The twice-cooked Tuscan bread-and-bean soup, built off the previous day's minestrone, layered with stale bread, cavolo nero kale and cannellini beans, baked until the bread has dissolved into the broth.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Ribollita means 'reboiled' in Italian. The dish traces to the Tuscan peasant table, where minestrone left over from a Friday meatless dinner was thickened with stale bread on Saturday and re-baked into a denser dish. The name was canonised by 20th-century food writers including Pellegrino Artusi. Cavolo nero, the curly Tuscan kale, is the canonical green; cannellini and borlotti beans split the legume roster. The Slow Food movement enrolled ribollita in its Arca del Gusto in 1997.
Common allergens: Gluten
Tip from the editors. The overnight rest is non-negotiable; ribollita means re-boiled and the day's rest is what makes it dense.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Trattoria Mario in Florence's San Lorenzo has run the working-class lunch counter since 1953 next to Mercato Centrale, with a daily pasta carte at €8 a primo and a glass of house red for €3.
Try: Lunch trattoria pasta and meat
Order: Ribollita, pappardelle al cinghiale, a glass of house Chianti for €3.
Tip: Queue from 12:00; lunch-only Mon-Sat. Cash only. Closed all of August.
Why locals love it: Bus 35 to a 1901 trattoria the working quarter still treats as its own; Friday-night bistecca dinner is the seating locals book three weeks ahead.
Tip: Lunch Mon-Sat; dinner Friday only. Book three weeks ahead for Friday.
Why locals love it: Family-run cucina povera since 1963 just off Piazza Santo Spirito; ribollita and trippa for €10 a course, no concession to the centre's tourist circuit.
Tip: Closed Sunday; cash only. Lunch is calmer; dinner books up a week ahead.
Trattoria Marione in Florence's Santa Maria Novella quarter runs the unfussy lunchtime carte locals queue for, with the four pillars of Florentine cucina povera and a chalkboard daily menu.
Signature: Ribollita, Bistecca alla fiorentina, Pappardelle al cinghiale
Order: Ribollita, pappa al pomodoro and the bistecca alla fiorentina by the etto.
Tip: Cash and card; queue from 12:30. Closed Sunday; lunch and dinner both seat at 12:30 and 19:30.
More cities are in research. Want ribollita covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.