Onde — When the Sea Reaches Florence

A palace as a stage. The sea as a language. Florence as a backdrop.

There are restaurants one visits out of curiosity. And then there are the others — the ones we walk through as if they were entire cities of their own, destinations within a destination. Onde, the newest arrival at the Renaissance jewel that is the Four Seasons Firenze, is one of them. Set in the restored Palazzo del Nero, it brings a different kind of soul: younger, more vibrant, more unrestrained. A modern osteria, with its eyes on the sea and its feet firmly planted on Florentine marble.

 

Beyond the tall windows lies one of the city’s most charming terraces. It offers a unique view over the Giardini della Gherardesca, promising that Florence’s finest summers will be celebrated al fresco, as the Italian romantics would say. Inside: an open kitchen, a visual language that draws from both Amalfi and Milan and a DJ marking the evening’s tempo.

The atmosphere beats to the rhythm of a night that doesn’t want to end — festive dresses, soft linen, high heels, and endless loops of summer hues.

Paolo — Between Stars and Sea Breeze

We knew what we were in for. We knew Paolo Lavezzini’s signature from Il Palagio — the starred and more solemn sibling of this new house. Here, the tone is different. The menu is looser, yet no less precise. Comfort cooking, polished aesthetics, and the intimacy of someone cooking for a full house. Created over an open kitchen where we can see fire, cuts, and movement — supported by a young, elegant team with that effortless charm only Italians seem to master.

The menu revolves almost entirely around the sea — with apparent simplicity and clearly stated intent. An exercise in restraint and desire, led by someone who knows when to stop.

We started with bread. As one should. The focaccia was good, the olive oil even better. The bread? It won’t change your life — but it’s the first to arrive at the table and join the conversation.

Then, a triumphant entrance: a selection of crudi straight out of a manifesto. Langoustine, oysters, scallops, tuna with bottarga, two types of prawn, and thin slices of rascasse and snapper. No dressing up. Just product, salt, a few drops of olive oil, and little more — a declaration that this is not just a restaurant but a celebration of everything fresh and authentic the sea has to offer.

We paired it with Ferrari Perlé 2018 — fresh, fine, with an elegant mousse and a dry finish, as if asking for more sea on the table.

Between Comfort and Depth

Then came the comfort. Handmade tortellini filled with sea bass, immersed in a deep fish and cuttlefish broth that tasted like a rainy Sunday at your grandmother’s house.
Some dishes are like that — unknown yet deeply familiar. With the proper depth, warmth, and confidence of someone who knows exactly what they’re doing. Texture, long aromas, and the flavour of a lingering embrace.

A Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2022 from Valle Reale followed, cleansing the way with precise freshness and just the right austerity. Everything is in perfect measure.

And then came the pièce de résistance — a whole sea bass grilled over charcoal, served with vegetables en papillote and a delicious shallot mayonnaise. An unlikely pairing, but why not? It arrived like a canvas: crisp skin turned to the sky, deboned, steam escaping gently from its flanks.The doneness? The skin is undeniably crisp. But I’ll admit — my Basque instincts always crave less: I want the flesh just barely cooked, still glistening, releasing its juices slowly under a thread of olive oil. Apparently, it’s not just Portugal still negotiating that winding road toward the perfect fish point.

In the glass, a vintage Jermann — no introduction needed. It performed as if accompanying a classic: sharp freshness, restrained opulence.

Sweetness & Memory

For dessert, the kitchen let loose. Paolo must have said, ‘Go on, have fun.’ And they did — shaping a faux lemon that hid a citrus tiramisù: creamy mascarpone, Sicilian lemon, and that rare balance between lightness and indulgence.

We ended with a return to childhood: a reimagined banana split. Ice cream, cocoa crumble, a mousse hiding inside a fake banana. Let’s just say there were smiles at the table.

Music continued to flow, the room alive with warmth, elegance, and rhythm — and just as we turned our eyes back toward the sea… no, there were no seaweed desserts or shellfish sweets. The petit fours carried the marine theme instead: shell-shaped madeleines, coral-like chocolates, hazelnut and coffee confections. A true collection of edible artifacts to close the evening.

Service with a Face

In Italy — or perhaps more precisely, at a Four Seasons — service is part of the performance. And here, it didn’t miss a note.
Young people, well-dressed, poised, smiling. They know when to speak and when to leave silence untouched. They know where they are, who they’re serving, and what they’re meant to provide. And they do it with that rare kind of grace — even in a setting this grand.

A Noite terminou no Bar Berni — o novo espaço de Antonello Palermo que conhecíamos do Atrium. O primeiro vermute bar da cidade, de ares costeiros e alma florentina. Ali Bebeu-se por exemplo um Capraia: mezcal Siete Misterios, Cocchi Dopo Teatro, manjericão, fumo. Um copo com sotaque e personalidade bem italiana!

The night concluded at Bar Berni — the new space by Antonello Palermo, whom we knew from Atrium. The city’s first vermouth bar, with coastal accents and a Florentine soul. There, we tried the Capraia: mezcal Siete Misterios, Cocchi Dopo Teatro, basil, and smoke. A glass with a proper Italian accent — and a personality of its own.

 

Final Considerations

Onde is not just a restaurant within a hotel. It is a place within a place — a haven open to the city, with its own pulse and a voice you can hear even at low tide. It breathes sea air and light. It serves beauty and flavour with the grace of someone who understands the value of silence.

Paolo Lavezzini conducts a kitchen that moves with perfect rhythm — somewhere between samba and sea breeze, between Ayrton Senna and Roberto Benigni. There’s precision, there’s ease, and there’s that relaxed confidence that belongs only to those who no longer need to prove anything. Because here, elegance lies in the gesture. Never in the effort.

Four Seasons continues to show that it knows how to dance off script — and remind us why it remains among the grand hotels of the world.

We will return to Il Palagio, as one returns to silence and the liturgy of perfection. We will return to Onde, as one returns to the sea — or to a secret city only shared with those who hear the same we do.

𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘉𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.