In the centre of Volterra, a step away from Piazza dei Priori, between the Palazzo Inghirami (1200) and an old quarry (that mined the stone used to build the houses and city palazzos) is Ristorante Enoteca Del Duca, founded in 2001 in a building that dates back to the sixteenth century.

In the wine cellar, once a storeroom for carriages, you can taste over 600 labels of wine, preserved in a charmingly ancient cave that’s been cut out of the sandy soil and Volterra stone. Between the bottles, cold cuts and inevitable cobwebs is a small table for two lucky people. The dining room, formerly a stable, harks back to ancient times with elegant furnishings and soft lighting and an exposed stone and brick floor. At the back, under the Etruscan Acropolis, is a terrace surrounded by the greenery of the ancient stone quarry, which is nice in the day, striking at night, and creates an enveloping atmosphere to accompany guests’ evenings.

The food is creative, linked to local products and prepared by chef patron Genuino Del Duca with brilliant imagination and taste. Among the specialties: wild boar liver pate on caramelized apple and calvados, Coiano melucce sorbet, ricotta and truffle pie, ravioli with fresh tomato cream, basil emulsion, parmesan cheese shavings and chives, ribollita (Tuscan vegetable soup) with pigeon and Volterra truffles (a Buon Ricordo dish), leg of deboned rabbit stuffed with herbs and lamb fillet, beef fillet with Chianti and port with toasted almonds and blanched vegetables with honey. Special desserts, such as the triple chocolate terrine with orange caramel and the cantucci semifreddo (ice cream parfait) with a vin santo reduction. There are also delicious Cinta Senese cold cuts and local pecorino.