When I moved to Tuscany as a teetotal vegetarian, I had little idea what an anomaly I would be. In a region famed for the quality of its wine and the tenderness of its steak, I soon learned that to eschew Florence's eponymous dish, the bistecca fiorentina, was to commit a culinary sin almost as grave as drinking cappuccino in the afternoon. And in Italy there are no transgressions more serious than culinary ones.
Meat is so central to the Tuscan psyche that people here routinely address each other as "ciccio" ("piece of meat"). In order to be taken seriously by my Florentine friends, I was soon obliged to sample some steak, which had to be washed down with a sip of red wine. It was so good that, after a decade of avoiding meat, I was suddenly hooked on the tender, juicy taste.
But it took a butcher to properly convert me - although Dario Cecchini is no ordinary butcher. He is known as the best in Italy, which probably makes him the best butcher in the world. Cecchini's passion for meat and the traditions of his homeland have not only made him globally famous but also persuaded him to open restaurants to extol the virtues not just of bistecca fiorentina, but other, lesser known, cuts of meat and dishes.
His shop, the Antica Macelleria Cecchini (via XX Luglio 11, 0039 055 852020), is an old-fashioned butcher's in Panzano-in-Chianti. Halfway between Florence and Siena, Panzano is vintage, idyllic Chianti country: a tiny stone town perched high on a ridge where the remains of a medieval castle overlook rolling green hills punctuated by groves of silver olive trees and rows of elegant cypresses. For seven days a week Cecchini presides over proceedings, joking with customers as he dispenses cuts of meat, advising on cooking methods and sharing recipes that sometimes date back to the Renaissance. Cecchini is a resolutely Tuscan character with a booming voice and large expressive hands, given to quoting Dante as the mood takes him - although he does this less now that tourists turn up expecting him to spout poetry with each cut. Nonetheless, a marble bust of the great poet sits in the shop and Cecchini is not shy about linking his own talents with meat to the Renaissance artists' skill with marble, paint and words.
Like the Renaissance masters, Cecchini's talent lies in distilling traditional arts into something new. In his most recent venture he has brought his passion and innovation to fast food. Last year, in a room above his shop, Cecchini opened a fast food joint, Mac Dario, to prove that just because food is fast, it doesn't have to lose any quality. Two lunch menus are available. The basic €10 option gets you a massive burger with roast potatoes, vegetables and red wine, not to mention being serenaded by the staff. The second, €20 menu features four meat specialities from the shop: meatloaf, Chianti sushi (steak tartare), roast pork and what Dario calls Chianti tuna (a marinated pork dish).
Cecchini's family have been butchers for 250 years and Dario is the eighth generation to enter the trade. His education started in the family house opposite the Macelleria where, with both parents busy at work, his grandmother was his main influence. "Most of my taste memories are from her," he explains. "She was a great cook and it was from my family that I learned how to use other cuts of meat, not just the bistecca. Nothing was ever wasted." Dario's own career as a butcher began when he was 20 and his father passed away (his mother died when he was 16), and he abandoned university to return to Panzano and take over the business. But it was his theatrical approach that got him noticed. He became a local celebrity when, at the height of the mad cow crisis in 2001, he held a funeral for the bistecca, afterwards auctioning off the last legal pieces of meat to the highest bidder.
But celebrity or not, what keeps people coming back is the excellence of his meat and the recipes he doles out. Cecchini's zeal for good meat is not bound by tradition either - he doesn't use the Chianina beef usually favoured in Tuscany but instead has a supplier in Catalonia. He explains: "I don't follow breeds. I want the highest quality meat available at a reasonable price. The most important thing is that the animal should have had a happy life." Thirty years' experience means he can instantly tell how an animal was raised simply by looking at the meat.
Cecchini's first restaurant, SoloCiccia (Only Flesh), which opened in 2006 in a building opposite his butcher's shop, is still going strong. The surprisingly contemporary interior houses just a handful of communal tables where, for €30, a six-course feast celebrates every possible cut of meat except the bistecca. Again, there's nothing fancy here, just good meat cooked to perfection. The roast beef is beautifully tender and pink, and the Florentine Eyeballs are delicious and not as scary as they sound - tender minced-beef meatballs with a sprig of rosemary pushed into the middle. Red wine from Dario's own small vineyard flows, and by the time the man himself appears to tell stories and make sure all is well, it feels like the jolliest of dinner parties. Whenever I visit, I seem to acquire new friends and a pocketful of phone numbers.
Cecchini's other restaurant, Officina della Bistecca, which shares the same space as Mac Dario and is open only at night, is dedicated to the perfect bistecca. Served rare and accompanied by nothing but a drizzle of olive oil, this T-bone is the quintessential steak, and again, prices are reasonable, tables communal and the atmosphere fun and friendly.
"The most important thing, when someone comes here, is that I give them a taste of happiness." And with that, Dario Cecchini slices up another bit of happiness for another devoted customer.
• For information on Dario's restaurants, visit dariocecchini.com. Meridiana (0871 222 9319, meridiana.it) flies Gatwick-Florence from around £70 one-way, inc tax. Ryanair.com flies to Pisa from seven UK airports. Fagiolari (+055 852351, fagiolari.it) is a B&B one mile from Panzano with five double rooms, from around €95 per night.
