🐌 What is the Slow Food “Chiocciola” Award?
Every year, Slow Food Italia publishes its prestigious Osterie d’Italia Guide, a reference point for lovers of authentic Italian cuisine. Within this guide, the “Chiocciola” (the snail symbol) is the highest recognition a local restaurant or osteria can receive.
Unlike luxury ratings such as Michelin stars with its fine dining, the Chiocciola Italian restaurant award celebrates authenticity, hospitality, and respect for local traditions. It honors Italian restaurants that embody the Slow Food philosophy: cooking that values time, territory, and sustainability — often using seasonal, locally sourced ingredients (km 0), traditional recipes, Tuscany food specialities and warm hospitality.
The Osterie d’Italia Guide 2026 features 30 Top restaurants in Tuscany (osterie Slow Food) that have earned this distinction. Each of these best places to eat in Tuscany represents the very best of the authentic Tuscan food — from best Tuscan countryside restaurants in Pistoia, Arezzo or Florence to seaside hidden gems in Livorno and Grosseto.
