Tuscan fire, shaped by excellence and family craft

I Due Cippi returns as the continuing No. 4 in the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2026 and remains the reference point for Italy. In Saturnia, a small Tuscan town known for its thermal springs and historic square, this is a restaurant where the experience is shaped by one enduring constant: the open fire, over which not only the beef, but most of the products on offer are prepared with the discipline that only comes from repetition, memory and time.

What makes I Due Cippi so compelling is that it is not a concept built to impress, and yet it does so with quiet elegance and beauty, both on the plate and throughout the restaurant. It is a house with rhythm, shaped by family history and sharpened into something unusually complete. The fire is not a design element. It is the centre of gravity. It draws the room together and gives the restaurant its identity long before the first cut reaches the table.

At the heart of the experience is dry ageing and a serious approach to selection. The beef comes from local Italian and European breeds alongside Japanese Wagyu, with the restaurant’s programme built primarily around meat that has been aged to develop depth, structure and definition. The result is not about excess, decoration or technique for its own sake. It is about letting time do its work, then using the grill with enough restraint to keep the beef in full focus.

The cooking is anchored by a custom-built wood open-fire grill, where flavour is shaped by heat, smoke and timing rather than sauce or distraction. This is the kind of place where the simplest-looking plates often carry the most confidence because the work has already happened earlier: in the choice of cattle, in the patience of ageing and in the discipline of the fire.

Alongside the beef, signature dishes such as Piccione alla brace, foie gras e albicocca, Lingua alla brace, seppia al carbone, colatura, olio e limone and Trippa & Lampredotto are delivered with exceptional quality and precise cooking, reinforcing the restaurant’s authority well beyond the steak itself. The house charcuterie selection is equally impressive in its quality, while an increasing presence of greens adds freshness and balance to the strength of the meat offering.

Yet I Due Cippi is not static. Under its young, highly talented chef Lorenzo Aniello, the kitchen and the product continue to evolve from year to year, refining technique, strengthening the sourcing network and sharpening the overall experience. There is a clear sense that the restaurant’s best is still ahead.

The wine offering led by Alessandro Aniello adds another layer of depth and reinforces that sense of completeness. The cellar is treated as a central part of the house, not a separate world running alongside the kitchen and it supports the menu with a strong Italian / Tuscan foundation that suits the fire-led focus of the restaurant.

Ultimately, I Due Cippi holds its position at No. 4 because it represents a rare kind of assurance: a restaurant that has refined a Tuscan tradition into something precise without making it feel engineered.