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Game meats such as cinghiale (wild boar) are widespread and found in pasta sauces or hearty stews, an alternative to the legendary oversized Florentine T-bone steak. Tender coniglio (rabbit) features on menus in country trattorias, as does buglione, a deliciously rich lamb and tomato stew. Tegamata di cinta senese translates as a mouth-watering casserole of Siena pork cooked in wine.

Rabbit and fried artichokes are on the menu today

Vegetables are usually served as a side dish (contorno) and will be strictly seasonal. Carciofi fritti are tiny purple artichokes battered and fried, and flavoursome local greens include cicoria (bitter chicory).

Those who make it to dessert may opt for panna cotta, literally ‘cooked cream’, a divine blancmange-type sweet flavoured with caramel or fruit. For a memorable after-dinner treat you can’t go wrong with a handful of cantucci, crisp almond biscuits dunked unabashedly in a glass of sweet, rich, amber-coloured Vin Santo.

And so onto the subject of bottled treats. It’s a tough task, nigh on impossible, trying to sum up the wines of Tuscany in a paragraph…suffice it to say that your taste buds will be extremely happy. A few key place names conjure up wondrous red elixirs: Montalcino, Montepulciano and Chianti (see Chapter 5 for more on this one). Following are brief notes on several of the special names from areas covered in this guide. It’s especially exciting to be taking a walk through the vineyards that produce these memorable wines.