14/12/2025: Excellent aperitif, kindness, courtesy and professionalism
20/11/2025: I arrived in Monticchiello on foot from the north. It was a sunny November day and the sun was slowly approaching the horizon. The path was lined with ploughed fields in the color of Tuscan ochre. Medlars and persimmons were ripening, red rose hips glowed on the branches, and fresh acorns lay in the undergrowth. The landscape shone with the full palette of Tuscan colors. In other words, the walk from Montepulciano was enchanting, yet long enough for me to reach La Guardiola with a proper appetite.
I was lucky. Many restaurants were closed off-season, but La Guardiola offered me a splendid gourmet experience. The sun was already touching the horizon over the Val d’Orcia when I ordered my first glass of Orcia DOC red wine for €5.
As a starter, a delightfully light bread with lardo arrived at my table. The slice of bread was toasted, and the lardo from the Italian Cinta Senese breed was thin, transparent, delicious, enticingly glossy, and sprinkled with a generous amount of strongly aromatic rosemary, which paired surprisingly well with the fat.
And now for another completely needless digression: Did you know that the word for ‘pig’ sounds similar throughout Europe? In Italian suini, in German Schwein, in Norwegian svin, in Czech svině, in Polish świnia, in Urdu swuan?
My second course was Florentine tripe (Trippa alla Fiorentina). An unusual ingredient, which I had known only from the Czechia, surprised me here. It was prepared with a tomato sauce. The dish’s flavor was emblematic. Because of their texture, tripe is a very animalistic and dynamic food. My personal theory says that tripe is preferred more by men, for the same reason that sausages and salamis are more popular with women.
My taste buds barely resisted the urge to order another course at La Guardiola. I wouldn’t hesitate to compare this inner battle to the year 1555. Just as the armies of Siena held their last strongholds against the advancing Florentines, but ultimately had to surrender, I too had to surrender the desire to order a third course. Night had fallen, and it was time to head back.
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