Where to eat in Siena: pici, ribollita and the contrada osterias

Siena: Tuscan cuisine among contrade and hills

Siena is a city where gastronomic tradition is inseparable from civic identity. Every contrada has its own osterias, its own handed-down recipes, its own dishes for the propitiatory dinners before the Palio. Sienese cooking is Tuscan in its purest essence: countryside ingredients, slow cooking, bold flavours. Do not look for innovation or elaborate presentation: people eat here as they did five hundred years ago, and that is exactly how it should be.

The food neighbourhoods

The centre and the contrade

Siena's old town is a maze of medieval lanes organised around the seventeen contrade. Each rione has its own osterias and trattorias, often hidden in vaulted cellars or inner courtyards. The areas around Piazza del Campo are the most touristy; to eat truly well you need to head towards the more outlying contrade such as Oca, Bruco or Tartuca.

Via Pantaneto and San Martino

Via Pantaneto, descending from the Campo towards Porta Romana, is one of Siena's most authentic food streets. Here trattorias, wine bars and grocery shops alternate, serving Sienese locals rather than tourists.

Outside the walls

Just outside the walls, countryside trattorias and agriturismo farmhouses in the Sienese hills offer lunches with views of the city and zero-kilometre produce.

Must-try dishes

Pici

Pici are Siena's pasta par excellence: thick handmade spaghetti, rolled one by one, with a rustic, irregular texture. They are dressed with wild-boar ragù (the most classic condiment), with aglione (tomato sauce with Val di Chiana garlic) or with briciole (breadcrumbs toasted in oil with garlic). Every trattoria makes them by hand and each has its own touch.

Ribollita

Ribollita is the quintessential Tuscan soup: black kale, cannellini beans, stale bread, garden vegetables, raw extra-virgin olive oil. It is called ribollita because it is made the day before and "re-boiled" the next, when it tastes even better. In winter it is the perfect dish.

Cinta senese

Cinta senese is an indigenous pig breed, raised semi-wild in the countryside around Siena. The meat, darker and more flavourful than common pork, appears as cured meats (finocchiona, capocollo, prosciutto) or as a grilled steak. Cinta senese DOP salumi are an excellence worth taking home.

Peposo and scottiglia

Peposo dell'Impruneta, a meat stew with plenty of black pepper and red wine, and scottiglia, a mixed-meat stew (beef, pork, rabbit, chicken), are robust winter dishes that Sienese osterias serve with pride.

Sienese sweets

Ricciarelli, soft almond biscuits dusted with icing sugar, and panforte, the medieval spiced cake with candied fruit, almonds and spices, are Siena's two emblematic sweets. Artisan bakeries produce them year-round, not only at Christmas.

Markets and food shops

The market in Piazza del Campo takes place on Wednesdays: stalls of typical products from the Sienese countryside. The delicatessens along Via di Città sell Tuscan cheeses, cinta senese salumi, Chianti oil and honey. The wine bars in the centre offer tastings of Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

Budget tips

Osterias in the outlying contrade serve full lunches for 12-15 euros
A plate of pici al ragù at a good trattoria costs 8-10 euros
Salumi-and-cheese boards at wine bars cost 10-15 euros and make a meal
Avoid restaurants overlooking Piazza del Campo: you pay for the view, not the cooking
Schiacciata (Tuscan oil focaccia) at bakeries costs 2-3 euros and is eaten on the go
House wine at Sienese trattorias is often an excellent Chianti at 3-4 euros a glass
For sweets, buy ricciarelli and panforte at artisan bakeries, not in tourist gift packs

Where to stay and what to see

Also consult where to stay in Siena for accommodation in the contrade and surrounding countryside, what to see in Siena in 2 days for an itinerary through the Duomo, Piazza del Campo and museums, and how to get to Siena for train, bus and parking information.