4 Best Restaurants in Tuscany, Italy

This beautifully remodeled restaurant and wineshop serves a light menu that pairs nicely with the lovely wines here, the main draw. Upon entering, you descend a staircase to a tasting room filled with rustic wooden tables. The menu includes typically Tuscan ingredients such as pigeon, and bistecca in a Brunello wine sauce, with a wide choice of vegetarian options. Adjacent is a small dining area with a splendid view of the hills far below, and outside is a lovely little terrace perfect for sampling Brunello di Montalcino when the weather is warm.

There's no shortage of places to try Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the justifiably famous white wine with which San Gimignano is often singularly associated. At this wine bar, you can buy a glass of Vernaccia di San Gimignano and sit down with a cheese plate or one of the fine crostini.

Jazz plays softly in the background as you sip wine and dine either indoors, at rustic tables amid exposed brick-and-stone walls, or alfresco with a splendid view of the Piazza del Duomo. Typical wine-bar fare, such as plates of cured ham and cheese, shares the menu with a surprisingly sophisticated list of daily specials. For example, you might try insalatina con foie gras condita con vinaigrette (foie gras with dressed greens).

An elegantly restored monastery in the upper part of Montepulciano is home to this excellent enoteca (wine bar), which has a wide selection of wines by the glass.