1178 Best Restaurants in Italy

For a relaxing aperitivo at the port overlooking the sea, Bar da Carola has a generous and delicious little spread with your drink of choice, not to mention a supersweet staff. 

This busy café-bar has outside seating on the basalti flagstones with views of the port, so you can watch the boats coming in and out while munching on island-specialty lingue di bue and classic sfogliatelle pastries, panini, or semifreddi (frozen desserts similar to ice cream).

Everyone in Rome knows Bar del Fico, located right behind Piazza Navona, so if you want to hang out with the locals, come here for a drink or something to eat at any time of day or night. In the mornings, chess players sit at tables outside under the shade of the fig tree that gives the bar its name; after sunset, the bar is packed with people sipping cocktails.

Throughout Sicily there are fierce arguments about who makes the best granita, and everyone has an opinion. But for many Messinese, the end of the discussion is Bar del Sud, a neighborhood favorite since 1968; their dairy-free granita is spectacularly creamy and resembles gelato in its consistency. Sit at one of the tables on the narrow sidewalk or order directly from the counter.

This spot just outside the walled town of Monteriggioni is the perfect stop on the way to Siena from Florence or vice versa. The bar serves excellent coffees and sweets, and the highly informal dining room offers terrific local specialties such as sublime panini, which can be topped with sott'olii (vegetables preserved under olive oil). You can order takeout or sit outside with a nice glass of wine while you eat.

Stop here to sample every Sicilian sweet imaginable, from freshly made cannoli and biscotti to marzipan confections and gelato. The bar-pasticceria is a local favorite breakfast spot, as evidenced by the crowds who fill the outside terrace, consuming great coffee with their cornetti or brioche with granita. 

Here, gelato production is artisanal, and the selection of seasonal sorbetti and cremolate (the latter is similar to sorbetto but made with the fruit pulp rather than just fruit juice) is diverse. Although the gelateria got a contemporary makeover for its 50th birthday, it offers the same old-fashioned treats that the family has been serving for decades.

More than just a place to wait for the bus—it's at the main SITA Chiesa Nuova bus stop—Bar Internazionale is a meeting place for locals and visitors alike, a happy spot where you can read newspapers from several countries while nursing a creamy cappuccino. Many visitors experience Positano only in a tourism bubble, so this is good spot to mingle with working positanesi.

It's a most unassuming bar a stone's throw away from a massive Medici villa up the hill, and you might be tempted to walk right past it. Besides serving the usual array of coffees, spritzes, panini, and wines by the glass, it turns out terrific pizzas.

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.

With an outdoor terrace overlooking the Spiaggia Grande, this is an ideal stop for a coffee, a sandwich, or an ice cream. By night, the latest music pumps from the stereo and the clamor of sporting events blares from the large-screen TVs, as movers, groovers, and soccer fans from around the globe sip cocktails after a hard day on the beach.

For a delicious cannolo, fruit tart, or bignè (cream puff), local cognoscenti make a beeline for this classic bar and pastry shop near Piazza Sulis, where the sweet delights displayed are made with the lightest pastry and the freshest fillings. Good coffees, ice creams, and sandwiches are also available, and there are tables inside and out back.

Steps from Oristano's tourist office, you can take a refreshing break with a coffee and a pastry or panino at this relaxed café on the corner of Piazza Eleonora. The outdoor tables are ideal for people-watching, and ice creams are also available.

Deep in the atmospheric Sotto Salone market, this busy bar does a fab selection of filled tramezzini (triangular sandwiches), panini, and other snacks. It's a great place to hear the local dialect and mingle with the market workers and shoppers any time of day; grab a breakfast coffee and brioche, a glass of Falanghina, or a bit later—after 11 am perhaps—an apertivo with snacks. Ask behind the bar or one of the locals about the various wines and snacks chalked on the board.

Recently restored to its 19th century glory, Bar Stefano is one of Arezzo's oldest coffee shops, known colloquially and affectionately by its original name, Gli Svizzeri. Stop by for an almost overwhelming selection of homemade pastries, cakes, savory focaccias and, during the summer months, gelato, as well as excellent espressos and cappuccinos.

Locals hold animated conversations over pints of beer in this modern take on a traditional stube. Tasty South Tyrolean specialties include bierspeckknodeln (homemade beer bacon dumplings) and bauerngröstl (beef, onion, and potato fry-up), and there's also a wide menu of salads, pastas, and burgers.  This is a good place for a late bite, as food is served until 1 am most nights (midnight on Sunday).

With eclectic vintage decor, colorful mismatched tables and chairs, and free Wi-Fi, this low-key neighborhood hot spot lures lots of expats and American travelers. In the evenings, order an aperitivo and you can accompany it with a variety of small plates brought to you at minimal cost. In the morning, the extensive breakfast menu makes it a popular stop, with the outdoor tables offering prime people-watching.

Adventurous foodies with deep pockets should book a table in this stylish blue-and-wood-accented dining room, located behind Treviso's Palazzo dei Trecento old meat market, for an experience that marries Trevigiano culinary traditions with contemporary elegance. It was here back in the late '60s that the famous dessert tiramisu was invented and the Beccherie, opened in 1939, still makes it to the original, featherlight recipe. Expect a varied seasonal menu, with lighter summer seafood and vegetable dishes such as calamarata (clams with cherry tomatoes) and scarola greens giving way to hearty risottos and meats, including lamb and game, in fall and winter.

Bellacarne means "beautiful meat," and that's the focus of the menu here (though it's also what a Jewish Italian grandmother might say while pinching her grandchild's cheek). The kosher kitchen makes its own pastrami, but the setting is more fine dining than deli.

Set on a corner of the chicly bohemian Piazza Bellini for more than 70 years, this staple Neapolitan restaurant is worth visiting just to observe the waiters, all of whom seem to have just stepped off the stage of a Neapolitan comedy. Although the neighborhood is a bit scruffy, this place proudly retains an old-world feel, with options that include a fine (if rather small) pizza and classic seafood dishes such as linguine al cartoccio (baked in paper) or con mezzo astice (a type of small lobster). Go up the narrow stairs to the spacious dining rooms, or squeeze in at one of the outside tables in summer.

The rallying cry behind this cozy bistro on the edge of Rome's Jewish quarter is “happy animals make better cheese.” The interior is dominated by the deli counter that is piled with raw milk cheese from Italy and France—so naturally, a tasting platter is the popular choice and includes 3—10 cheeses to match any appetite. The menu of salads, toasted sandwiches, pasta, and polenta is limited but excellent.

With tables on one of Ortigia’s most picturesque piazzas—right below the rose-window of the roofless church of San Giovannino—the pizza chef here creates magnificent light crisp, blistered pizzas made of a tasty dough slow-risen for 48 hours. There’s a dazzling and inspired choice, but the best pizzas are those with gourmet toppings—San Daniele prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, burrata, chopped cherry tomatoes, homemade pesto, and even raw prawns, smoked tuna and thyme-infused octopus—added as soon as the pizza base leaves the oven.

On a rather dark side street in the scruffier section of the Centro Storico, this place is well worth seeking out for its old-style Neapolitan hospitality and the quality of its food and wine. It's run as a family affair, and everyone who comes here seems to know each other. The pasta with chickpeas is a must, and the baccalà fritto (fried salt cod) is a specialty. Backed up with a selection of wines from all over Italy, this place is a great value.

The feel here is more Munich beer hall than Florentine trattoria—indeed, although the menu lists plenty of Italian dishes, it also has hamburgers and other traditional pub fare. Heavy wooden tables are set closely together, and copies of 19th-century paintings adorn the intensely yellow walls, along with two frescoed Michelangelesque nudes that cavort over a brick arch. There's outside seating in warm weather—a great place to enjoy a beer.

A hip young crowd frequents the ground-floor bar of this modern bistro in the town's central arcade. Upstairs in the stylish dining room, an older crowd enjoys both contemporary cooking—heavy on beef, venison, and other meat specialties, including calf's liver—and attentive service.

Blend is open 10 am to 9:30 pm (after most places are closed) and serves sandwiches, pasta, and creative salads. It's on a quiet little piazza right around the corner from the Duomo, and it offers outdoor seating in warmer months.

A meal at this stylish but simpatico seafood restaurant across from the ferry terminal is a fitting way to round out a day in the Campi Flegrei. Although pricey, the exquisite antipasti, beautifully prepared pasta dishes, and pesce straight off the boats make this a favorite with the locals.

In the local dialect, bontà nascoste means "hidden goodness," a reference to its back-alleyway location and consistently delicious dishes, which feature risotto, fresh pasta, and an abundance of local seafood, including seafood soup and lobster. There is little for non-fish eaters, however, and only six tables (and a couple more outside in summer), so reserve ahead.