Dining

Salefino & La Bottiglieria: Siena's Modern Wine Address

Every city needs a counterweight to its grand old dining rooms, and in Siena that's Salefino — a restaurant and its sister wine bar, opened in the early 2010s by a couple who decided the city's food scene needed something that didn't look backward.

Where Osteria Le Logge trades on 1977 provenance and a wine cellar carved from Etruscan tunnels, Salefino is the opposite instinct: contemporary, natural-wine-forward, and unbothered by tradition for its own sake.

The Restaurant: Salefino Vino & Cucina

Opened by Alice Dal Dosso and Claudio Di Sante — partners in both life and business — Salefino set out from the start to deviate from the traditional Italian menu structure, favouring a more fluid, dish-driven approach over the standard antipasto-primo-secondo march. The kitchen sends out a short roster of savoury plates rather than a fixed sequence of courses, with a couple of tasting menus for those who want to hand the evening over to the kitchen. The atmosphere reads as deliberately curated rather than inherited: modern and classic touches balanced together, a warmth that reviewers consistently describe as personal rather than corporate.

The wine list is the real draw — roughly 150 labels, with a rotating dozen or so open by the glass, weighted heavily toward small, artisanal Tuscan producers rather than the predictable big names. It's a list built for people who want to discover something, not just confirm what they already know about Tuscan wine.

The Sister Venue: La Bottiglieria

A short walk away on the adjacent piazza, La Bottiglieria Salefino is the more casual half of the same project: a wine shop and bar built around natural wines, pairing cocktails and a serious natural-wine selection with tapas-style small plates rather than a full sit-down menu. It functions as both a destination in its own right and a natural extension of an evening that started at the restaurant — order a bottle to drink in, or buy one to take home.

Practical Information

Salefino Vino & Cucina

€€€
  • Tuscan
  • Contemporary
  • Wine bar
Address
Via degli Umiliati 1, 53100 Siena
Hours
Dinner Mon–Sat from ~7:30pm · closed Sun

La Bottiglieria Salefino

€€
  • Wine bar
  • Small plates
Address
Piazza del Sale 3, 53100 Siena
Hours
Evenings Mon–Sat ~6pm–midnight · closed Sun

Price range: €€–€€€ at the restaurant; more casual pricing at La Bottiglieria for a glass and small plates.

Good to know: the two venues sit in the Camollia quarter, slightly outside the immediate Campo tourist perimeter — a short, worthwhile walk rather than a stumble-upon.

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By the Siena & Toscana editors