I'll admit something right off the bat: I like Italian food but I don't love it enough to eat it every day. So, when I recently spent a week in Tuscany, I quickly became tired of similar menus. Fattoria Il Palagio did not have a wildly different menu and, yet, it was the best dining experience that I had in Tuscany, by far.
Located just outside of Scarperia, a small and charming historic town in the northeast of Tuscany, around 25km from Florence, and famous for the production of knives, the restaurant immediately impresses upon first approaching it.
It is an old villa, sitting on beautifully maintained grounds and with excellent views of the surrounding landscape to the rear of the property. The building is surrounded by plant-draped pergolas and twinkling lights that make it atmospheric after nightfall and it is hard to decide if it is lovelier at night or during the day.
Located just outside of Scarperia, a small and charming historic town in the northeast of Tuscany, around 25km from Florence, and famous for the production of knives, the restaurant immediately impresses upon first approaching it.
It is an old villa, sitting on beautifully maintained grounds and with excellent views of the surrounding landscape to the rear of the property. The building is surrounded by plant-draped pergolas and twinkling lights that make it atmospheric after nightfall and it is hard to decide if it is lovelier at night or during the day.
A reception hall to the right of the entrance caters for events and there were people milling around merrily upon our arrival. They were the right amount of jolly that made you think it was a place to have a nice time, without having to dodge stray drunkards escaping a wedding party. Up a stone staircase to the right there is the restaurant which displays a more cosy and rustic charm that belies the very elegant and manicured exterior of the building.
The pristine white tablecloths, gleaming silverware and sturdy menus ensure that the place feels luxurious while the relaxed atmosphere and very pleasant and helpful and well-dressed and well-mannered staff members assure that while the class of the venue is maintained, nothing feels overly pretentious.
This is a hard balance to maintain and it was a pleasant surprise as, while I don't mind a certain amount of pretension, the other diners with me that night are notorious for having no tolerance for even a whiff of it.
The pristine white tablecloths, gleaming silverware and sturdy menus ensure that the place feels luxurious while the relaxed atmosphere and very pleasant and helpful and well-dressed and well-mannered staff members assure that while the class of the venue is maintained, nothing feels overly pretentious.
This is a hard balance to maintain and it was a pleasant surprise as, while I don't mind a certain amount of pretension, the other diners with me that night are notorious for having no tolerance for even a whiff of it.
As noted, the menu offers a lot of local dishes that I had seen elsewhere but they do them well. Expect simple pasta dishes, steaks and hearty stews, as well as slightly more unusual specials – my sister had a white-wine chicken dish that was excellent. I had a steak that was cooked to absolute perfection and sampled the best ragu I had during the trip and a wonderful spicy tomato pasta dish that my brother and father had ordered. The wine list, meanwhile, is impressively extensive.
Throughout the whole meal, we were waited on with the right amount of attention and the non-Italian speakers in the group (everyone bar me) were all taken care of in a way that I didn't see in many other places. While the food was great, the location, ambiance and experience were really what made this restaurant stand out for us. If you have found a vacation rental in the Florence area, be sure to make a point of visiting this excellent little gem!
Throughout the whole meal, we were waited on with the right amount of attention and the non-Italian speakers in the group (everyone bar me) were all taken care of in a way that I didn't see in many other places. While the food was great, the location, ambiance and experience were really what made this restaurant stand out for us. If you have found a vacation rental in the Florence area, be sure to make a point of visiting this excellent little gem!
