Antica Osteria da Divo

Description:

• This former trattoria has gone midscale and greatly improved its menu to offer excellent innovative dishes rooted in Sienese traditions in a classy, but not frosty, atmosphere of soft jazz. The main dining room is a crazy medieval mélange of stone, brick, wood supports, and naked rock, while the rooms in back and in the basement are actually Etruscan tombs carved from the tufa. Pici al ragout di lepre (thick hand-rolled pasta strands in hare ragù) and gnochetti di patate con erbe cipollina e pecorino di fossa (gnocchi with chives on a parmigiana pastry crust swimming in melted pecorino cheese) are palate-pleasing primi. For the main course, they ascribe to the growing school of Italian cooking wherein a side dish is included with each secondo (making a meal here less costly than the prices would suggest). A perfect example: the exquisite petto d'anatra al vin santo con patate allo zafferano (duck breast with crisp balls of saffron-kissed mashed potatoes).

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010