Set just north of San Gusme, this elegant inn lies in Castello di Brolio, the ancestral castle estate of the Ricasoli wine dynasty. Combine a tour of the castle with lunch in the estate inn. Alternatively, the sunset tour of the castle includes dinner in the Ricasoli’s restaurant. Your castle ticket also allows for a free wine-tasting in the Ricasoli tasting rooms below the castle. With lunch, indulge in the Barone Ricasoli Castello di Brolio Chianti Classico 2006. Dishes are creative twists on traditional Tuscan cuisine. Along with classic Florentine-influenced meat dishes, expect more fish than found in most of the Chianti. Such dishes as olive gnocchi in pecorino sauce or rabbit salad with crispy spelt can also be paired with Ricasoli wines.

Address: Castello di Brolio
Localita Madonna a Brolio
53013
Gaiole di Chianti

Tel: 0577 7301
Web: www.ricasoli.com