6 Best Places to Shop in Tuscany, Italy

Stop by this shop for top-quality local food products, including farro, dried porcini mushrooms, olive oil, and wine.

This just might be the world's most dramatic butcher shop. Here, amid classical music and lively conversation, owner Dario Cecchini holds court: while quoting Dante, he serves samples of his very fine sushi di Chianina (raw slices of Chianina beef gently salted and peppered). He has researched recipes from the 15th century, and sells pâtés and herb concoctions found nowhere else. Serious food enthusiasts should not miss the place.

If you love sweets then you'll be pleased with the selection of artisanal chocolates, marzipan delights, and gorgeous cakes. Creations become even more fanciful during Christmas and Easter.

Maurizio and Tiziana's shop has an arresting array of cheeses and perhaps the best array of verdure sott'olio in town. They also make top-notch panini, and killer sweets.

A huge selection of wines, as well as an ancient cellar, make this place worth a stop. For the cost of the wine only, tastings can be organized through the shopkeepers and are held in the cellar or outside in a lovely little piazza. All of this can be paired with affettati misti (sliced cured meats) and cheeses of the highest caliber.

A particularly delicious version of buccellato—the sweet, anise-flavored bread with raisins that is a Luccan specialty—is baked at Pasticceria Taddeucci.