Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
We've compiled the best of the best in San Miniato - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
At lunch and dinner time, this social hub for San Miniatans turns into a full-blown trattoria serving up local specialties. You can't go wrong with any of the wonderful panini, which are made with bread baked on-site and which you can eat seated at a table with a splendid valley view.
A short drive down a steep, serpentine road from San Miniato brings you to this rustic country ristorante with sponged walls, stenciled decorations, and checkered tablecloths. The main courses are mostly Tuscan classics, such as bistecca Fiorentina (a generous cut of grilled steak), but white truffles, the local specialty, are also showcased, and you can get them with pasta, crespelle (thin pancakes filled with ricotta), tripe, eggs, beef fillet—there's even a postprandial truffled grappa. All this good fare pairs marvelously with a fine selection of local, lesser-known wines. If truffles don't float your boat, there are nontruffled things on the menu and, at night, the staff fires up the pizza oven.
The very unassuming decor (wooden tables, wooden chairs) sets the scene for terrific Tuscan food. Though there's not a truffle dish to be found on the menu, there's lots to satisfy the palate. The tasty food arrives in nicely sized portions; excellent house wine is on offer, as are other wines by the bottle, which are all nicely priced; and desserts are pretty good here.
You can't come to San Miniato and not try its truffles, and few places serve them more generously or more graciously than Piccola Osteria del Tartufo. Depending on the season, you can try local white truffles, black truffles, and summer truffles liberally grated over cacio e pepe pasta or stuffed into a bacon-topped hamburger.
