il bel paese
By Amy Chambers, Founder of Scappare Travel Club
Let’s escape, and talk all things Italy…
Hidden Italy
The South Tuscany Lunch that started with a housekeeper and ended with a dance
Trattoria il Leccio
A Hidden Italy Gem at the Top of Sant’Angelo in Colle
There is a restaurant in southern Tuscany that I think about more than I probably should – and you should go there. It sits at the top of a tiny hilltop village called Sant’Angelo in Colle, in the Montalcino area, about as deep into the south Tuscan hills as you can get – basically where the landscape becomes a painting. It is called Trattoria il Leccio, and I am telling you about it because it is the kind of place that changes how you think about Italian food – Tuscan food to be precise (no real such thing as ‘Italian food’), and because you should know it exists.
How I Found One of Tuscany’s Best-Kept Secrets
The first time I went to il Leccio, I was staying in my friend Luca’s apartment in Montepulciano. Luca pointed my best friend and I all the way across Tuscany to this little village for lunch. He recruited his housekeeper Zarina, a lovely woman, to drive us there herself. On the way we stopped at one of my favorite wineries in Montalcino, and the head winemaker without any prompting from me mentioned that he himself crosses the nearby hill regularly for lunch at il Leccio. When a Montalcino winemaker tells you that, you pay attention.
At the top of the hill, no cars, no tourists.
Zarina dropped us at the base of the hill (cars not authorized to enter the ZTL can’t go up it). We walked up. The view on the way was the kind that makes you stop and just stand there for a minute. At the top, they sat us by the window at the front. Zero tourists, all locals inside. No English spoken. Just locals, wine people, and the smell of something extraordinary coming from the kitchen I will never forget it. I thought I must be in paradiso (heaven).
Gianfranco and Fifty Years of Tuscan Cooking
The owner is Gianfranco, and il Leccio has been around for over fifty years. That fact alone tells you everything about why the food is so delicious – and grounded in a sense of place. The menu changes with the season because that is how Gianfranco does it. The ingredients are local, simple, and treated with the kind of respect that only comes from someone who has been cooking the same way for half a century because it works, and because he has respect for his territory.
Antipasto platter, il Leccio.
The antipasto came first – simple, homemade, lights-out delicious and I cannot tell you everything that was on that plate because I was too busy eating it to take notes.
Handmade, hand-assembled, deeply local. Then the pasta arrived and that is where things got serious.
A regular pilgrimage.
The Handmade Pici, Ribollita, and Chianina to Order
Il Leccio is known for its handmade pasta and for good reason. The pici, which is the thick hand-rolled pasta native to this part of Tuscany, comes two ways: with a slow-cooked ragu that tastes like it has been going since early morning, or all’aglione, in a rich, garlicky tomato sauce (large garlic from the area) that is one of the great preparations of the region. The ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach is delicate and light in a way that you can taste when someone genuinely knows what they are doing. When porcini are in season (Fall – and there has to have recently been rain, I was told by my Tuscan friend Andrea who lives in the area), the tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms is the thing to order. One food writer specifically named il Leccio’s tortelli maremmani among the best in the entire area, and after eating it, I would not argue.
If you go in the cooler months, the ribollita, the thick Tuscan bread and vegetable soup, is exactly what ribollita is supposed to be and you rarely get it like this outside of a home kitchen in Toscana. For secondi, the Chianina Florentine steak is the real thing, from the white cattle that have roamed this part of Tuscany for centuries and are treated with love and respect. The wild boar preparations are serious, traditional and seasonal. The tagliata is the kind of dish that reminds you why Tuscan cooking is uncomplicated and extraordinary.
Brunello di Montalcino and the Nod From the Locals
The wine list is deep and built around the surrounding territory. Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino, local producers, correct serving temperatures. That last detail sounds small and for us it is – for them it’s not. They want everything to be perfect for you, down to the degree at which your wine is served. The list is a serious one and the fact that winery owners from Montalcino regularly recommend this restaurant and eat here themselves is, in the world of Tuscan wine, about as strong an endorsement as exists.
We ordered a Brunello with lunch, as one does in that part of Tuscany, and when the server brought it out the Italian couple at the table next to us gave us a long, slow, approving nod. I think about that nod often and since then that nod has often made me check what the locals are drinking when I consider which wine to order, which I still do today.
Why Hidden Gems Italy Like This Belong on Small Group Tours Italy
My best friend and I ate that lunch slowly, with wine, by the window at il Leccio with the Tuscan sun coming in, surrounded by Italians who clearly came here all the time because of course they do. It was one of those meals that does not feel like it is ending even when it ends. And it never has…
I take my STC clients here now when we are in the area. In the fall of 2024, my client Mike tasted the pasta and did a little dance right there at the table. I understood him completely. Bravo Mike – or as we lovingly call him now – Michele ;)
That lunch and this restaurant is one small example of how Italy will take over your soul. It did mine. And I will never be the same. It is also exactly the kind of stop our Italy small group trips are designed around: hidden Italy, family-run trattorias, and the slow lunches that make the country what it is.
Go Here!
So here is something just for you today. If you find yourself in southern Tuscany, whether you are traveling with us on one of our small group tours Italy or completely on your own, find Sant’Angelo in Colle, walk up that hill, and ask Gianfranco for a table.
Order the pici. Order the Brunello. Let the afternoon take its time.
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