La Botteghina di Civitella — Restaurant in Civitella in Val di Chiana

My partner and I spent two evenings at ‘La Botteghina’ on our trip through Tuscany. Our trip was marred by vicious thunderstorms that were apparently the worst in years for Italy. Lucky us!..... Everything turned around when we discovered this cosy, authentic, welcoming nook in this charming/ romantic little town. Max, the host, was playing ‘Pink Floyd’ on his guitar while the sounds of ‘Wes Montgomery’ were echoing over the stereo. Max, by himself, without a care in the world whether he had a customer for the day or not. Max welcomed us with a smile and politely asked us to sit and relax while he prepared what he thought we would enjoy (we asked for his recommendation) and we were not disappointed. Once we were more acquainted after eating two of Max’s hand made pasta dishes and a litre of house wine, we asked “Do you make a great, authentic Italian pizza? With no response apart from a finger pointed in the air and a lightbulb appearing above his head, as if to say “I’ve got just the thing” he uniformly walked straight back into the kitchen and returned 10min later with what you could describe as ‘Italy on bread’. I distinctly remember the tomatoes being incredibly fresh and vibrant. We asked Max to sit with us after dessert as another litre of house vino rosso was enjoyed. We chatted, played guitar together and shared stories well into the night. To Max, we are tourists from Australia that he hoped could make our evening. To us, Max and his ‘La Botteghina’ made our Tuscany.

If ever you’re around the area of ‘Siena’ or ‘Arezzo’ or even just looking for a day trip from ‘Florence’, then do not hesitate to check out this incredible slice of...

Honestly Max’s restaurant was the best experience I’ve had in Italy so far, It’s a very cosy and lovely restaurant, with amazing food and a very sweet and fun host ! I’ve had a Tuscan soup which I’ll never forget how it tastes like, I felt like I was eating my grandmas food. Max’s fresh food made by his own hands and much love - his own words - makes me want to move to Tuscany. I was told to eat at the other restaurant right next to La Botteghina, and I did twice as La Botteghina was closed and I regret all the time spent in Civitella not eating at Max’s place. Besides the soup I had an amazing gnocchi handmade by him with very fresh tomato basil and garlic sauce, I also tried his fresh focaccia which was unforgettable, his prosciutto and a bit of his ragu pasta and everything was delicious! The reason I’ve had so much food at the same night is because Max’s friends were having dinner there and they nicely invited me to sit with them, as I was by myself. We drank a very good house wine (unlikely to most places I’ve had house chianti in Italy, the one at Botteghina is actually pretty good) and I had lots of fun and a really authentic Tuscany experience which I’ll never forget. If you ever have the chance to visit Civitella don’t forget to stop at La Botteghina and meeting this sweet guy named Max with magical hands who can cook like no one I have met in Italy. By the way, if it’s closed, just call the number on google page and ask him nicely to open, I’m sure he will 😂🤗

Lots of...

The quality of the food is good enough, in line with the high prices.

We went there on a Sunday and we had to wait more than one hour to get a sandwich, a cutlery board and a pasta plate, when the place wasn't half full. The atmosphere score is low for the incredibly weird obsession of the owner to tell everyone who want to sit down that they may have to share a table, especially unsettling when more than half of the seats were available.

A weird experience, and not...