Salads in Tuscany tend to be served as contorni – side dishes. This composed salad served as a first course – the anchovies closed the deal for us.

We didn’t see a lot of risotto on Tuscan menus. This mushroom version was so good we asked for another order.

We were repeatedly struck by how “integrated” the pasta dishes are in Italy, in contrast to the US approach of interchangeable parts. This penne with wild boar was a wonderful example.

They had regular Tuscan steak on the menu but we were not willing to tackle the full-bore version. We ordered this filet larded with lardo (those translucent sheets you see along the sliced surfaces), a cured “meat” that is all fat. Tuscan beef is very lean, and tenderloin is naturally lean anyway. The lardo, along with the usual olive oil, more than made up for the leanness. This beef came from Falorni next door and while we don’t normally favor beef tenderloin, this was the most flavorful and tender Tuscan steak we tried.

On this truly gorgeous evening, not a soul was dining inside.

The Greve “square” is actually shaped like a funnel. This picture is taken from a table in front of Mangiando, at the wide end of the funnel. You can see the backs of some booths that were used to serve wine at the Chianti Classico festival.

A view of prosciuttos hanging in Falorni on the plaza. You can have a sample at Mangiando.

Downstairs at Falorni is an array of traditional Tuscan pecorinos (pecora is the Italian word for sheep).