Vinni E Vecchi Sapori

This was my second time at Vini E Vecchi Sapori (VVS). The last time I was there was 2019 at the recommendation of a good friend who raved about it. Like so many great restaurants in Florence, VVS is inconspicuous and I’d probably walk past it a hundred times without going in. But don’t let it fool you, in order to eat at this cozy, unassuming restaurant, you need a reservation or you’re not getting a table.

What I love about VVS is that it’s lively, intimate, and unpretentious. Its handwritten menu in Italian on one side and English on the other changes often and reflects a healthy number of local options as well. For my appetizer, I went with butter and anchovies. Full disclosure: I love anchovies on my pizza so it’s not as much of a risk for me to get something like this. The dish came with four pieces of toasted bread, a mound of butter, and 5 pieces of anchovies in oil. It sounds weird but a piece of toast with a thin spread of butter and an anchovy is quite nice. It’s not for everyone but it was for me.

For my main dish, there were lots of options. On this evening, VVS had veal, lamb cutlets, codfish, and Florentine tripe to name a few. I asked the waiter for his recommendation, and I took it. The fried chicken and artichokes were fantastic. First, I HATE artichokes, but I’ve never had them fried and like I’ve said before, I’m more adventurous in foreign countries. Second, I had no idea what fried chicken in Italy was like prior to this meal. If I had known artichokes could taste like this, I would have been ordering fried artichokes my entire life. If you had blindfolded me, I would have even known I was eating artichokes. The fried chicken was so good. First, it was boneless which was not negative for me. The succulent pieces of fried chicken were moist and perfectly salted. My only complaint was that there wasn’t more because it was that good.

Overall, I would recommend making VVS a priority if you plan to visit Florence. It’s a casual restaurant that the locals love and tourists seem to know about. They’ve got a good variety of dishes that will appeal to all sorts of diners.