An ode to hospitality: Inside Florence’s Gucci Osteria

Florence is Gucci’s birthplace. It was here that the brand began in 1921, when founder Guccio Gucci opened his first leatherware shop on Via della Vigna Nuova. While Gucci has since evolved into a global powerhouse, it continues to honour its Florentine roots through Palazzo Gucci, within the 14th-century Palazzo della Mercanzia. On a quiet corner of the Piazza della Signoria, in the heart of the city’s historic centre, Palazzo Gucci serves as the House’s cultural destination, home to the Gucci Storia exhibition, a dedicated boutique, a bookshop devoted to art, design and culture, and the Gucci Osteria.

The restaurant has an air of classic elegance, accentuated by antique chandeliers, a painterly floor and petrol-blue velvet banquettes. Intricate wooden furnishings nod to the building’s stately past, as do the stone emblems mounted on the mirrored walls, which were reclaimed from the palazzo’s façade. The latter represent the arti, the professional guilds of Florence’s merchants, who once gathered here to settle disputes.

A Florentine tradition
Florence’s osterie – simple restaurants serving hearty dishes and great wine – are central to the city’s convivial approach to hospitality. At Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura Firenze, the fashion house brings refinement and surprise to this unassuming tradition, while maintaining the warmth and personality of a Tuscan welcome. The restaurant aims to balance sophistication with a relaxed atmosphere, reinterpreting local traditions through a contemporary lens and infusing them with an element of surprise.

Leading the Gucci Osteria kitchen, head chef Takahiko Kondo combines his experience as sous-chef at Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana with subtle Japanese influences. Kondo’s refreshing take on Italian food is anchored in local ingredients. “I came to Italy 30 years ago because I loved this cuisine,” he says. “My approach has roots in Japan but with an Italian soul.”

The six-course tasting menu, Viaggio in Toscana (“Journey through Tuscany”), eschews the obvious, delivering flavours that honour the region, from Livorno prawns to Montalcino raisins. The inventive dishes are perfectly judged: raw amberjack marries sweet yellow peppers and zingy pineapple in an ode to the joyful colours of the Tuscan countryside; the traditional lampredotto (tripe) is reimagined with juicy octopus and black squid ink; and spaghetti alla carrettiera is rich in umami, thanks to koji and a miso-infused broth. The wine pairings are equally inspired, drawing on exceptional bottles beyond the region’s hallowed reds.

Italian cuisine reimagined
Florence hosts the first of three Gucci Osterias, alongside destinations in Tokyo and Seoul. Developed in partnership with lauded Italian chef Massimo Bottura, each restaurant offers a fresh interpretation of Italian identity – grounded in craftsmanship, heritage and quality, but expressed with a playful, upbeat and globally minded perspective. It’s an attitude that draws from Bottura’s signature humour and reflects Gucci’s vision of sophisticated, spirited elegance.