PIZZERIA Poggio Barone, near Badia Tedalda, is my favourite family restaurant. Ignore the menu and allow Signora Montini to woo you with her own mouthwatering suggestions: perhaps antipasti of bruschetta with home-grown tomatoes and peperoncino, followed by a steaming platter of home-made pasta flavoured with wild hare, porcini mushrooms, seasonal truffles or wild boar. After local cheese served with fresh walnuts and honey, the signora usually sends us on our way with a gift — once, it was a litre of her home-brewed walnut liqueur. Ridiculously good value at about £15, including wine.
Details: Via Fresciano 26; 00 39 057 571 3162.
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Angela Petch, Ipswich
TRATTORIA Sostanza-Troia is in a seedier part of central Florence, and isn’t bothered about catering for tourists. The fast, often funny, sometimes just plain rude service brings you perfectly quaffable red or white house wine, antipasti of superb salami, then a plate of Sostanza’s divine fagioli —fresh cannellini beans served with a generous dribble of fragrant green local olive oil. You should emerge with change from £30 for two.
Details: Via del Porcellana 25r; 00 39 055 212691.
Maggie Ferrari, West Sussex
WE HAD an unforgettable lunch at La Figlia di Attilio, right on the beach in Pescara. Order antipasti, and anything up to 10 dishes will arrive in leisurely succession, served with the chilled and deceptively potent Montepulciano Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. After a delicious seafood pasta, the main was a mixed grill of sole, langoustines, turbot and monkfish. A liquid lemon sorbet rounded off a long, boozy lunch that had us stumbling and giggling back to our apartment.
Details: Via Pepe 177, 00 39 085 451 1500.
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Gip Dammone, Leeds
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A STONE’S throw from the Colosseum in Rome, opposite San Clemente church, stands the small wonder that is Hostaria i Clementini. It is disregarded by the many wandering tourists because of its empty frontage, but the “in the know” locals are sunning themselves in the courtyard out back.
Details: Via San Giovanni, Laterano; 00 39 06 704 50935.
Ashiya Ali, London
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IF MONEY and distance are no object, go to Il Bacco Felice in Foligno, in southern Umbria. There’s room for about 30 diners on wooden benches, and the owner is an extrovert Sicilian called Salvatore Denaro, one of the founding fathers of the Italian slow-food movement. He will bang on for as long as you like about ingredients, oils, wines and, above all, vegetables. No menu, no prices — it’s all down to trust.
Details: Via Giuseppe Garibaldi 73/75; 00 39 33 5662 2659
Mark Damazer, London
THE HAMLET of San Fruttuoso must be one of the best-kept secrets in Italy. Just a stone’s throw from Camogli and Portofino, but only accessible by boat, it consists of just a church, an abbey and the Albergo da Giovanni, a small family-run hotel and restaurant. If you don’t like seafood, you’re in trouble — it’s all they serve, fresh from the sea in simple Genovese dishes. Fantastic value in an unspoilt and tranquil location.
Details: Via San Fruttuoso 10; 00 39 0185 770047.
Peter Lightfoot, Falmouth
IT’S GOT to be Boccon di Vino, just outside Montalcino — a family-run place serving hearty but beautifully finished Tuscan fare with an excellent range of Brunello wines. My mouth still waters at the memory of octopus carpaccio.
Details: Loc Colombaio Tozzi; 00 39 057 784 8233.
David Hoch, Hertfordshire
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PLEASE TELL us about your favourite French restaurant for next week’s France issue. The best review wins six bottles of Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz. Visit www.timesonline.co.uk/yoursay for this and many more top reader tips.