Inside W Florence, the contemporary trattoria that focuses on service, sharing, and dishes completed at the table.
The format
There is a line that separates. And there is one that unites. In grammar, it is a line; in typography, a sign of continuity; in design, the beginning of a shape. Here, in Florence, the line becomes a cultural position even before a gastronomic one. This is how Tratto was born: not as a minor derivation of fine dining, but as its natural extension, freer and more urban. We are inside the W Florence, a new lifestyle destination a stone's throw from Santa Maria Novella. The setting is international, but Tratto carefully avoids the “hotel restaurant” effect. Here, you don't come to watch something, but to sit at the table. And you can feel the difference right away.
The gastronomic project does not live in a single space: from the main restaurant to the W Lounge, passing through the internal courtyard and room service, Tratto accompanies guests at different times of the day, maintaining a clear and recognizable identity right from its scribbled dishes.
A truly contemporary trattoria
The project bears the signature of the Trattoria Contemporanea collective, led by Davide Marzullo. But Tratto is not a tame replica of Lomazzo's Michelin-starred restaurant. It is another step forward, using the same alphabet. The technique remains, but it stops showing off: it works behind the scenes, serving rhythm and conviviality.
“At Tratto, you'll find cuisine that reflects Italian spirit, delicious and straightforward,” says Andrea Noto. “We want to bring fresh air and a desire to feel good to Florence.” Cuisine that, as Christian Malatacca adds, “aims to be convivial above all else.” These are familiar statements, but here they are translated into reality, in the dishes even more than in the words.
The menu, dish by dish
Tratto's cuisine is designed to be interpreted freely: the boundaries between appetizers and main courses are deliberately porous, and many dishes can therefore move from one part of the menu to another. This freedom encourages sharing and brings the meal back to a more domestic dimension.
We often start with grilled swordfish bombette with yogurt and arugula sauce: fresh, smoky, playing on the contrast between the grill and acidity. Among the first courses, the mixed pasta with potatoes, mussels, and Podolico caciocavallo cheese is undoubtedly the restaurant's “manifesto.” Creamy, deep, marine, constructed with evident but never ostentatious skill. It is conscious comfort food, which traverses memory without indulging in nostalgia. One of those dishes that remain, also because of how they are served: portioned, shared, passed among diners, just like at home.
Riso alla pizzaiola, rice cooked in tomato sauce, oregano, and stracciatella cheese, draws on popular Italian imagery, transforming a childhood idea into a delicious and precise dish, where simplicity is only apparent. As for meat, the spiced Tuscan beef with cooking juices and pepper sauce is intense, enveloping, and reassuring.
Last but certainly not least, the grilled Chinese cabbage with peanut butter is the most successful deviation from the menu. Vegetable, fatty, aromatic, it defies any rigid classification. Appetizer, side dish, or light main course. All paired with a careful selection of wines from Italy and abroad.
The dessert trolley as a final treat
Dessert arrives on the dessert trolley. Tiramisu, chocolate salami, or sweet focaccia round off the meal without any special effects, but with excellent results. The focaccia, in particular, works on memory and sharing: it is broken, passed around, and eaten together. That is, if your dining companion wants to share it with you. Tratto does not raise its voice. It draws a clear line and follows it. In a gastronomic Florence often divided between museum-like tradition and spectacular fine dining, this project chooses a third way: moderation, consistency, and pleasure.
When you leave, you don't take away a scene, but a precise feeling. Not so much an “iconic” dish, but the memory of a pasta with potatoes and mussels passed from hand to hand, of Chinese cabbage broken and shared, of dishes finished at the table as happens in family dinners. The feeling of having eaten well, yes, but above all of having experienced—even if only for a few hours—a concept of dining that puts the simplest and most radical gesture of all back at the center: enjoying each other's company around a table.
Contacts
Tratto
Piazza dell'Unità Italiana, 4, 50123 Firenze FI
Phone: 055 994 6663
