GUCCI OSTERIA, FLORENCE

On the first floor of the Gucci Garden, which is situated on the beautiful Palazzo della Mercanzia, resides Gucci Osteria. The incredible cultural history of Renaissance Florence permeates the restaurant, as well as the rest of the site (there’s a huge 19th-century oil portrait by Domenico Induno in one of the presentation rooms that everyone should see). Chef Massimo Bottura – who holds three Michelin stars for his restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena – leads the kitchen here, and he brings an ingenious menu to Gucci Osteria, one that you can enjoy in a dining room decorated with culture. Original stone merchant coats-of-arms from the 12th century adorn the walls, while framing the eaves of the room are lines from the 15th-century carnival song Canzona of the Seven Planets, written in gold lettering. Modern art, it ain’t; a humbling artistic experience, it most certainly is.