Siena Food tour: delicious and tasty stops in the historical centre of the city

In order to really know a place you have to experience it: walking along its streets, stopping in the squares, watching people, listening to sounds and noises and, especially, sensing the scents and tastes. It’s true! You cannot fully discover a destination until you have had the opportunity to taste the flavors and smell the aromas. Our Siena food tour will allow you to taste some of Siena’s ‘piatti tipici’. This won’t be the usual Siena food tasting where you eat and drink while sitting at a trattoria's table. This will be a more original experience, more fun and engaging: accompanied by our guide, you will set off on a real wine and food tasting in Siena. Departing from the beautiful Piazza del Campo, you will make your way towards the historic center, reaching the Basilica di San Domenico. You will stop in a number of different locations, every time tasting a different speciality of Siena cuisine. But this isn’t all! After all, food is also history and culture, so you will sprinkle your tastings with a pinch of interesting anecdotes and facts about what you are tasting. Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? Is your mouth watering? Then read on...  Cured meats, cheeses, pici pasta, cantucci, ricciarelli and panforte are truly irresistible! What do you think? Have we at toscanainside.com given you some precious tips on where to eat in Siena? What we have to suggest is a unique and enticing alternative to the same old lunch in a restaurant or in a trattoria. So, let's have a look in more detail at our unmissable tour of food in Siena! Discover with us all the stages of the tastiest itinerary in Siena!

• 1st Stage: appetizers, cheeses and Siena cured meat

In Tuscany you never start a lunch without a delicious and tasty appetizer. The undisputed protagonist of this first stage of our tasting tour in Siena will be some tasty Tuscan cured meat and delicious cheeses. What marvellous aromas! You can taste excellent seasoned prosciutto, salami and ‘finocchiona’, the typical salami flavored with fennel seeds. Did you know that these were once used just to trick the palate of those who were buying wine? How? Your guide will explain this and many other curiosities about the goodness you will taste. Siena cured meats will be accompanied by some delicious vegetables in oil and excellent Tuscan cheese such as pecorino or the truffle cheese ‘caciotta’. In Tuscany, as in the rest of the world, everything has to be watered down with some excellent Chianti wine. But take it easy, your journey has just begun!

• 2nd Stage: truffle

You’re likely to have asked yourselves where to eat truffle in Siena. How to blame you: what better than to be surrounded by the scent in Siena of truffle? Your starter will continue with a real immersion in the delights of this precious tuber: tasty paté, fanciful sauces and fragrant aromatic oils. Truly mouth-watering!

• 3rd Stage: Pici Senesi

At this point the appetizers should have awoken your appetite and you should be ready for a nice first course! Which one? Well, the typical pasta of the city of the Palio is undisputed: the Tuscan Pici! These are thicker spaghetti made of water, flour, salt and sometimes oil. They are a very ancient preparation that seems to date right back to the Etruscan times. Today they even entered the list of Traditional Food Products (PAT) alongside the best of Italian cuisine such as pizza or tortellini. It’s impossible to resist trying some Pici in Siena! If you are wondering how they will be served, well bear in mind that it depends on the season, but the classics are: ‘cacio e pepe’, seasoned with a succulent creamy sauce made of pepper and pecorino cheese; ‘all'aglione’ which is a tasty tomato sauce containing a nice dose of garlic or ‘con le briciole’, that is with breadcrumbs sautéed in a pan. According to the weather, the first dish could also be a fresh Tuscan panzanella made of stale bread soaked and seasoned with cucumber, tomatoes, onion and some nice olive oil. You can also try the Tuscan tomato ‘pappa’, the tasty soup made with stale bread, tomato and basil and a touch of chili. There are so many delicious things to taste, and the list doesn’t even end here! We can’t leave without a dessert!

• 4th Stage: Siena typical cakes

Last but not least, the gastronomic tour in Siena will end with a nice dose of sweetness... After all, the typical ‘dolci senesi’ are famous all over the world, not only in Italy. Who has never heard or maybe even tasted the Cavallucci or Siena ‘panforte’. But are you sure they were the original ones? Thanks to this experience you can taste, for example, Siena Ricciarelli with the original recipe that, as your guide will tell you, includes almonds, sugar and egg white. Panforte in Siena is definitely another top dish of its culinary tradition. This dessert made of candied fruit, dried fruit and covered with powdered sugar tells an ancient story full of curiosities and anecdotes. Discover them by participating this tasting to discover Siena’s Italian cuisine that will end with a dessert that is a true 'must' of conviviality: the Tuscan Cantucci biscuits 'soaked' in classic vin Santo. Way better than Michelin starred gourmet desserts! Good things are always the simplest and most genuine... and in Siena the typical dishes are just like that: simple, easy, genuine and truly delicious.

What are you waiting for? Book the tasting tour in Siena: let yourself be transported by stories and anecdotes that every dish will disclose, discover all the secrets and the goodness of the typical Sienese cuisine and abandon yourself to a real triumph of taste! You will be, pleasantly but inevitably, overwhelmed. After this experience you will really know everything about where to eat typical Siena dishes!

Buon appetito!