The dry-aged Chianina T-bone, grilled over wood fire to a charred crust outside and blood-rare inside, seasoned only with salt and olive oil. The defining Florentine dinner since at least the 16th-century Medici banquets.

The bistecca traces to the August 10 feast of San Lorenzo in Renaissance Florence, when oxen were spit-roasted on bonfires across the city for the public. English merchants in 16th-century Florence brought the word 'beefsteak' into Italian as 'bistecca'. The Chianina cattle, native to the Val di Chiana since Etruscan times, became the canonical breed. The Disciplinare della Bistecca alla Fiorentina from the Accademia Italiana della Cucina sets the standard: a T-bone 5cm thick minimum, dry-aged 21 days, grilled hot over charcoal or wood, never above 5 minutes per side, never sauced.

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