Regina Bistecca

Since 2018 at the pass

At the pass, Vincenzo di Lorenzo keeps the cut moving as Chef at Regina Bistecca in Florence, where bistecca alla Fiorentina sets the rhythm of the kitchen. He has held the Executive Chef post since 2018, the year the restaurant opened under his direction, and his brief reaches beyond the grill. He sets the menu’s line, holds the standards of service, and keeps the room’s appetite tied to the discipline of Tuscan steak cookery. The house sits at Via Ricasoli n.14r, close to the Duomo, but the work is not decorative. It depends on repetition, judgment, and the ability to read beef before fire changes it. Di Lorenzo’s public lineage here is the restaurant itself: opening it, managing it, and cooking the recipes that fixed its first expression. What it does state, through the plate, is a narrow commitment to Chianina IGP cattle, minimal seasoning, and a rare center protected by a charred exterior.

Chianina, salt, pepper, oil

The kitchen builds its signature around bistecca alla Fiorentina, often cut for sharing at a 1.2kg minimum. Staff may show the raw beef before it reaches the fire, a bench-side gesture that makes the cut legible before the grill takes over. The method stays close to Tuscan grammar: Chianina IGP beef, coarse salt, freshly ground pepper, Tuscan olive oil, then heat from a bespoke charcoal grill or wood-fired hearth. The aim is not complication. It is surface, smoke, fat, and restraint. Starters keep to the same register, with chicken liver crostini, hand-cut veal tartare, Tuscan canapes, local cheeses, meats, breads, and bone marrow around the steak rather than in front of it. The sides carry familiar weight: creamed spinach with Parmigiano, Fagioli Zolfini with extra-virgin olive oil, potatoes, salad, and bread with arugula or other dips. The wine program follows the meat, with Tuscan reds at the center, including Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico Riserva, Super Tuscans, and regional bottles that give the table structure without pulling attention from the cut.

The old room around the grill

The room keeps its own memory while the pass works. Regina Bistecca occupies a historic former library and part of a former anatomy theatre, with exposed brickwork, antique bookshelves, vintage chandeliers, warm light, and a mid-century retro line folded into traditional Tuscan materials. It is polished without becoming stiff. Conversation can sit at the table. The counter and pass hold the practical center of the house: beef arriving, cuts discussed, plates leaving with the bone still declaring the dish. Around that, the dining room gives the steak a Florentine frame, not a stage set. Bookshelves, brick, chandelier light, and charcoal smoke do the slower work of atmosphere.

A steakhouse measured by its cut

The house has recognition, including a No.29 Meat Master placement in Worldbeststeaks 2025, and Di Lorenzo oversees the daily handling of Chianina beef. At Regina Bistecca, salt, pepper, olive oil, fire, and the bistecca alla Fiorentina define the craft.