Cooking with purpose.
A table in Florence,
a way of thinking about food.
Ora opened in 2019 in a narrow street in Florence's Oltrarno neighbourhood. The name means "now" in Italian — a reminder that the only meal that matters is the one in front of you.
Head chef Marco Ricci grew up spending summers on the Amalfi Coast, watching his grandmother cook from memory rather than recipe. No measuring, no timers — just instinct honed over decades. That philosophy is baked into everything we do.
We don't reinvent Mediterranean cuisine. We respect it. The techniques are traditional; the sourcing is obsessive; the execution is precise without being precious. We want you to feel well-fed, not impressed.
"Good food doesn't announce itself. It just stays with you."
Four things we refuse to compromise on.
Sourcing
Every producer on our supplier list has been visited in person. We know their names and they know ours.
Seasonality
The menu changes when the produce does. Not when marketing says it should. We don't serve tomatoes in February.
Simplicity
A plate with three components, all perfect, beats a plate with ten that are merely interesting. Restraint is skill.
Hospitality
Service is not servitude. We want you to feel like a guest in a home, not a number in a system.
"The Mediterranean table has never needed reinventing. It needed remembering."— Marco Ricci, Head Chef
The people behind the plates.
Marco Ricci
Head Chef & Co-Founder
Sofia Navarro
Pastry Chef