Buca Mario
Founded in 1886 and tucked into a vaulted cellar just steps from Piazza della Repubblica, Buca Mario is the oldest restaurant in Florence — a place where Florentine families have been eating bistecca and pappardelle with wild boar for well over a century. The food is honest, the wine list is serious and the atmosphere is genuinely historic.
What to Order
The non-negotiable dish is the bistecca alla Fiorentina — a T-bone of Chianina beef, grilled over wood charcoal, served rare and carved tableside. It is priced by weight (typically €55–70 per kg) and is meant to be shared between two people. Order it wrong (well done) and the waiter will politely but firmly try to talk you out of it.
Start with crostini neri — chicken-liver pâté on toasted bread — and follow the steak with a scoop of cantucci biscuits dipped in Vin Santo dessert wine. This is the classic Florentine meal sequence and Buca Mario executes it perfectly.
The Setting and Wine
The dining room is a series of low brick-vaulted cellars hung with old black-and-white photographs of famous guests. It feels worn-in rather than touristy, which is exactly right for a restaurant of this age and pedigree.
The Chianti Classico Riserva list is well curated and fairly priced for a city-centre restaurant. Ask the sommelier to recommend a Sangiovese from the Panzano in Chianti area — the wines from that hillside commune are among Tuscany's finest.
Buca Mario on video
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