Restaurant in Trequanda, Italy
Tuscan seasonal cooking, Michelin value, book ahead.
A back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand winner (2024 and 2025) at €€ prices, Il Conte Matto is the strongest value argument in southern Tuscany. Chef Chiara's kitchen runs on kitchen-garden and local-farmer sourcing, with the ham triptych and pigeon with vin santo as the signatures. Book it for a summer terrace lunch overlooking the Sienese hills.
If you're travelling through the Val d'Orcia and want one meal that earns its place on the itinerary, Il Conte Matto in Trequanda is it. A back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand winner (2024 and 2025) operating at a €€ price point, this is the kind of restaurant that reminds you why the Bib Gourmand category exists: serious cooking, honest sourcing, and a room that doesn't ask you to pay fine-dining prices to feel the quality. Book it. It's genuinely one of the most compelling value propositions in southern Tuscany.
The building itself carries weight before you've ordered anything. The 14th-century home of a castle gamekeeper, the structure has been converted into a dining room with a terrace that opens directly onto the Sienese hills. The views from the rooms and the terrace situate you in the countryside in a way that most agriturismo-style restaurants only approximate. This matters not just aesthetically but as context: what you're eating here grew in or very near what you're looking at.
Chef Chiara's kitchen is built around a principle that the leading sourcing-driven restaurants share — the menu should be easy to read because the ingredients are doing the work. The approach at Il Conte Matto is Tuscan and local, with seasonal produce coming from the kitchen garden and nearby farmers. That sourcing commitment isn't a marketing claim here; it's structural. When a kitchen in a small hilltop village in Siena province holds two consecutive Bib Gourmands at these prices, the provenance of what's on the plate is usually the reason.
The triptych of hams has become one of the restaurant's calling cards, and it's a good illustration of what the kitchen does well: sourcing products that have been properly handled, letting their individual character come through without over-preparation. The balance of delicacy and firmness, with seasoning that underlines rather than dominates, is harder to achieve consistently than it sounds. Among the starters, the artichoke flan is worth seeking out — artichokes from this part of Tuscany have a minerality that doesn't survive poor sourcing or rough technique. Among mains, the Florentine steak and pigeon served whole with vin santo represent the kitchen operating in its most traditional register, and both are executed in a way that justifies the Michelin recognition. The vin santo preparation in particular speaks to a kitchen confident enough to use a local fortified wine as a cooking medium rather than a novelty garnish.
The terrace is a meaningful factor in when you book. A summer lunch on that hillside, with the Sienese countryside in full colour and locally sourced produce at its seasonal peak, is a materially different experience from a winter dinner. Trequanda sits in a part of Tuscany that sees genuine seasonal shifts, and the garden-and-farmer sourcing model means the menu moves accordingly. If timing is flexible, aim for late spring through early autumn for the full range of what the kitchen can do with its suppliers.
Google rating of 4.4 across 784 reviews is a useful signal: this isn't a restaurant that sustains its reputation on passing tourist traffic alone. A volume of reviews that size, consistently high, in a village as small as Trequanda, points to a place that earns repeat visits and word-of-mouth recommendations from people who know the region well.
For food and wine explorers travelling the Val d'Orcia or Crete Senesi circuit, Il Conte Matto fills a specific gap: it offers the regional depth and ingredient honesty you'd expect from a much more expensive restaurant, at prices that allow you to eat well across the whole trip without one meal overwhelming the budget. The chef, Andrea Campani, and the kitchen's direction under Chef Chiara represent a collaboration that has clearly found its voice , the Bib Gourmand in consecutive years is confirmation of consistency, not a one-season spike.
One practical note on the setting: Trequanda is a small village in the Siena province, and getting there requires either a car or a pre-arranged transfer. This is not a restaurant you stumble into from a city hotel. Plan for it as a destination, not a convenience stop. That commitment is part of what makes the meal feel earned, and it's consistent with how the leading rural Tuscan cooking experiences tend to work , you travel to where the ingredients are, not the other way around.
For more options in the area, see our full Trequanda restaurants guide, our full Trequanda hotels guide, our full Trequanda bars guide, our full Trequanda wineries guide, and our full Trequanda experiences guide.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy. Given the Bib Gourmand recognition and the terrace's appeal in warmer months, don't interpret that as an invitation to leave it until the last moment. Reserve at least a week ahead for summer visits; shoulder season is more forgiving. The restaurant is located at Via Taverne, 53020 Trequanda SI, Italy. A car is required to reach it comfortably.
Quick reference: Tuscan, €€, Bib Gourmand x2, terrace seating, car required, book ahead in summer.
See the comparison section below for how Il Conte Matto sits against the wider Italian fine-dining field.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Il Conte Matto | €€ | — |
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | €€€€ | — |
| Dal Pescatore | €€€€ | — |
| Enoteca Pinchiorri | €€€€ | — |
| Enrico Bartolini | €€€€ | — |
| Le Calandre | €€€€ | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
The venue data doesn't specify private dining or group capacity, so check the venue's official channels before committing a large party. Given the converted historic building and terrace setup, larger groups should confirm space and menu flexibility in advance. For small groups of four to six, the format — set seasonal Tuscan dishes, shared starters — suits the style well.
The cooking under Chef Chiara is straightforwardly Tuscan: seasonal produce from the garden and nearby farmers, with dishes like artichoke flan, classic Florentine steak, and whole pigeon with vin santo. The hams are reportedly a strong opening move. The setting is a converted 14th-century gamekeeper's house with a terrace overlooking the hills, so a table outside in good weather is the ask when booking.
Book at least two to three weeks out if you're visiting in spring or summer, when the terrace fills fast after two consecutive Bib Gourmand years brought wider attention. The booking difficulty is rated Easy, but that reflects off-peak availability rather than peak-season reality. Don't leave it to the day before if you're travelling specifically to eat here.
Trequanda is a small hilltop village with limited options at this level, so the practical alternatives are in nearby Val d'Orcia towns. For similar Tuscan seasonal cooking with Michelin recognition, look further into the Siena province. If you want to stay in the €€ Bib Gourmand tier across Tuscany, Il Conte Matto is one of the stronger choices in this part of the region rather than a compromise pick.
At €€ pricing with back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition in 2024 and 2025, it represents some of the strongest value in southern Tuscany. The Bib Gourmand designation is specifically awarded to restaurants offering good cooking at moderate prices, so the value case is independently verified. If you're in the Val d'Orcia and want a meal that justifies a detour without the cost of a full Michelin star restaurant, this is the call.
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