Traditional Florentine cuisine
For over one hundred years travellers have come to Buca Mario, to the heart of Florence, from all over the world, to delight their taste buds with old Florentine recipes. Buca Mario is housed in a sixteenth-century buca. In Florence, buche were typical cellars situated beneath imposing historic palazzos often owned by aristocratic families. They were used to store salted meats, ham and salamis, and, above all, to house precious wine.
Enormous oak vats lined the thick walls, which maintained an ideal temperature. As you make your way down the old entrance stairs of Buca Mario, it is impossible not to step into the past. The vaulted arches and bare brickwork are a reminder to customers that they are eating in the midst of history, surrounded by the traditional flavours of the splendid city of Florence.
A large wooden display case frames colourful fresh vegetables, which, like sculptures, welcome diners, conjuring up the tastes and aromas of the Florentine hills.
A corridor leads to dining rooms further inside the building, stylishly furnished with an elegance that only classic tradition can confer.
Next come the beautiful wine cellars, where small store rooms house fine wines carefully conserved over time. Crowning this "space of the past" is a sixteenth-century dining room, set aside for VIPs who want a more private and exclusive ambience. It can seat about ten diners, and is illuminated by a large fireplace in pietra serena, a local grey sandstone.
Buca Mario passes on its ancient culinary codes and hospitality from generation to generation, and is still run today, in traditional Florentine fashion, by the Pasquetti family.
