Chianina PGI · Valdichiana
Chianina rib steak over the embers
Our Chianina steak is a bone-in rib steak: Chianina PGI from the Valdichiana, dry-aged for 30, 60 or 90 days and cooked over a live fire in Camucia, a few minutes from Cortona. It’s priced per 100 g, from € 6.40.
At a glance
- Breed
- Chianina PGI
- Origin
- Valdichiana, Tuscany
- Animal
- young female, 18–24 months
- marbling
- 2 out of 5
- Cut
- bone-in rib steak, min. 1.2 kg
- dry-aging
- 30 · 60 · 90 days
- Cooking
- over the embers, on a live fire
- Price
- from € 6.40 per 100 g
The cut
Rib steak or Florentine?
Both come from the animal’s back, but from two different points. The bone tells them apart.
- The Florentine
- The traditional bistecca alla fiorentina is cut from the short loin: a T-shaped bone with two cuts on it, the strip loin on one side and the fillet on the other. Think porterhouse or T-bone.
- The rib steak
- It’s cut further forward, where the back carries the ribs: the rib bone stays on and there’s no fillet. A bone-in ribeye, in other words.
Ours is the rib steak: in the photo you can see the fan of ribs still attached, and the minimum cut is 1.2 kg. In Tuscany you’ll also hear it called “costata alla fiorentina”: cut thick and grilled over the embers, just without the fillet.
The breed · Valdichiana
What is Chianina?
Chianina takes its name from the Valdichiana, the valley below Cortona — the same valley we’re in, at Camucia. It’s one of Italy’s white cattle breeds, and we choose ours in person at the farms around us.
Ours is certified under the Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale PGI: breed, farming area and feed are set by a production standard and checked by an independent inspection body. The 5R mark, from the consortium that protects Italy’s white breeds, follows the animals from farm to counter.
The Chianina PGI we serve comes from young females of 18 to 24 months, with marbling of 2 on a scale of 5: an intense, lingering flavour, delicate and fragrant on the palate, with notes of hay and cereals and a very sweet fat.
In the dining room a whole wall is given over to the certificates of our cuts, each one traced back to its origin: just ask our staff.
Dry-aging
Dry-aged 30 · 60 · 90 days
Dry-aging is how beef matures: it becomes more tender and more flavourful. The same Chianina at three different stages of aging: from the clean taste of 30 days to the tertiary aromas of 90.
| Dry-aging | Character | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| 30daysThe start | Classic balance: fibre still firm, clean flavour of meat and iron. Notes of hay and cereals, very sweet fat. The Florentine as you know it. | € 6.40/hg |
| 60daysThe turn | The enzymes have done half the work: the fibre yields, the bite turns buttery. The first notes of hazelnut and melted butter appear. Many regulars’ favourite. | € 6.90/hg |
| 90daysThe depth | The flavour concentrates and turns towards mushroom and cellar. Meat for connoisseurs, to chew slowly: every bite gives back months of patience. | € 7.40/hg |
If there are at least four of you, the Chianina Vertical Tasting brings all three agings to the table. See the tasting menu →
Cooking
How we cook it
Over the embers, on a live fire: the fire burns in the corner of the dining room and the steak cooks before your eyes.
“We don’t ask you how you want it cooked: we decide, based on the animal.”
Wines and sides
What to have with it
Sides
Among the sides on the menu: potatoes and onion cooked on the embers, Tuscan flask-cooked beans, vegetables. And the schiacciata, our flatbread, made in house every day like the pasta and the desserts.
Sides on the menu →Wines
The wine list has local reds — Cortona Syrah, Nobile and Rosso di Montepulciano — then Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Bolgheri, plus sparkling wines and French bottles. Several reds are also poured by the glass.
See the wine list →Book
How to book
Book a table through the form at the bottom of our home page, or by phone.
Where we are
Via Lauretana 957, 52044 Camucia di Cortona (AR)
A few minutes from Cortona · summer garden
Large free car park
Opening hours
- Monday – Friday12:00–14:30 · 19:30–21:30
- Saturday – Sunday12:30–14:30 · 19:30–22:00