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Hosteria Il Carrocio

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Tana B.
Tana B.
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
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Hosteria Il Carrocio

  • January 6, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Tana B. from Santa Cruz, California
Hosteria Il Carrocio

My own best meal in all of Italy was in Siena at the Hosteria Il Carroccio. The bread soup is sublime perfection (especially perfect on the chilly day before Easter, when we ate there). Their house dessert, a molten chocolate thing, is not to be missed. To find it, face the town hall at the Campanile, point out your right arm to one o’clock, and head in that direction, walking down the passage (Casata di Sotto). You could probably just follow your nose; that's how I found it. The owner opened the door to talk to someone, and the aroma hit me like those curled fingers of smoke in cartoons—the ones that lift you deliriously off your feet and float you to the table.

While there are Michelin-starred restaurants where the wealthy congregate to be dazzled and fawned over, Hosteria Il Carroccio offers something to the traveler seeking the essence of Italia: a simple meal, made with honest ingredients and prepared with love. This lunch was, for me, an epiphany.

The couple at the table next to us was American, and they were clearly traveling in style. "She orders Tuscan bread soup every time she sees it on the menu," he told me. "Even at the little places on the Autostrada—the food is that good." But we took most of our cues from the proprietress, who looked like a beautiful, stylish, Italian version of Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. She can advise you on what to order if your stomach doesn't automatically start gurgling when you look at the menu. She clearly loves her work and appreciates the enthusiasm with which guests enjoy her food.

Hosteria Il Carroccio is the tonic to be administered to the clueless sorts who think Italian food can be found in an Olive Garden chain.

From journal Siena: Paradise in and out of the City Walls

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