Queues outside All’Antico Vinaio – best known for its generously filled Tuscan-style sandwiches – have been a familiar sight in Florence for more than three decades. They’ll soon be replicated in Soho, when an outpost opens on Old Compton Street on September 20.
This will be the first London All’Antico Vinaio, joining branches across Italy and America. It takes over the site of Soho’s historic Italian deli I Camisa & Son, which closed in August 2024 after more than 60 years of trading.
“I felt it was time to write a new chapter,” says All’Antico Vinaio’s second-generation owner, Tommaso Mazzanti, who joined the family business at 16. “London, and especially Soho, is a place that represents energy, diversity and movement. It’s the ideal environment.”
All’Antico Vinaio began life in 1991 as a 20-square-metre bakery in Florence’s historic centre, near the Palazzo Vecchio, where it gained a cult following for its schiacciata. Reminiscent of focaccia, schiacciata has a crisp outer shell and chewy, pillowy middle. Here, the affordable Tuscan staple is stuffed with locally cured meats, cheese, vegetables and spreads that spill from its centre.
The Favalosa, with sbriciolona salami, house-made pecorino cream, artichoke and lightly spiced fried aubergine, is the family’s signature, while the Toscana, featuring Tuscan salami, aged pecorino, sun-dried tomatoes and a silken onion cream, is also popular. And you can expect more pared-back lunch staples like the Emiliana, filled with feather-light mortadella and stracciatella.
Mazzanti is also promising fillings unique to Soho, including The Royal – whose filling is under wraps until opening – as well as a quirky Tuscan take on a local tradition.
“On Sundays, we’ll bring our own version of the Sunday roast – the iconic British ritual – inside a Florentine schiacciata. It’s our way of saying that wherever we go, we always try to respect local traditions and merge them with ours.”
All’Antico Vinaio opens at 11am on September 20. The first 500 people in line will get a free schiacciata.
All’Antico Vinaio
61 Old Compton Street, W1D 6HS
Hours:
Mon to Sun 10am–10pm
