Tuscan cuisine consists mostly of traditional dishes, many of ancient origin, often medieval. It offers both “land” dishes and, along the coastal strip of Maremma, seafood dishes.

The appetizers from the land are primarily made up of cured meats and crostini. Notably, there’s the raw ham, but also wild boar sausages, salami, soppressata, buristo (a sausage made of pork meat and blood), lardo (famously from Colonnata), finocchiona from Florence flavored with fennel seeds and soaked in red wine. These cured meats are served accompanied by various pickles and oil-preserved vegetables, and, especially in Versilia, with olives preserved in brine (water and salt). The most classic crostini include those with liver and spleen, on toasted country bread moistened with broth or dry vin santo, to be paired with a Chianti Classico or a Rosso di Montalcino. The seafood appetizers are less characteristic, often consisting of raw anchovies with lemon, seafood salads, octopus, and muscles in oil. On the coast, crognoletti or latterini are fried, while in river areas, bleaks are used. The tradition of saltless bread (sciocco) dates back to the 12th century, when rivalry between Pisa and Florence made the price of salt exorbitantly high.

In Tuscany, the sacredness of bread is underscored by the custom of not throwing it away, but rather reusing it, stale, in many traditional soups, such as Panzanella, Panata, Ribollita, Acquacotta, Pappa al pomodoro, Black cabbage soup, Garmugia from Lucca or Scottiglia (stale bread with a lot of meat sauce), also called “meat cacciucco,” dishes traditionally paired with a Chianti Classico. Among the fish soups, the famous Cacciucco Livornese, whose original recipe called for using thirteen to sixteen types of fish, mainly rockfish, can also be enjoyed with a wine like Montecarlo rosso. Among the meat dishes, the Bistecca alla Fiorentina, Beef meatloaf and Veal stew, Wild boar in Chianti and Trippa alla Fiorentina, with vegetables, herbs, and extra virgin olive oil, can be paired with structured reds, such as a Nobile di Montepulciano. Tuscan cuisine also makes extensive use of white meats such as chickens and turkeys, but also geese, guinea fowls, and pigeons. Game dishes such as hare and wild boar, pheasant, and porcupine are widespread. Seafood dishes are common along the coast, with recipes like Florentine-style eel and Red mullets and Stocafisso alla Livornese. There are a few but characteristic cheeses, such as Tuscan pecorino and Maremma pecorino and Raveggiolo as a soft cheese.

Among the desserts, standouts include Panforte, Ricciarelli, Cavallucci, Duke’s soup, Torta di Cecco, Migliacci, Cantuccini, classically paired with Tuscan Vin Santo, or flatbreads, like Pan co’santi, made with bread dough, nuts, raisins, pepper, salt, lard, olive oil, and a little sugar.