17 Best Restaurants in Naples, Italy

Established in 1905, this Neapolitan institution on Spaccanapoli is a buzzy place to sample some of the finest pastries in town—plus it also makes classic savory dishes, ice cream, and mighty decent coffee.

Here, you can take your pick of the pizzas and pasta dishes, or ask the owners to whip up a panino incorporating some of the excellent cheeses, vegetables, and meats on display. The uniformly high-quality ingredients make up for the spartan surroundings.

For a hot-out-of-the-oven sfogliatella, Naples's tasty ricotta-filled pastry, try the justifiably famous Attanasio (you can grab one as soon as you get off the train). Note, though, that this place is slightly hidden away off Piazza Garibaldi and shouldn't be confused with the touristy restaurant of the same name on the piazza itself.

Stop in for one of the best coffees in town opposite the Roman marble statue of Egyptian river god Nile and marvel at the Pop Art masterpiece homemade shrine to football giant Diego Maradona. Appropriately bearing the colors of Argentina's flag, Napoli's adopted hero is flanked by San Gennaro and Nuestra Senora de Lujan, a clipping from La Gazzetta dello Sport (Sports Gazette), and an ampoule containing tears from the fateful year (1991) when the champion left Naples and his team's winning streak promptly ended.

This place takes its coffee extremely seriously, offering a range of artisanal brews, as well as teas, sandwiches, pastries, and desserts—notably affogato (vanilla ice cream "drowned" in espresso coffee). You can enjoy your selection at a table in the adjacent piazzetta, a refreshingly quiet nook off Via Tribunali.

Every pizzeria along Via dei Tribunali is worth the long wait—and trust us, all the good ones will be jam-packed—but just one can claim to have served a U.S. president: Bill Clinton enjoyed a Margherita here when the G8 was held in Naples in 1994. Today the superlative pizzaioli (pizza makers) turn out a wide array of pizzas, all to the utmost perfection. Skip the calorie-counting, and try the fritte, and you'll be pleasantly surprised with this mix of Neapolitan-style tempura featuring salami, sausage, broccoli, provola cheese, and more. If you want a table, bypass the lines outside (mainly for takeout) and walk right in.

Since 1938, this place has been popular with kids (and decidedly not with health-conscious adults) thanks to its greasy brown-paper bags filled with deep-fried eggplant, zucchini, zucchini flowers, zeppole dough balls, or potato croquettes—the Neapolitan versions of French madeleines. Forget all that stuff about the Mediterranean diet being so healthy and indulge in some oil-drenched bliss.

Connoisseurs often say the most refined pastries in town can be found at Gran Caffè Cimmino. Many of the city's lawyers congregate here, to celebrate or commiserate with crisp, light cannoli; airy lemon eclairs; choux paste in the form of a mushroom laced with chocolate whipped cream; and delightful wild-strawberry tartlets. There are also preprepared pasta dishes for a quick lunch.

A simple enoteca by day, L'Ebbrezza has a dining area in the back that fills up in the evening (and for Sunday lunch), and the attention paid to the quality of the wine carries over to the food. Try one of the fantastic antipasti or the paccheri stuffed with eggplant parmigiana. Other highlights include a daily selection of hot dishes, as well as rare cheeses such as the much-prized pecorino di Fossa di Sogliano from Emilia-Romagna and the local caciocavallo podolico.

At this perfect place for a lunchtime snack, you point to what you want in the tempting glass counter and pay for it at the cash desk. Among the specialties are the usual frittura, tangy cheese pies (sfoglino al formaggio), pizza scarola (an escarole pie with black olives), and omelets stuffed with spinach, peppers, or onions. If you can't find a seat, you can stand against the wall, as some customers do, or just get your order to go and enjoy your meal outside.

Although pizza made using flat, pan-cooked focaccia makes some purists wince, this place makes mouthwatering slices of the crunchy-bottomed creations with a variety of toppings. Skip the predictable tomato variations, and go for the delicious potato-and-rosemary focaccia with melted provola, perhaps washed down with a beer.

Established in 1936, this quartiere Chiaia favorite is the locals' choice for classic Neapolitan pastries like babà (rum-soaked sponge cake), torta caprese (chocolate-and-nut cake), pastiera (tart), and sfogliatelle (shell-shape pastry), freshly baked bread and panini for picnics and buffet/pastry trays for parties.

This café is beloved not only for its excellent coffee but also for its beautiful cakes—concoctions of cream, chocolate, and fruit whose swirls of color make them look like abstract Expressionist paintings. There's also a lunch menu.

The classic address for sfogliatelle is Pintauro, which rarely disappoints. Try one of these fresh from the back-room oven.

A favorite haunt of students from the adjacent school of architecture, Giuliano has an old-style glass cabinet where it keeps the arancini (fried rice concoctions the size of tennis balls). You'll also find deep-fried pizzas, which are filled with mozzarella, tomato, prosciutto, or ricotta and can truly fill that yawning void in your stomach—though you have to sit down on the steps in the square afterward to recover.

This century-old pasticceria is famed for its fiocco di neve (snowflake), a delicious pastry ball filled with cream and ricotta cheese, created in 2015. Chocolate and pistachio are among the recommended variations.

This is the quintessential Neapolitan pastry shop. Although the coffee is top of the line and the ice cream and pastries are quite good—including the specialty, the ministeriale, a pert chocolate cake with a rum-cream filling—it's the atmosphere that counts here. Nuns, punks, businesspeople, and housewives all commune in this unprepossessing yet remarkable space.