Restaurant in Castelnuovo Berardenga, Italy
Michelin star, real sommelier, book ahead.
Contrada earned a Michelin star in 2024, and the case for booking is strong: chef Davide Canella's meat-forward modern cooking in a converted Tuscan hamlet, anchored by sommelier Manuela's wine pairing program, makes it the most complete dining experience at the €€€ level in Castelnuovo Berardenga. Book four to six weeks out minimum; this is not a walk-in option.
Contrada earned its Michelin star in 2024, and the case for booking is clear: this is one of the most coherent dining experiences in the Chianti Classico zone, combining chef Davide Canella's technically sharp cooking with sommelier Manuela's wine pairing program in a converted hamlet outside Castelnuovo Berardenga. At the €€€ price point, it sits below the area's top-end splurge options while delivering a level of execution that justifies the drive out from Siena. The catch is access: this is not a restaurant you can decide on the morning of. Plan ahead, book early, and treat the reservation itself as part of the trip.
The restaurant occupies part of an old hamlet, Monastero d'Ombrone, and the visual experience begins before you sit down. Converted agricultural buildings in the Tuscan countryside give the dining room a texture that purpose-built restaurant interiors rarely achieve: stone, age, and proportion working in your favour. For food and wine enthusiasts visiting the Chianti region, this is exactly the kind of setting that earns its keep, where the surroundings reinforce rather than distract from what's on the table. The room reads as serious without being stiff, which matches the tone of the service well.
Canella runs both a tasting menu and an à la carte, which gives you structural flexibility that pure tasting-menu venues do not. The à la carte centres on meat, though fish options are available. The Michelin inspectors called out prawns and panzanella alongside duck breast with hosomaki as representative dishes, which tells you something useful about the register: this is modern Italian cooking that draws on classical technique while allowing for cross-cultural reference. The hosomaki alongside duck breast is not fusion for its own sake; it reflects a kitchen that has thought carefully about texture and contrast. If you are travelling with a group that splits between dedicated meat-eaters and those who want fish, the menu accommodates both without forcing a compromise. For a full account of what the kitchen is doing right now, check the current menu before you book, as seasonal shifts will move the à la carte.
The editorial case for Contrada, beyond the food alone, is Manuela. The sommelier oversees front of house and drives the wine pairing side of the experience with a level of engagement that distinguishes Contrada from restaurants where the wine list is competent but passive. Being in Castelnuovo Berardenga puts the restaurant inside one of Italy's most important wine territories: this is Chianti Classico country, with Brunello di Montalcino a short drive south and the Bolgheri coast accessible for comparison. A sommelier operating at this level in this location, with the full weight of the region's producers behind her, makes the wine pairing option here genuinely worth taking rather than treating as an optional add-on. If you are visiting the area specifically as a wine enthusiast, Contrada's service model gives you access to informed, personalised guidance that you will not get at most restaurants in the region. For wider context on what the area is producing, see our full Castelnuovo Berardenga wineries guide.
By comparison, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence offers one of Italy's most storied wine cellars at a higher price tier, and Osteria Francescana in Modena operates at a different level of recognition entirely. Contrada is not competing with those institutions; it is offering something more accessible and more locally anchored, which for many visitors is the stronger argument.
Contrada sits in a genuinely difficult booking category for a rural Tuscan restaurant. The Michelin star, earned in 2024, has raised its profile significantly, and the hamlet location means there is no capacity expansion option. Book a minimum of four to six weeks out for weekends during the spring and autumn travel seasons; if you are planning a trip around a specific date, book before you finalise your flights. Midweek tables in low season will be more available, but do not assume you can decide on arrival. No online booking links are currently listed in our data, so contact the restaurant directly and check their website for the current reservation method. The effort required to secure a table is proportionate to the quality of the experience on the other side.
Contrada is the right choice if you are a food and wine traveller using Castelnuovo Berardenga as a base for exploring Chianti Classico and want a single dinner that connects the region's wine culture to serious modern cooking. It is less well-suited to diners who want a purely traditional Tuscan trattoria experience; L'Asinello or Il Convito di Curina serve that purpose at lower price points. For the full picture of what is available in the area, see our full Castelnuovo Berardenga restaurants guide.
If you are travelling with a group that includes wine-agnostic diners who would not engage with the pairing program, Contrada still works on the food alone, but you will not be extracting full value from what makes it distinctive.
Quick reference: Michelin 1 Star (2024) | €€€ | Modern Cuisine with tasting menu and à la carte | Castelnuovo Berardenga, Siena province | Book 4–6 weeks out minimum for weekend tables.
Book the wine pairing with Manuela rather than ordering by the glass ad hoc: that is where the experience is most coherent and where the value of the Chianti Classico location is most tangible. The menu offers both a tasting menu and à la carte, so you are not locked into one format. Come with an appetite for meat-forward modern Italian cooking with some cross-cultural touches. At €€€, it is a meaningful spend but well inside what a Michelin-starred meal in a major city would cost you. Arrive having looked at the current menu online so you are not making format decisions cold at the table.
There is no verified capacity figure in our current data, and the hamlet setting suggests the room is not large. Groups of four to six should be manageable if you book well in advance and flag your group size at reservation. For larger parties, contact the restaurant directly to confirm private dining availability. Given the booking difficulty, groups should be planning further out than individual diners, six to eight weeks minimum in peak season. For other group-friendly options in the area, Borgo San Felice Resort has the infrastructure to handle larger bookings. See also our full Castelnuovo Berardenga restaurants guide for alternatives.
No bar dining option is confirmed in our data for Contrada. The restaurant operates as a formal sit-down experience with a tasting menu and à la carte. If bar or counter dining is important to you, check directly with the restaurant before booking. For a more casual entry point into serious cooking, L'Asinello is the easier option in the same area.
The area has several strong options at different price points. Il Poggio Rosso and Il Visibilio both sit at €€€€ and offer a higher-spend experience with creative menus. L'Asinello at €€€ gives you a Tuscan-rooted alternative without the modern cooking register. Il Convito di Curina at €€ is the value option for traditional cooking. Borgo San Felice Resort works if you want dining and accommodation in one booking. For the full picture, see our full Castelnuovo Berardenga restaurants guide.
Solo dining at Contrada is workable, particularly at the à la carte rather than the tasting menu if you want to control pacing. The service model, with Manuela leading front of house, tends to reward engaged diners who want to talk through the wine choices, which suits solo visitors well. The hamlet setting is more suited to a considered, unhurried meal than a quick dinner, so come ready to spend two-plus hours at the table. At €€€, a solo bill with wine pairing is a meaningful expense, but Contrada is one of the more rewarding ways to spend it in this part of Tuscany.
The menu is meat-forward by design, but fish options are available on the à la carte, which gives some flexibility. For specific dietary requirements beyond that, contact the restaurant directly before booking. No phone number or website is currently listed in our data, so use the reservation channel you book through to communicate requirements in advance. Do not arrive with complex restrictions without flagging them ahead; the tasting menu format in particular requires kitchen preparation. If dietary flexibility is a primary concern, the à la carte format at Contrada gives you more room to work with than a fixed tasting menu.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contrada | Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Hard |
| Il Poggio Rosso | Italian-Colombian, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Il Visibilio | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| L'Asinello | Tuscan | €€€ | Unknown |
| Borgo San Felice Resort | Italian Cuisine | Unknown | |
| Il Convito di Curina | Tuscan | €€ | Unknown |
Comparing your options in Castelnuovo Berardenga for this tier.
Book the à la carte on a first visit: the meat-forward menu gives you a clearer read on what Canella does well than the tasting menu commits you to upfront. Contrada holds a Michelin star (2024) and sits at €€€ pricing, so expect a full-service experience with serious wine input from sommelier Manuela. The setting is a converted hamlet at Monastero d'Ombrone, so budget time for the drive if you're based in Siena.
Groups can be accommodated, though this is a hamlet-based restaurant with a considered dining format, not a high-volume venue — larger parties should contact them well in advance to confirm availability and seating configuration. At €€€ per head with a Michelin star kitchen, expect the pacing to be calibrated for the full experience rather than quick turnover. Small groups of 4-6 will fit most naturally into how the room operates.
There is no confirmed bar-seating or counter dining format documented for Contrada. The venue operates as a formal sit-down restaurant within a historic hamlet setting, so walk-in bar dining is unlikely to be an option. If counter or bar access matters to your visit, verify directly before making the trip from Siena or further afield.
Il Poggio Rosso at Borgo San Felice is the closest like-for-like in terms of prestige and wine focus, though it comes with resort pricing. Il Convito di Curina offers a more intimate setting with less formality. For a shorter commitment than a full tasting or à la carte dinner, Il Visibilio is worth considering. None of the local alternatives currently match Contrada's 2024 Michelin recognition.
Yes — solo diners benefit most from the à la carte format, which avoids the commitment of a full tasting menu and lets you move at your own pace. Sommelier Manuela runs front of house and is described as friendly and proactive, which makes single-seat visits less transactional than at venues where service is purely table-focused. At €€€, a solo meal with wine pairings is a meaningful spend, but the Michelin star (2024) backs the value case.
The menu is meat-forward but fish options are confirmed within both the tasting menu and à la carte, so pescatarian diners have documented alternatives. For other restrictions, the kitchen's tasting menu format suggests some flexibility is possible with advance notice — check the venue's official channels before booking. Strict dietary needs are worth flagging at reservation stage rather than on arrival.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
