I will be spending 6 weeks in Italy beginning in mid-April, a trip which has been in my mind for 15 years. I'm really looking forward to it after all this time thinking about i! I would appreciate any recommendations you have for restaurants in the following places:

Rome
Naples
Val d'Orcia, especially Pienza where I will be staying
Siena
Florence
Bologna and nearby cities - I will be day-tripping to Modena, Parma, Ferrara, Ravenna, Mantova, and can eat there as well
Venice

Most days I will be looking for something in the 30 euros and under price bracket, but a couple times a week I would like to have a special meal, with price not a particular concern. I don't drink alcohol, so the cost of wine on offer doesn't matter. If you can, please let me know whether your recommendation is in the "special" category or just a good everyday choice - also, if you know a reservation is required/advisable. I will also be looking at some trip reports - if you know of trip reports with good restaurant recommendations, it would be great if you could point them out.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm not much of a pizza eater, but I the one I had at da Michele in Naples was exceptionally good -- I still smile to think of it!
Sorry, I can't help with the rest of your trip -- which looks wonderful!

Take a look at Maitaitom’s most recent trip report for Italy (2018). He had some great restaurant recommendations for Rome and Bologna, many we took advantage of last May and found them to be excellent.


Also, in Bologna we did a food tour with Italian Days https://www.italiandays.it/tour-item...ogna-day-tour/ and really enjoyed it. It’s not cheap but we found it worth the expense. They feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner, so factor that in and it’s not quite so bad. We had wanted to tour Parma and Modena and realized it would be difficult to do on our own as far as visiting factories, and this tour really filled the bill.

kja, thanks for the tip. I believe I ate at Da Michele the last time I was in Naples - 20 years ago! I'm glad to hear it's still good!

tracilee, thanks for the food tour recommendation. A food tour is also on my to-do list, and I'm happy to have a reco.

My trip was some time ago (if not quite so long), but I looked it up before recommending it, and it still seems to get good reviews. ;-)

Our go to place in Venice for a really special meal is Ai Mercanti. Very modern Italian, no “red sauce” on offer.

https://www.aimercanti.it/en/bistronomie/menu.html

We have been there several times, for very special occasions (friend who lives in Venice was told that his first novel was accepted for publication, that was special).

APPARENTELY CRISPY EGG WITH POTATOES’ FOAM AND ANCHOVIES

Peter_S, thanks for the tip! I assume a reservation is in order?

I have been to Italy many times and usually did a trip report. If you click on my name and scroll down to the trip reports, you will find reports starting with my first trip in 2005 (so obviously, those restaurant reports are not recent) and going through my most recent trip this past September. Of course, the last two trips in September 2018 and September 2019 have the most up-to-date reports. Have fun reading!

I would add that almost all restaurants will fall in your under-30-Euro category.

Thanks, SusanP, I will check those out.

Yes, you would need to make a reservation, and I think they do two sittings. We went to the later sitting, allowing time for a pre-dinner Negroni, sufficiently alcoholic to blow your head off.

When you make a reservation, they ask you to call on the afternoon of your booking.

(Apropos of nothing, the celebration with the author had a Fodors link. There was a poster here called Caroline Edinburgh, and it was via Fodors that we met Caroline and her husband, Philip Jones, the writer. Phil has written three novels set in Venice, The Venetian Game, Vengeance in Venice and The Venetian Masquerade. His fourth, Venetian Gothic, is to be published in April. They are fun, most evocative of modern Venice.)