We're staying near Impruneta (just south of Florence) in June..any suggestions of fabulous restaurants within an hours drive from there?

In Cerbaia (about 10 kilometers west of Impruneta as the crow flies, drive would probably be over 15 kilometers) is La Tenda Rossa, one of the better restaurants in the region. Expensive but excellent food with many specialties of the region. With the exception of Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, which is much more expensive, it would be difficult to come up with a better restaurant.

Thinking about eating at the Cane E Gatto in Florence makes me drool. Make reservations, go when it opens, take a lot of money and plan on staying 3 hours. You won't regret it.

Oops! what a knucklehead. Cane y GAtto is in Siena. Please excuse. <BR>

on another post I asked if the Cane e Gatto served lunch..do you know Gina? Do you have their phone # or better yet, e-mail address?

Cane e Gatto doesn't serve lunch, only dinner. Phone number is 0577 287545

Thank you Bob...if I make the long distance call, will someone there be able to understand me? Is there a fax # that you know of??

Bob and other Cane e Gatto affectionados. I should be embarrassed to admit this but I'm not. One of the anticpated highlights of my trip to Europe will be to eat my way through. I would like to avoid unworthy food. I have heard much about Cane e Gatto and hoped to do lunch but with your post I know that I will either have to forget it or switch overnight plans. Is it worth it? Does anyway know of a comparable restaurant (the drooling kind) in San Gimignano?

I'm always concerned when a restaurant gets so much great press that the tourists descend and the restaurant gets sloppy because they can't keep up. I hope this isn't the case at this widely recommended place.

To MBB <BR>Go to Antica Trattoria Botteganova near Siena. Its open for lunch and I would rate it as a better restaurant than Cane e Gatto anyway. You'll need a taxi to get there since it's a fairly long walk. Phone number is 0577 284230. I don't have a fax number for Cane e Gatto but there should be someone there who understands some english if you call when they're open. I should note that I don't consider either of these restaurants to be in the same class as the one that I mentioned in my earlier post. No offense intended to fans of Cane e Gatto.

Bob <BR>Thank you very much. I will absolutely take your advice which is much appreciated.

I hate to see this subject die as there hasn't been too many great restaurant reviews here and I'm heading there! ...any more fabulous restaurant experiences??

We've eaten twice at Cane E Gatto--once a couple of years ago and again this year. It's a very memorable experience. They serve only dinner starting at 8 p.m. He is through serving the 6 course meal at about 11 p.m. The dinner is a set menu with the market specialties. The restaurant is small and has only about 8 tables. It has received many reviews--recently from a travel magazine whose editor said it was the best meal he had ever had. The cost is about $60 a person. Marilyn

Try Il Goccino or La Rocca in Lucignano. Lots of dishes with truffles and the wine is wonderful. I still dream about the chicken with truffles...........

Jenna..when I try and get directions to Lucignano, two towns by that name pop up...where exactly is the one you're referring to? What is the town itself like? Thanks for recommendation!

Well, I just had no idea there were two Lucignanos! The Lucignano where we stayed is very close to Monte San Savino and Arezzo. Basically we took the autostrada from Florence heading to Rome, about an hour later exited at Monte San Savino and there was a sign for Lucignano, to the right, I think, then about 15 minutes later we were there. The town is wonderful - very small, walled village. The church there is beautiful and their civic museum is good. We spent a good portion of a day just wandering the streets, shopping in their open-air market (cheeses and produce - mouthwatering!) and hiking to the tallest point for the view. The market day is Thursday and it's heavily attended by local people. We enjoyed watching folks dress up and come to market. There is also a local cantina where people go to fill their 5 liter wine jugs - for about $1 a liter. The country side all around Lucignano is just beautiful and we had our best picnicks around there. We were in Italy 12 days and honestly can say we loved Lucignano and surrounds the best. We're already planning our next trip! Hope you have as much fun as we did!

Forgot to mention that Lucignano is only about 1 hour from Siena, Montepulciano, Montecino, and Cortona - very centrally located. I hope this helps you find it on the map!