Gunè Is a Different Taste of Florence
In a city steeped in culinary tradition, Gunè offers a fresh, personal take on the flavours of Florence.
In Florence, where the culinary shorthand can so easily become bistecca alla fiorentina, ribollita, and peposo, Gunè offers a more contemporary proposition. Tucked in the San Frediano neighbourhood, the restaurant is the creation of Nicola Langone, who grew up in Aliano, a small village in Basilicata, before moving to Florence shortly after coming of age. He opened Gunè as both a culinary statement and a tribute to the women who shaped his life. (Even the name carries the sentiment: Gunè derives from the ancient Greek gynē, meaning woman.) Langone describes the restaurant as an homage to the strong women in his family: the cooks, nurturers, and keepers of culinary memory.
The theme is impossible to miss. The dining room is awash in aqua blue, soft seating, and modern art. Women’s faces look out from the walls—some recognizable, some fragmented or deconstructed—turning the room into something between a gallery and an intimate salon. The all-female front-of-house team, dressed in crisp black and white with bow ties, extends the restaurant’s carefully considered aesthetic into the service itself. Gunè is distinctly un-Tuscan in the rustic sense yet very much feels at home in modern Florence.
The kitchen follows a similar dialogue. Basilicata is Langone’s emotional starting point, while Tuscany is the adopted home that shaped his palate. The result is a meeting rather than a collision: southern Italian ingredients and ideas filtered by chef Vincenzo Gaeta through Tuscan technique and sensibility. Case in point: a particular pasta dish, raschiatelli with pecorino and horseradish. The menus change with the seasons and range from pasta to seafood, game and vegetables with dishes that can be delicate, surprising, and highly composed. Guests can choose from four- or six-course tasting menus or order à la carte.
There are moments when Gunè perhaps pushes its contemporary credentials a little too visibly. A striking blue butter, coloured with spirulina, is the sort of flourish that may intrigue some diners and leave others questioning why not just stick with the olive oil and good bread. Yet it also makes the point that this is not an attempt to reproduce the trattoria experience.
And perhaps that is Gunè’s real appeal. Its clientele includes visitors who have come to Florence hungry for something beyond the familiar classics. They can still find Italy here—its landscapes, ingredients, and inherited flavours—but translated into a more cosmopolitan language. Gunè is Florence for diners who have already seen the Renaissance masterpieces and are ready to discover what the city is doing now.
