What Tuscan bread and tomato salad is served in summer?

What Tuscan bread and tomato salad is served in summer? Panzanella is the answer.

Panzanella is a Tuscan bread-and-tomato salad traditionally served during the summer. Its foundation is stale bread softened with water and combined with ripe tomatoes, onions, olive oil, and vinegar. Cucumber and basil are also common additions, although recipes vary between households and regions. The dish is designed to turn leftover bread into a refreshing meal rather than waste it.

The salad is associated especially with Tuscany and neighboring Umbria. Its name is often explained as a combination of pane, meaning “bread,” and zanella, a deep serving plate. A 16th-century passage by the painter and poet Bronzino is frequently interpreted as an early description of a related salad made with onions, oil, vinegar, purslane, and cucumber, though tomatoes were not yet central to European cuisine at that time.

Panzanella is often confused with caprese salad because both may feature tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. Caprese centers on tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, while panzanella is defined by soaked stale bread. Bruschetta uses toasted bread with toppings, and focaccia is a baked bread—not a salad.