3 Best Restaurants in Siena, Tuscany

On the daily menu you're likely to find both Sienese standards, such as spaghetti saporiti con agli aromi (with tomatoes and herbs), as well as more offbeat selections like bocconcini di pollo alla mediterranea (tender chicken cooked in a robust tomato-and-olive sauce). Husband-and-wife team Simone Romi and Sabrina Fabi are committed to including piatti di verdura (vegetarian dishes) among the choices, and they've put together a great wine list. A tasting menu allows you to sample just about all the daily specials. The little restaurant with high vaulted ceilings is in the oldest part of town.

If you're wiped out from too much sightseeing, consider a meal at this hole-in-the-wall restaurant where locals congregate for a simple lunch over a glass of wine. There's a collection of verdure sott'olio, a wide selection of affettati misti, and various types of frittatas—all of which can be washed down with the cheap, yet eminently drinkable, house wines. A few tables provide outdoor seating in summer. Don't be put off by the absence of a written menu. All the food is displayed at the counter, so you can point if you need to.

The menu hasn't changed for years, and why should it? This place, which has been in the Papei family for three generations, attracts both locals and visitors with basic but fine Sienese specialties and reasonable prices. Tucked away behind the Palazzo Pubblico in a square that serves as a parking lot for most of the day, the restaurant's location isn't great, but the food is. Thanks to portable heaters, there is outdoor seating all year-round.