Ristorante Giglio

Ristorante Giglio occupies the piano nobile (first-floor reception level) of an eighteenth-century palazzo on Piazza del Giglio — one of Lucca's most beautiful small squares, directly across from the eighteenth-century Teatro del Giglio. The dining rooms have the original frescoed ceilings, oak floors, and high windows that look down onto the square.

The kitchen is run jointly by three young chefs — Lorenzo Stefanini, Stefano Terigi and Benedetto Rullo — and earned its Michelin star within a few years of opening. The cooking is Modern Tuscan in the best sense: the classical Lucchese repertoire (farro, Sorano beans, wild boar, chestnut) is intelligently revisited rather than dismantled, and the kitchen is unusually serious about vegetable cookery.

The format combines an à la carte and two tasting menus — a shorter five-course at €85 and a longer eight-course at around €135. There is also a dedicated vegetarian tasting menu, which is exceptional. The wine list runs to about seven hundred labels with strong Tuscan and Italian backbone.

The room takes around forty covers across two interconnected salons in the palazzo. Service is professional, warm, and clearly enjoyed by people who care about the project. Closed Wednesday; book three weeks ahead for Saturday evening.

Giglio is the most romantic first-date table inside the city walls — the Piazza del Giglio location is one of Lucca's prettiest small squares (the eighteenth-century Teatro del Giglio sits across from it), the dining room is the piano nobile of an eighteenth-century palazzo with frescoed ceilings, and the cooking is the work of three young chefs who clearly enjoy what they do. Order the vegetarian tasting if it appeals — it is one of the best of its kind in Tuscany.