The cold Tuscan bread salad of stale unsalted bread soaked in tomato water, tossed with ripe tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and basil, dressed with red-wine vinegar and Tuscan olive oil.

Panzanella traces to the Tuscan peasant kitchen of the 14th century, when bread was the main calorie and never wasted; the writer Bronzino described an onion-bread salad in his 1554 'Cipolla' poem. The tomato did not enter the dish until the late 19th century, by which point the canonical mix (bread, tomato, onion, cucumber, basil) had settled. Pellegrino Artusi codified the modern recipe in his 1891 'La scienza in cucina'.

4 editor picks for Panzanella in Florence, ranked by editorial score. All Florence signature dishes · Panzanella across every city.