Restaurant in Florence, Italy
Antinori wines, serious room, book ahead.
Cantinetta Antinori is the Antinori family's own restaurant inside a 15th-century palazzo in central Florence — the most direct way to drink from one of Tuscany's great wine estates without leaving the city. Expect traditional Tuscan food, serious wine, and a room with real historical weight. Better value than Florence's top tasting-menu destinations, and easier to book.
Yes — if you want to eat and drink well in a room that has anchored the Antinori family's presence in Florence for decades, this is the booking. Cantinetta Antinori sits inside the 15th-century Palazzo Antinori on Piazza degli Antinori, one of the most quietly authoritative addresses in the city. The setting does the work before a single glass is poured: stone walls, high ceilings, the kind of room that reminds you Florence is not performing history — it is still living in it.
The draw here is the Antinori wine connection. The Marchesi Antinori family has been making Tuscan wine for over 600 years, and Cantinetta Antinori is the direct expression of that cellar at street level. For a food and wine enthusiast, that provenance is the point. You are not picking from a generic Italian list , you are drinking from one of the most significant wine-producing estates in the region, in the family's own palazzo, in the city where it all began. Few restaurant wine experiences in Tuscany carry that kind of lineage without requiring a vineyard visit.
The food format is traditional Tuscan , this is a place for ribollita, crostini, bistecca, and the kind of lunch that makes the afternoon disappear. It is not competing with Florence's modernist dining rooms or tasting-menu destinations. Its value is in doing what it does with the confidence of a place that has never needed to reinvent itself. For the explorer who wants depth over novelty, that is the right trade.
Compared to Florence's €€€€ dining tier , Enoteca Pinchiorri, Santa Elisabetta, or Borgo San Jacopo , Cantinetta Antinori sits at a more accessible price point with a more relaxed register. It is not the place for a destination tasting menu, but it is the better choice when you want a long lunch with serious wine and a room that feels earned rather than designed.
Reservations: Bookings accepted; walk-ins possible but not reliable for lunch , reserve ahead. Dress: Smart casual is appropriate for the setting; Florentine standards apply. Budget: Mid-range by Florence standards; the wine list is where costs can climb. Location: Piazza degli Antinori, 3 , central Florence, a short walk from Santa Maria Novella. Explore more in our full Florence restaurants guide, Florence bars guide, and Florence wineries guide.
If you are building a broader Italy itinerary, the country's most compelling dining rooms extend well beyond Florence. Uliassi in Senigallia and Piazza Duomo in Alba represent the top tier of regional Italian cooking with serious wine programs. Dal Pescatore in Runate offers a different kind of multigenerational family restaurant story , one with three Michelin stars. For the mountains, Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico is among the most thoughtful Alpine dining experiences in Italy. See also our Florence hotels guide and Florence experiences guide for trip planning.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cantinetta Antinori | Easy | ||
| Enoteca Pinchiorri | Italian - French, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Santa Elisabetta | Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Borgo San Jacopo | Italian, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura | Modern Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Il Palagio | Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Cantinetta Antinori and alternatives.
Yes. The room at Piazza degli Antinori, 3 is well suited to solo diners who want to eat and drink properly rather than just grab a glass at a bar. The Antinori wine list is the draw here, and a single diner can work through it without needing to fill a table. Go at lunch for the most relaxed experience.
The kitchen works within a traditional Tuscan framework, so it handles common requests — vegetarian dishes, allergy adjustments — with reasonable competence. That said, the menu leans heavily on seasonal Italian staples and the wine programme, so if your restrictions are extensive, check the venue's official channels before booking to confirm options.
Groups are manageable here, but this is not a venue that scales effortlessly to large parties. For groups of six or more, contact the restaurant in advance; the room at Piazza degli Antinori, 3 has a fixed capacity and walk-in availability for larger tables is unreliable. Smaller groups of three or four will find it comfortable.
It works well for occasions where the wine is the centrepiece — an anniversary dinner built around a significant Antinori bottle, for example. For a more formal celebration with ceremony and tasting-menu structure, Enoteca Pinchiorri or Santa Elisabetta will give you more production value. Cantinetta Antinori is better suited to occasions that call for substance over spectacle.
For Michelin-level ambition, Enoteca Pinchiorri is Florence's most decorated dining room. Santa Elisabetta and Borgo San Jacopo offer polished modern Italian with strong wine programmes. Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura is the choice if you want global name recognition alongside the food. Il Palagio at the Four Seasons suits guests who want hotel-backed formality. Cantinetta Antinori sits apart from all of them: less formal, more wine-focused, and directly tied to one of Italy's most significant producer families.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
