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Penna: Il Canto del Maggio

Reviewed by: Dennis from PA, review #1216

When: 2005

Our favorite restaurant in Italy.

Directions: The restaurant is about 30 to 45 minutes south of Florence off the A1 near Terranuova Bracciolini.

As with any dining experience, the food is only one – albeit important – component. And on our first visit to Il Canto in 2001, the food was orgasmic…the pear and pecorino ravioli, Tuscan steaks and desserts were to die for, but it was our server, Simona, who put the evening over the top. The daughter of the owner/chef, she performed a small kindness that cemented the evening at the top of our “best” list.

My wife has an extraordinary love of Concord grapes, which are only in season for three or four weeks in early fall. Septembers in our household are spent searching grocery stores and farmers markets for this delicacy. Being in Italy during September meant she was missing out on a large portion of her annual grape consumption. Well, when her dessert arrived garnished with Concord grapes, she was ecstatic and conveyed this to Simona, who promptly went out to the garden a picked five or six bunches for us to take home! We knew we would never forget the evening, but before we left we took a picture of the four of us with Simona and her dad.

Back to Il Canto in March 2005 and once again, Simona was our server. We give her the picture from our last visit and she was gracious enough to say that she remembered us. We asked about her dog Bella who, on our last visit, was continually sneaking into the restaurant and hiding behind the bar, only to be discovered and shooed out again.

The food at Il Canto was fabulous; we savored every morsel. After dinner we reminisced with Simona and her dad and took another picture… the one from 2001 already on display. It was then kisses all around and ciao, ciao, ciao and off we went into the night, hoping to get back before another four years. We are so lucky to have received the kindness of strangers, now friends.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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Penna: Il Canto del Maggio

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