Re di Puglia

Re di Puglia occupies a converted 19th-century farmhouse on the Via Aurelia, on the northern edge of the San Rossore presidential park ten minutes' drive from the Old Town. The dining rooms — three interconnected stone-walled halls with timber-beamed ceilings, terracotta floors, and a wood-fired grill at the centre of the main room — handle two hundred covers across two services. The restaurant has run since 1979 and has been Pisa's most-defended bistecca destination for over four decades.

The cooking is Tuscan steakhouse in its most confident expression. Bistecca alla fiorentina from Maremmana cattle, dry-aged in-house for forty days, grilled rare over Tuscan oak and served by weight (the kitchen will weigh and price the cut at the table before cooking); tagliata di manzo with rocket and aged Parmigiano; cinta senese pork ribs slow-cooked over hardwood; San Rossore wild boar braised in Chianti; a serious antipasti Toscani board with finocchiona, soppressata and pecorino. Vegetarian options exist but the kitchen's reason for being is the grill.

The wine list is — naturally — beef-led. A serious Bolgheri programme; a Chianti Classico vertical; a Brunello di Montalcino section; an Amarone della Valpolicella row from the Veneto. Magnums and double magnums are the format for serious team bookings. Service is family-run, fluent in English and German, and runs at a hospitality-warm register that scales to large groups without faltering.

Re di Puglia is the team-dinner default for serious Pisa business gatherings. The three connected dining rooms handle private parties of six to forty without missing a beat; the wood-fired grill is the visual centrepiece; and the bistecca-by-weight ordering rhythm is a shared experience that suits a group. Value is excellent: a long evening for ten with bistecca and Chianti rarely exceeds €120 per person.

Re di Puglia is the team-dinner room in Pisa. The three interconnected halls handle group bookings of any size; the bistecca-by-weight format is a shared theatrical experience; the wine list handles magnums for celebration; the bill at the end is fair. It is also a confident birthday dinner for someone who appreciates serious Tuscan steakhouse cooking, and works as a deal-closing room when the brief is generous Italian hospitality rather than tasting-menu refinement.