Trattoria dei 13 Gobbi

The name refers to a legend specific to the Santa Maria Novella quarter — thirteen hunchbacks who, according to the old story, gathered in this part of the city for reasons lost to history but immortalised by the neighbourhood's collective memory. Whether the legend is history or invention matters less than the fact that it has given this trattoria a name with genuine character and a positioning that is entirely its own: a local institution with a story, in a city full of local institutions that have forgotten theirs.

The restaurant occupies a room on Via del Porcellana — the same street as Trattoria Sostanza, which gives it formidable company and a standard to maintain — and handles group dining with the confidence of a kitchen that has been doing it for decades. Tables are arranged to accommodate large parties without the awkward geometry that defeats some restaurants; the room has natural warmth, the walls carry the accumulated character of a place that has never needed to redecorate, and the noise level is calibrated for conversation rather than performance.

The menu is reliably Florentine: ribollita with the correct depth of flavour, handmade rigatoni with meat ragu that reviewers consistently identify as a highlight, bistecca fiorentina priced by weight and cooked to the traditional specifications (which means barely cooked — the chianina beef is too good to have the pink cooked out of it). The wine list focuses on Tuscany with the practical intelligence of a restaurant that understands its clientele.

Prices are honest for the neighbourhood — the bill for a full dinner with wine typically lands between €35 and €50 per person — and the kitchen does not allow the volume of group bookings to compromise individual tables. Book via TheFork for the most reliable reservations; the restaurant fills quickly on Thursday and Friday evenings with groups that have clearly discovered what it does well.

A team dinner in Florence has requirements that distinguish it from a romantic or celebratory meal: the table must accommodate a group with ease, the food must be simultaneously impressive and accessible (people who distrust adventurous food will not enjoy themselves, and their discomfort will affect the table), and the room must have an energy that facilitates rather than inhibits the bonding that a team dinner is designed to achieve.

Trattoria dei 13 Gobbi fulfils all three. The pasta and bistecca format is beloved in Florence for precisely this reason — it gives every person at the table something they recognise and want, the shared carving of a bistecca creates a natural moment of communal participation, and the wine is good enough to loosen the inhibitions that make colleagues slow to become genuinely comfortable with each other. The atmosphere tilts celebratory without requiring anyone to be on their best behaviour. This is the balance that makes the team dinner work.

"We used this for a team dinner of twelve and it worked perfectly. The rigatoni was the best pasta of the trip. Massimo our waiter had the professional warmth that makes a group feel cared for rather than managed. The bistecca arrived on a board and everyone suddenly became very engaged." — Join to read full reviews