Nunziatina’s — Frutta Verdura e Gastronomia di Nunziatina Picciafuochi
There are places in every Italian town that tourists walk past without a second glance — and that locals would never dream of missing. The best schiacciata in Cortona is not in a restaurant. It’s at a fruit and vegetable shop on Piazza della Repubblica. If you want to understand how Cortona actually lives, this is where you start.
What Is Nunziatina’s?
On the surface, it’s a fruit and vegetable shop — the kind that has existed on every Italian piazza for centuries. Seasonal produce, local farmers, honest prices. But that description barely scratches the surface of what Nunziatina Picciafuochi has built here over the years.
Come in the morning, and you’ll find the freshest local fruit and vegetables in Cortona — sourced from the surrounding Val di Chiana, seasonal and genuine. Come at lunchtime, and you’ll find something else entirely: schiacciata, Tuscany’s beloved flatbread, filled with local cured meats, cheeses, and seasonal vegetables, made fresh and sold from behind the counter to a queue of locals who know exactly what they’re doing.
This is where Cortona eats lunch. Not the tourist menus. The real thing.
The Schiacciata
Schiacciata is Tuscany’s answer to focaccia — a flatbread baked with olive oil, dimpled and golden, with a crust that gives way to a soft, yielding interior. At Nunziatina’s, it’s the vehicle for some of the best simple food in Cortona.
The fillings change with the season and what’s available: local prosciutto and fresh pecorino, roasted vegetables with olive oil, mortadella with fig jam, porchetta with salsa verde. Nothing complicated. Everything excellent.
There is no menu, no English translation, and no laminated card with photos. You look at what’s there, you point at what you want, you say “grazie” when it arrives. This is how lunch works in Cortona, and it works beautifully.
Insider tip: Go before 1pm — the best schiacciata sells out early. And don’t be intimidated if you don’t speak Italian. A smile and a point will get you exactly what you need.
A Cortona Institution
Nunziatina Picciafuochi is not just a shopkeeper — she is a presence in the life of Piazza della Repubblica. Locals stop to chat. Regulars are greeted by name. The rhythm of the shop reflects the rhythm of the town: busy in the morning, unhurried at lunchtime, closing in the early afternoon as Cortona takes its well-earned rest.
The shop is also a source of genuinely local knowledge — what’s in season, who’s growing what, which olive oil is worth buying this year. This is the kind of information that doesn’t appear in any guidebook, and that you’ll only find by talking to the people who have been here all their lives.
Local Life in Action
Visiting Nunziatina’s is not a tourist activity — it’s an invitation into the everyday life of Cortona. The expats who have settled here know this. The farmers who supply her know this. The schoolchildren who stop in on their way home know this.
If you’re staying in Cortona for more than a day, make it a habit: buy your morning fruit here, pick up a schiacciata at lunchtime, and watch the piazza from the doorway while you eat. You’ll understand the town better in twenty minutes than most visitors do in a week.
Insider tip: The shop is at Piazza della Repubblica 24 — right on the main square, steps from the Palazzo Comunale staircase. You cannot miss it, and you should not miss it.
Practical Information
Name: Frutta Verdura e Gastronomia di Nunziatina Picciafuochi
Address: Piazza della Repubblica, 24, Cortona
Hours: Morning to early afternoon (closed Sunday)
Best time to visit: Before 1pm for schiacciata
Insider Tip
Cortona’s best experiences are rarely the ones in the guidebooks. They’re the ones that happen when you slow down, look up from your phone, and pay attention to where the locals are going. Nunziatina’s is one of those experiences — unhurried, unpretentious, and completely genuine. In a town full of things worth seeing, this is something worth doing.
