Arnolfo – a snapshot of the state of Tuscan dining?

I have over the years been rather dismissive of the gastronomic restaurants of inland Tuscany. I have been to almost every Michelin starred restaurant in that area and I cannot say I have had a particularly interesting meal anywhere. Meals have been tainted by average ingredients prepared with an execution level that leaves a lot left to wish for. The wine lists of these restaurants are almost always a treat to browse with their vast selections of wines often priced just above retail prices or below for older vintages stored by each respective restaurant.
When commenting on the state of affairs in Tuscany I have often been told with withhold any final judgment before visiting Arnolfo, the reputed 2-star Michelin in Colle di val d’Elsa, a town famous for glassworks.
The exterior of Arnolfo on a narrow street in the old town belies its fantastic exposition on the other side of a picturesque Tuscan landscape. Well, that is to say you benefits from that if seated in the rooms facing the windows. For anyone going to Arnolfo it is good advice to avoid the small square room with no windows containing four tables, each seating two people, set up in such a way that guests are all starring at each other.

The menu is not huge, which is a good thing if quality is high. The two set-menus offered only choices from the a la carte menu and it seemed wiser to for each of the two of us to order one antipasti, one pasta dish, one meat course and a dessert, which meant that we would sample almost half of what was being offered.
The taste of the food throughout the meal was good in that there were no off flavours. On the other hand, the food does not taste Tuscan. It tastes “international” and as such it is a bit boring. It is the typical restaurant that wants to impress with presentations on multiple plates. The gazpacho served as a starter was ok as a gazpacho but the oyster with basil sorbet served á part was there it seemed only to make the dish more complex without a reason. However, the gazpacho was probably the best dish of the meal.

The ravioli with rabbit were good but the sauce lacked dimensions. It was served with a side dish of cubes of cold jelly of white beans and cold rabbit meat. I find it hard to see any justification of cold jelly of beans with its resulting rubbery and starchy texture. Why?


The lamb main course was prepared with average quality lamb that on top of it all was severely undercooked. I complained about the lamb and explained why I felt it was below par quality. The response was that it was as good as it gets in Italy and that you cannot find lamb in Italy on par with the best French lamb. Indeed true, I have never had great Italian lamb in an Italian restaurant. The guinea fowl breast filled with prunes and served with plums tasted of prunes and nothing else. It actually had such a cloying sweetness to it that made me wonder if it had not been more suitable as a dessert.
The wine list is fantastic and packed with reasonably priced great wines. We opted for a 1990 Barbaresco Giacosa S. Stefano Riserva that was magnificent and made the meal quite enjoyable despite food much too average for the price charged.
It seems that the state of gastronomic dining in inland Tuscany continues to be a sad story.
Gastroville rating of the food: 12/20.
Arnolfo also has a couple of hotel rooms. They are clean nice but the airconditioning was not really working on our visit. The breakfast is fantastic.
/Mikael J.