Every Tuscan family has a recipe for this soup that has been refined and passed down through generations. The name means reboiled, referring to the fact that it is commonly consumed on the day after its preparation, when it is reheated with a dash of olive oil.

The key ingredients in ribollita are leftover bread, cannellini beans, and seasonal vegetables such as kale, onions, carrots, and cabbage. It is a typical winter dish, and one of its main ingredients, Tuscan kale, is available exclusively in winter.

This soup was originally a peasant dish, and it was first prepared in medieval times when servants and peasants were given leftover bread, which they boiled into a soup along with vegetables and herbs from their fields. As they would make large quantities of the soup, it would get reheated over and over again, and the flavor would improve each time that it was reboiled.