Vivanda

There are species of mushrooms, in nature, that seem very small if you look at them on the surface, but whose roots, hidden underground, extend for kilometers and kilometers. This is the impression made at the beginning of Vivanda, a restaurant and organic wine shop in the San Frediano district, which apparently looks like a place like any other, but is actually part of a larger project involving vineyards, pasta factories and hotel facilities in one big hug, and all in the name of love for the Tuscany territory.

Behind Vivanda is, in fact, a very special reality: fourteen hectares of vineyard recovered from their state of abandonment – an active farm that, for over ten years, cultivated on the hill of the Cerbaie, only olive trees and Tuscan vines with the collaboration of local farmers, producing natural wines and organic farming oil. The faces of these peasants are those that appear on the wine labels themselves- a tribute to the experience of men who have dedicated their whole lives to wine and cultivation.

In addition to supplying the cellar to Vivanda, the vineyards host an old, colonial, hotel surrounded by the green Tuscan countryside and a pasta factory located a few meters from the restaurant, also in the San Frediano district. The organic and handmade pastas are the ones you will find from day to day, on the restaurant’s menu. In short, an all around reality, which brings the genuine values of past agriculture in your dishes and in your glasses.

Vivanda is a completely natural restaurant. Her proposal is constantly changing and updating because it follows the seasonality of the ingredients and a strong vocation to vegetarian cuisine. The best dish? The Tuscan Carabaccia, a typical onion soup whose recipe dates back to the Renaissance times. This does not mean that eating at Vivanda means completing renouncing meat: to accompany wines and appetizers, you will always find excellent cold cults.

For the rest, Vivanda is a paradise for vegetarians and vegans, with all fresh and light Tuscan dishes. But the true, great strength of Vivanda (which, let us remember, is perhaps more wine shop than restaurant) are the wines, all organic and natural, whose production is still carried out manually and is devoid of any artificial treatment. The result? Wines that, from vintage to vintage, change color, alcohol content and perfume.

If the wines made by Vivanda are not enough, you will still be spoiled, having more than one hundred organic and biodynamic labels, that crowd the shelves of the restaurant, from which to choose. The wine shop and the company, in collaboration, organizes tastings, tours of the vineyards and horseback riding on the hills. A truly 360° proposal that exploits and enhances all the beauty and good of the territory, while still respecting sustainability.

Vivanda is, in essence, a perfect place for an aperitif or a quick and light lunch, in one of the most authentic areas of Florence. A place that immediately conveys an impression of youth, freshness and quality, thanks to the relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere that you breathe when you sit at one of the tables.