Restaurant in Florence, Italy
Two menus, strong value, book early.
Ora d'Aria is the most practical entry point into Florence's tasting menu scene: Michelin Plate-recognised, open-kitchen dining at €€€ rather than the €€€€ most comparable rooms charge. Chef Marco Stabile runs two menus — meat and fish — giving repeat visitors a built-in reason to return. Book for a special occasion dinner without the price anxiety of Florence's top tier.
If you are comparing Ora d'Aria against Florence's €€€€ competition, the price point alone makes it worth serious consideration. Where Enoteca Pinchiorri and Santa Elisabetta demand a significant financial commitment for a single meal, Ora d'Aria operates at €€€ and delivers tasting menu dining with Michelin Plate recognition and a 4.6 Google rating across 455 reviews. For a special occasion dinner in Florence that does not require you to budget around one restaurant, book here first.
The room is one of the strongest arguments for choosing Ora d'Aria. The gold-leaf frescoed ceiling gives the space a quiet formality that reads as celebratory without tipping into stiff. The open-view kitchen is large and deliberately theatrical: you are meant to watch, and the format encourages a low-level dialogue between what is happening at the pass and what arrives at the table. For a date or anniversary dinner, that spatial dynamic works in your favour. The setting has an intimacy that larger hotel dining rooms in Florence — think Borgo San Jacopo with its Arno terrace — cannot replicate indoors.
The name adds context worth knowing. Ora d'Aria translates loosely as 'hour of fresh air', referencing the old Florentine Le Murate prison nearby, where prisoners were permitted one hour outside per day. The restaurant frames itself as a place to breathe and slow down. Whether or not that lands for you, it explains why the pacing here tends to feel unhurried in a way that suits milestone dinners, not quick pre-opera meals. Position your booking accordingly.
Marco Stabile runs two tasting menus: one dedicated to meat, one to fish. The format is clean and the division is useful , if you are returning for a second visit, you have a clear structural reason to try the other menu rather than simply reordering. That multi-visit logic is built into the concept. The cooking is creative Italian rather than traditional Tuscan, though Tuscan ingredients appear throughout. If you are arriving expecting a direct regional menu, recalibrate: the approach here is more in line with contemporary Italian tasting room cooking, closer in spirit to what you find at Le Calandre or Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler than a Florentine trattoria.
The 2025 Michelin Plate and a 2024 listing at #202 in Opinionated About Dining's Classical in Europe ranking (having been Highly Recommended in 2023) suggest steady upward momentum without the sudden price corrections that sometimes follow a star. That is a practical consideration: you are getting recognised-quality cooking before the cost of fame fully arrives.
The two-menu structure is the clearest argument for returning. On a first visit, choose based on preference: fish if you want the lighter progression, meat if you want more weight and textural range across the courses. On a second visit, the other menu gives you an almost entirely different experience within the same room, the same kitchen team, and the same spatial atmosphere you already know you like. That is genuinely efficient for anyone who visits Florence more than once a year.
A third visit rationale is seasonal rotation. The menu draws on Tuscan produce, which means the fish and meat menus will shift across the year as ingredients change. An autumn visit and a spring visit are unlikely to be repetitive even on the same tasting menu path. Florence's calendar , with the city quieter in late autumn and winter than in peak summer , also affects the room feel: the same gold-leaf ceiling and open kitchen read differently when the tourist pressure is lower and the pace slows further.
For context on the wider Florence dining scene, see our full Florence restaurants guide. If you are building a longer trip around the meal, our Florence hotels guide, bars guide, and wineries guide cover the surrounding options.
Ora d'Aria is open Monday through Saturday, dinner only, from 7 to 10 pm. It is closed on Sundays. The address is Via dei Georgofili, 11R, directly behind the Uffizi Gallery, which makes pre-dinner museum timing a natural pairing , though the gallery closes well before 7 pm on most days, so plan the gap. Booking is rated Easy, which means you do not need to plan months in advance, but for Saturday evenings or specific dates tied to a trip milestone, a couple of weeks' notice is sensible. The price range is €€€, sitting meaningfully below the €€€€ tier occupied by most of its peer comparison set in Florence.
For Italian fine dining at a comparable quality tier elsewhere in Italy, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Piazza Duomo in Alba, and Dal Pescatore in Runate represent the wider reference set. Internationally, if the open-kitchen tasting menu format is what appeals, Atomix in New York and Le Bernardin offer useful calibration for what the format can deliver at higher price points.
Quick reference: Dinner only, Mon–Sat, 7–10 pm; closed Sunday; €€€; behind the Uffizi; easy to book; two tasting menus (meat / fish); Michelin Plate 2025.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ora d'Aria | Contemporary Italian, Contemporary | €€€ | 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 |
Comparing your options in Florence for this tier.
The venue data does not confirm a bar or counter dining option at Ora d'Aria. The restaurant is built around an open-view kitchen format with two tasting menus, which suggests the experience is structured around seated dining. check the venue's official channels to confirm seating options before arriving without a reservation.
A gold-leaf frescoed ceiling and Michelin recognition put Ora d'Aria in Florence's formal-leaning tier, so dress accordingly: neat, polished clothing is appropriate. This is not a jeans-and-trainers room. If you are coming directly from a day at the Uffizi, plan to change — the address at Via dei Georgofili puts you close to both.
Book at least two to three weeks out, more if you are visiting in peak season (April through October). Ora d'Aria is a small, Michelin-recognised room near the Uffizi — one of the highest-footfall areas in Florence — and dinner-only hours from 7 to 10 pm mean a limited number of covers per night. Last-minute availability is possible outside high season but should not be relied on.
Yes, if tasting menus are your format. Chef Marco Stabile runs two distinct menus — one meat, one fish — which gives the experience a clear structure and a genuine reason to return. At €€€ pricing, it sits below Florence's most expensive rooms, and the Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms consistent kitchen quality. If you prefer à la carte flexibility, this is not the venue for you.
At €€€, Ora d'Aria is more accessible than Enoteca Pinchiorri or Santa Elisabetta while delivering Michelin-recognised cooking and a room with genuine visual character. The gold-leaf frescoed ceiling and open-view kitchen make the space feel like it belongs at a higher price point. For the combination of setting, chef credentials, and cost, it represents one of the stronger value propositions in Florence's fine dining tier.
Dinner is your only option — Ora d'Aria is open Monday through Saturday from 7 to 10 pm and is closed on Sundays, with no lunch service listed. Plan around those hours; if you need a midday reservation, look elsewhere in Florence.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
