Its strength lies in the great care it gives to preserving the ancient Florentine and Tuscan culinary traditions and the fact that Claudio now continues a more than 40 year management by Bianchi family. The director, Simone Boccianti, helps the family to run the restaurant so very professionally. He studied under the great Sante Collesano, who for years was a master of the fish cuisine in Florence, and followed this up with further important experience abroad. You will notice at once that only high quality raw materials are used. The menu contains a rich choice of meat dishes as well as many interesting fish platters. The meat menu includes croutons with orange flavoured Colonnata lard and Cetara anchovies, maltagliati pasta served with crushed Bronte pistachios and mortadella, pappardelle with a wild boar sauce, and a tortello stuffed with burrata and black cabbage in a beef tripe ragout. Apart from the classical Florentine steak, always beautifully tender, it is also possible to order anchovy flavoured fried steak. The seafood menu offers a huge pan of seafood and shellfish, the rich and legendary Sante’s Spaghetto with shellfish and fish of the day, or the yellow squash puree with squid and bottarga. Carmelo Mancia’s pizzas are delicious, thanks to the sourdough being left to rise for 36 hours; this very light and very digestible dough is also used to make “the Roman style oblong pizzas” served with, for example, Prato mortadella or Bronte pistachios, or instead the metre long Lupo pizza with smoked bacon, Tropea red onions, gorgonzola and “nduia” sausages. Other quality ingredients include Pantelleria capers, Cetara anchovies, mozzarella from Campania and San Marzano tomatoes.