Nonna Delfina was born nearly 100 years ago in a farmhouse in the valley beneath the La Ferdinanda Medici villa.
 
She lost her father when she was still young and went to work in the service of a noble Venetian family, the Dobrowolnys who lived nearby and who managed the estate. Here, she learnt how to run a large house and how to bring a little refinement to tasteless rural dishes.
 
Delfina went on to marry a huntsman from the estate’s Granducale Reserve and had two children, Anna and Carlo.
 
In the 1940s, she began preparing food for the huntsmen who came to hunt in the Reserve and by the end of the 50s, when tourists began visiting the Medici Villa, her house had become known as a pleasant place to stop and eat.
 
Such was her success that it was decided to turn the house into a trattoria which she ran, grew and improved until it became the famous restaurant that it is now. Today, the restaurant is still run by Delifina’s family.
 
Delfina now spends her time picking herbs, tubers and fruits of the forest which complement her rural dishes so well.
 
She lives with her family, her son, daughter-in-law, daughter and grandchildren and continues to play a vital role. She can usually be found with a basket of green beans or peas to be podded, or with a pile of laundry to be folded.
 
Over the years many famous faces have come to eat at Defina’s, including Ardengo Soffici, Gilberto Bernardini, Quinto Martini, Arrigo Rigoli, Professor Sabin and Salvatore Quasimodo, along with many more who have left their names and comments in the guest book.
 
Delfina’s story is well documented and has already been researched and written about in papers and food magazines all over the world.