Okay, I pasted that link to my earlier post on Florence & Rome poorly, so here's the post, re-pasted in it's entirety:
I have not been back to Florence in just over a decade, and never took good notes the decade or so ago I was there. But there is a restaurant called Cibreo that is off the hook amazing, very fine dining though - a several hour you need a jacket to get in affair. They used to operate an Osteria next door, which used to offer the same items a la carte in a communal dining setting. Not sure if you are into wine, but the two wine bars that I can recommend are: Le Barrique and Le Volpe L'Uva (the latter is right next to the Boboli Gardens if you are sightseeing and a nice place to stop midday).
http://www.edizioniteatrodelsalecibreofirenze.it/http://www.levolpieluva.com/Le_volpi/Home.htmlhttp://www.enotecalebarrique.com/The Tuscan countryside is peppered with small towns throughout the Chianti Classico region, each of which usually has one or two very nice but relatively casual places to eat. My wife and I spent a week driving around the region drinking wine and just eating pretty much wherever we ended up at dinner time and never had a bad meal. There are far worse ways to spend a day there than renting a car and heading out into the countryside. Also, the Mercato Central is fun food-centered tourism, you can buy great stuff like olive oils that you'd pay three times as much for here (this may no longer be true, the last time I was there was pre-Euro) and all kinds of great cheeses, and it's just a good place to stroll around for an hour. The Antinori family (Tuscan winemakers royale) operate a wine bar with heavy food emphasis amid the main shopping district if you are there, great wines including some of their really high end stuff are accessible to all since they glass pour everything they make and the food is quite good.
This is from an email I sent to a friend about my go-to spots in Rome:
Here's the 3 spots in Rome I would definitely go back to if I went there:
Ristorante Settimio
Via delle Colonnelle 14
near the Trevi fountain if I remember right. The phone number is 06 678 96 51. The staff speaks English, but we were the only Americans there the night we went (which I consider a good sign).
Enoteca Cavour 313
Via Cavour 313
right down the street from the Coliseum, but not really a tourist spot. Awesome wine list and really good cheeses (most of which are hard to get here) and salumi.
Dar Poeta
Vicolo del Bologna 45/46
this is the pizzeria in Trastevere. It is in a weird corner and hard to find, but totally worth it. I think they don't open until after 7 at night.
Be careful, there are two Settimio's. The one I have been to is close to some sight-seeing, so could be convenient. My wife literally wept at our meal there. When we were last in Rome, we rented an apartment in Trastevere, which is on the south side of the river, a bit off the beaten path. Dar Poeta is loud and a touch hard to find, but well worth it. Don't pass up the dessert pizza with shaved apples and Grand Marnier.