Buca Mario
Opened in 1886 in a vaulted cellar just steps from Piazza della Repubblica, Buca Mario holds the title of Florence's oldest restaurant and wears it without any dusty museum energy — the ribollita is thick enough to stand a spoon in and the bistecca alla Fiorentina arrives on a wooden board, pink and fragrant with rosemary.
What to order
Start with a crostini neri — chicken-liver pâté on grilled bread — which is the canonical Florentine antipasto and costs around €7. Follow it with ribollita, the twice-cooked bread-and-cavolo-nero soup that tastes better in winter but is served year-round here.
The bistecca alla Fiorentina is priced by weight (typically €55–65 per kilogram) and must be ordered rare — asking for it well-done is genuinely considered an insult in Tuscany and the kitchen will tell you so politely but firmly.
Atmosphere and booking
The dining room is a series of low brick arches and terracotta floors lit by warm pendant lights; it feels like eating inside a Tuscan farmhouse that somehow ended up beneath a Renaissance palazzo.
Book at least a week ahead for Friday and Saturday evenings; the restaurant is popular with both locals and well-travelled visitors who have done their research. Lunch on a weekday is easier to walk into.
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