[WesternCulture]

“(..) my favorite lunch was to go into a deli and get a wide but random collection of cured/smoked meats and some cheeses and eat them straight out of the paper.”

- Yes, that's the way to go exploring the great cusine of Tuscany.

Don't bother with the tourist trap restaurants. Go straight to Mercato Centrale and ask the vendors what they have on offer.

Italian restaurant owners are businessmen. This must be remembered. They have no reason selling you great dishes using the best of ingredients for seven Euros when they could get away with making a nice profit feeding you pig's garbage.

If you wish to enjoy proper Italian cooking, consult restaurants in the upper middle class neighborhoods in the cities. They depend on the local clientele not tourists and therefore have to perform at a much higher level. You can't go wrong.

[posterchild]

consult restaurants in the upper middle class neighborhoods in the cities. They depend on the local clientele not tourists and therefore have to perform at a much higher level.

That's good advice for any city in any country.