A journey between tradition, hospitality and quality products, between historic restaurants and local gastronomic excellence.
There are places that have made history by becoming points of reference for families who have celebrated their most beautiful moments here. Places where the hosts make every meal a celebration thanks to their ability to work with the freshest and highest quality raw materials, embodying the savoir-faire of a friendly welcome with an always appropriate word and advice.
Generations who pass down the passion for food and wine and new generations who grow up with the certainty of finding a place where they can always enjoy quality evenings. If these refuges of taste also offer fantastic fish menus, they go down in history, as The Gallery in Poggibonsi And Lorenzo in Forte dei Marmi.
The Gallery in Poggibonsi is a real point of reference for those who love fishnot only for the Val d’Elsa, but for the entire Tuscan hinterland. The La Galleria restaurant was born in 1991, when Michele Targi, then 25 years old, decided with his wife Letizia Cappelli to dedicate himself to good food. 35 years have passed and Michele is still in the kitchen, creating delicious dishes and combinations. Today, his son Mirko Targi offers a high level of hospitality in the room and takes care of the over 500 fine wines on the list.
A passion that has led to continuous evolution and the creation of new recipes, combining the flavor of fresh fish of the day with simple and tasty cooking, with combinations that delight the eye and the palate. Unmissable is the raw ham of the day, the Pappa al Pomodoro di Pesce, the Risotto with Squid Ink, the Fresh Taglierini with Crab and the house speciality, the Bavette “Alla Mirko” (cooked for just a minute in the kettle and then sautéed in the pan, risotto with fish broth together with fresh squid, cuttlefish, shelled prawns and a sage leaf), the Homemade Gnocchi with Octopus, cuttlefish, calamari and asparagus, and finally, a delight: apple pie with cream ice cream.
A fish temple on the Tuscan coast is Lorenzo in Forte dei Marmi, a piece of Italian restaurant history since 1981. The most famous characters, protagonists of the legendary summers in Versilia, have passed through Lorenzo. For over forty years, the owner Lorenzo Viani embodied the soul of the place with his unmistakable style, making the refined European society of the Belle Époque discover the charm of the white peaks of the Apuan Alps, the majesty of the coast and the veracity of the Versilia people. Today his daughter Chiara and her husband Matteo carry on the founder’s vision with passion and competence, supported by the stainless chef Gioacchino Pontrelli, custodian of recipes and secrets that have made this place legendary.
Many of his dishes are true masterpieces, such as the roasted local cuttlefish with purple carrot cream and parsnip crumble, the scampi cooked at low temperature with yellow datterino tomato emulsion, buffalo mozzarella and puffed prawn chips. The historic dish is Bavette sul fish: risotto pasta with scampi, squid, cuttlefish and blond shrimp, truly delicious. Also excellent is the Risotto Carnaroli Gran Riserva Gallo, creamed with nduja, grilled octopus, burrata flavored with caper and threads of chilli pepper; and to finish on a sweet note, “A Thousand and One… Apricot”: caramelized phyllo pastry mille-feuille, light vanilla mousse, fresh apricots in osmosis of honey and lemon, and apricot coulis.
In a world where fashions evolve rapidly, places change management and chefs alternate, knowing that there are places where, for over 30 years, you can breathe the certainty of quality, research into raw materials and sincere hospitality makes you happy. Knowing that they are still there locals who know the tastes of generations of families by heart helps to better understand the meaning of the important recognition of Italian cuisine as UNESCO Intangible Heritage
