If you are in Tuscany, can make it that far south (past Montepulciano) and your budget allows it, I would highly recommend Ristorante La Frateri di Padre Eligio at the Convento S. Francesco in the town of Cetona.

I ate there with my wife and my father in law last week. My brother in law, who couldn't make it, somehow knew about this place. It is set in a restored thirteenth century convent next to the town of Centona in the southern Tuscany countryside. Their website, which includes address and telephone, ishttp://www.mondox.com/frateria/home.html (the links are in English).

We drove up at 1:00 pm without reservations and found a sign at the door of the convent saying it was open again at 2:00 pm. However, after wandering outside the walls for a while, we noticed a family sitting out on a veranda eating and located a gate that allowed us to walk across immaculately manicured classical gardens and ascend a exterior staircase to where they were sitting. We walked past the dining people and their waiter and entered the building. There were two long tables immediately inside, in a room that looked like a well-appointed 60s style chapel. I would say the restaurant could seat 20 people at most. On the day we visited, the restaurant had no other patrons except the family on the veranda, who were British.

Although we had no reservations, we were quickly given a seat at one of the indoor tables by the rail-thin and dour looking, but charming, maitre d’. He informed us that we could only have a menu based on what was available for the day. Cost: EUR 88 per person excluding wine. We agreed and in a few minutes he appeared with a nine course handwritten menu. He also brought the thick wine list, which consisted mainly of Italian wines with a liberal sprinkling of the usual Bordeaux and Burgundy culprits plus an odd German. Prices in the winelist ran from EUR 20 to EUR 880 a bottle. We asked him to select wines for us that would go best with the food, keeping the price reasonable.

Over the next two and a half hours we had a wonderful lunch, served to us by a young waiter who spoke no English and the maitre d’ who introduced the courses in Italian, English and sometimes German if we asked him. Our excellent meal consisted of the following courses/wines:

Wine 1: A bottle of the house Prosecco – made by them from grapes on the premises. It was called Brut L’Annuncio di Montanioso – Mondo X. Surprisingly good, bone dry. Seems to have been on the house.

Course 1: Apertivo del Convento. Four different salamis and two spreads, caper and black olive, served with a selection of homemade traditional breads.

Wine 2: A bottle of Poliziano Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 1999 (EUR 40). Excellent – nearly identical to the 1999 Poliziano Asinone, which I tried that evening, in body in flavor but at half the cost.

Course 2: Terrine di fegato al miele a pan brioche del prugne. A terrine of calves liver pate with prunes, served on raisin bread.

Course 3: Timballino d’orzo ai cipollotti e capperi. A barley concoction, elegantly presented, very original.

Course 4: Bigne goccia d’oro. Golden fried cheese balls made from a combination of four local cheeses.

Wine 3: A half bottle of 2001 MSI. Antinori “Servalo della Sala”, a tuscan chardonnay blend. (EUR 20).

Course 5: Ravioli alle erbe di campo al leggaro burro d’aglio.

Course 6: Piccione alle due cotture. Pigeon in two pieces, cooked two ways.

Intermission: Peach sorbet.

Wine 4: A half bottle of 1996 Vallocaia Vin Santo Dolce Sinfonia dessert wine (EUR 30).

Course 7: Spumone al limone in salse alle frutta.

Course 8: Deliate del Convento. About ten “Petit fours” apiece.

It was a wonderful experience, made more so by the heavenly setting, the view out to the gardens and the fact that we basically got a private meal served to us by two very attentive people. In going to the restroom, I got to see more of the convent, which was filled with all manner of artworks from Italy and far away places like Africa. The bathrooms were all green marble and very plush.


I found another recent amateur review at http://viatraveldesign.com/journal/archives/000057.html .




Now for the interesting twist: this restaurant seems to be run by an odd cult, judging from their website. Seehttp://www.mondox.com/indexingle.html . The organization is called Mondo X, and appears to be a combination drug rehabilitation program/luxury hotel chain (see e.g. their new center in Formica). All is centered around the teachings of someone who calls himself “Father Eligio”. Looking at the “Communities” link on their website, their centers are usually in historic monastery buildings, but I doubt they are in any way linked to the Catholic Church. The Cetona town website (atwww.cetona.org ) gives a hint…it carefully refers to the Convento S. Francesco as aformer friary. Most of the teachings of “Father Eligio” that appear on their website sound like the rantings of a lunatic. Don’t ask me where they got the funds to restore the S. Francesco convent or the buildings on the island of Formica (also on their website).

I knew none of this when I went there, however, and had a great time.