Alla Vecchia Bettola
PRICE:
Frommer's Recommended
ADDRESS: Viale Vasco Pratolini 3/7
CITY: Florence
COUNTRY: Italy
PHONE 1: 055-224-158
Founded by the owners of Nerbone in the Mercato Centrale, this simple room right on the piazza may not look it, but it's one of the city's premier restaurants in town for ultratraditional Florentine food. It fills up very early with food-loving Florentines, who choose from an always-changing menu that may include
penne alla Bettola in spicy cream tomato sauce, rigatoni dressed with crushed olives, or
riso sulle testicciole d'agnello (a "local's" rice dish cooked in a halved sheep's head). Secondi range from
anatra ripiena tartufata (stuffed duck in truffle sauce) to the superlative
carpaccio con rucola -- pounded disks of beef piled high with arugula and tissue-thin slices of pecorino cheese. As far as wine goes, you simply pay for however much you finish of the light and tangy house wine on the table.
Copyright: Excerpted from
Frommer's Florence, Tuscany & Umbria, 6th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Florence
, Italy