The Oltrarno's most adventurous twelve-seat counter, with a Loire-and-Mosel section the rest of Florence ignores.
· Iconic Il Santino is the twelve-seat wine bar the Marin family opened on Via di Santo Spirito in 2010 as the standing-only companion to their full restaurant Il Santo Bevitore next door. The wine programme is more adventurous than the restaurant's — Tuscan core with serious detours into the Loire, Mosel and Slovenia, and a by-the-glass list rewritten weekly on a sheet of paper taped to the counter.
The format is deliberately uncomfortable: you stand, you drink, you move on. Sommelier Sebastiano Capponi runs the floor and will pour an off-list bottle if you ask the right question. Ranks second because the cellar is the Oltrarno's most adventurous and the standing-only honesty is rarer in Italy than it should be.
For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best wine bars in Florence, the broader Florence wine bars guide, and our category index of wine bars worldwide.