1178 Best Restaurants in Italy

Pick a sandwich size (from a few inches to 40—or a meter—as the name al metro implies) to match your appetite, at this paninoteca (sandwich shop) off Piazza Luigi Cadorna. There are just four inventive sandwich types on offer each day, with ingredients changing seasonally like lentil cream, fennel, ricotta salata, and orange; or mortadella, pistachio cream, and Toma cheese. While meats like salami are front and center, there's always at least one vegetarian option, all on crusty fresh bread from the village of Gignese. You can take your sandwich to go for a picnic while exploring the islands, or upstairs to the cozy and bright red and white dining room and its small terrace overlooking the piazza. 

Located on the water's edge, looking out at the Venice skyline, the Belmond Cipriani's exclusive outdoor-indoor Cip's Club bar and Oro restaurant is best known for its breathtaking views, but the exquisite and very pricey tasting menu (from €250) of Venetian classics and extensive wine list certainly don't play second fiddle. Taking the complimentary 10-minute boat ride to and from San Marco also adds to the thoroughly James Bond sense of drama and romance.

Just off Via Toledo, Ciro has been an obligatory entry on any list of the best of Neapolitan cooking (as opposed to cuisine) since 1930, when Toscanini and Pirandello used to eat here. Popular with business travelers, artists, and journalists, Ciro is famous for a variety of favorites, with an emphasis on rustic food, from very fine pizzas and justly famed versions of pasta e fagioli to the classic sartù—rice loaf first concocted by Baroque-era nuns—and the splendid pignatiello e vavella, shellfish soup. The menu, which includes gluten-free items, almost looks too large for all its items to actually be good, but the owners must be doing something right, as the place is often packed with Neapolitan regulars. The waiters are darling wherever you sit, but try to get a table upstairs, which has a more pleasant atmosphere.

A native of Naples, Ciro Aragione has called Stromboli home since the 1990s. From his home, he cooks lunch for visitors to the island, usually a set menu of pasta and fish he's bought straight off the boats that morning. In addition to the home restaurant—really a long table on his terrace flanked by lemon and mandarin trees—he can arrange catered picnics for your boat excursions or beach days, and will deliver to you.

Come here for a finely crafted sandwich (they have 18 different varieties on the menu), or something more substantial like the crostone ai funghi (a very large portion of toasted bread topped with local, fragrant porcini mushrooms). Tiny local blueberries, in season, appear in numerous guises on the dessert menu. At après-ski time, the place positively hums as the pizza oven is fired up, and happy skiers seat themselves on furniture that looks as if an Alpine Fred Flintstone designed it.

The building dates from 1925 but the interior shows a diversity of styles, with the main dining area (one of five) inside a glass gazebo. Dishes featuring fresh catches of the day, meat dishes, and herb-infused sauces are complemented by pizzas and such pastas as lados di Dorgali—a handmade pasta served with wild boar sauce and cheese. Just save room for a dessert of tumbarelle di Stintino, a delicious concoction of ricotta, walnuts, and orange zest. The staff and clientele are mostly young Italians, so prepare for a buzzy, high-spirited atmosphere.

One of Palermo's best modern pizzerias serves delicious Neapolitan-style pies from a big oven in the open kitchen—the genius is in the crust, which is seared in a matter of seconds. The toppings, too, are delicious, and the place attracts big crowds on weekends and in summer (when it often stays open until midnight—later than almost any other restaurant in the neighborhood). Pastas, steaks, and some other dishes are also available, and there is pavement seating, as well as a robust take-out operation.

In the 1954 film L'Oro di Napoli, Sofia Loren sold fried pizza from a basso (a street-level room), something Concettina Flessigno Oliva had already been doing since three years earlier. This is now one of Naples's most highly acclaimed pizzerias, and Oliva’s great-grandson's menu includes all the usual culprits as well as pizza wedges based on local in-season ingredients. Twenty-seven Pulcinella masks by renowned local artist Lello Esposito hang in the entrance, and a Nativity scene is perched over the proceedings in the long hall. Gluten-free pizzas are also available.

Extremely popular for lunch during the week, this lively and informal osteria is in Turin's business district. The service is relaxed, the decor is low-key, the menu highlights organic meats and vegetables from Piedmont, and there's a good selection of natural wines.

This rustically elegant space, which has served many purposes over the past 600 years, offers some of the tastiest food in town at great prices. It's the perfect place to come if you aren't sure what you're hungry for, as it offers a bit of everything, including several fish dishes, among them carpaccio and grilled offerings, and a selection of pasta dishes that make choosing just one very hard, though the ravioli with pecorino and pears is particularly good. There's also a changing list of piatti unici (single dishes that can be ordered on their own, usually served only at lunch), as well as cheese and cured meat plates, and a tasting menu. The well-culled wine list has lots of great options by the glass and even more by the bottle.

A charming new concept in Venetian eateries, diminutive CoVino offers a fixed-price, three-course menu, from which you'll choose among several traditionally inspired antipasti, secondi, and desserts with innovative—and satisfying—twists. At this Slow Food presidio, you can watch the cook construct your sliced tuna dressed with Bronte pistachios and eggplant; Bra sausage "imported" from the Piedmont alla Valpolicella with tiny green beans; or perhaps even fresh gazpacho. The wine selection is passionately created; if you're looking to be more adventurous on this front, ask enthusiastic owner Andrea for his take. Cash only, for now anyway.

Immediately beside the Pantheon is this gelateria, which is well known for its flavors, like mango, pistachio, and chocolate chip. The chocolate sorbetto—an icier version of gelato, made without the dairy—is also excellent, and even better with a dollop of whipped cream on top. The shop is small but the service is fast and friendly.

On a little beach where pirates once built and launched boats (the pirates are long gone, but their descendants now operate a free ferry to and from Positano every half hour in the morning), this laid-back trattoria has long been a favorite. Sit on the wooden terrace beneath a straw canopy to enjoy totani con patate (squid and potatoes with garlic and oil), then sip white wine with peaches until sundown. Da Adolfo gets busy, so ask your hotel to book a table for you: personal reservations are often not honored.

With an open kitchen and a veranda—so you can keep an eye on both the chef and the azure waters of the Golfo di Policastro—there's always something to see at this family-run seafood restaurant. Even better: it serves some of the freshest catches in town, with specialties like linguine con nero di seppia (with cuttlefish ink sauce), grilled squid, and grigliata mista (mixed grilled fish and seafood).

This inviting restaurant with a terrace is on the causeway that links the Aragonese castle to the rest of Ischia. It's renowned for its fresh seafood, which is highly prized by the Ischitani: shoreline classics dominate, starting with the antipasto da Cocò platter including chunky octopus pieces and marinated anchovies followed by spaghetti with calameretti (squidlets), tomatoes, and chilli peppers.

Secreted away down a vicolo (alley) one block from the Pozzuoli waterfront, this restaurant (est. 1946) is admired in Neapolitan circles for its fresh seafood, ample portions, and reasonable prices. Spaghetti with clams, octopus salad, grilled and fried fish, and seafood risotto are among the longtime favorites prepared here.

Despite its location on an unpromising-looking vicolo (alley) off the Riviera di Chiaia, this small restaurant has achieved cult status for its seafood platters. It's remarkable what owner--chef Renato can produce in his tiny kitchen—start with linguine alla Dora, laden with local seafood and fresh tomatoes, and perhaps follow up with grilled pezzogna (blue-spotted bream). Like many seafront restaurants, on busy nights, Da Dora has its own guitarist, who is often robustly accompanied by the kitchen staff.

Near the steps of the Marina Grande, this reliable choice for seafood (established in 1947) might not be Sorrento's most visually prepossessing place, but its homespun, family feel—complete with wooden tables and checked tablecloths—is a refreshing change from the town's (occasionally pretentious) elegance.

For good, hearty Roman cuisine in an area filled with mediocre touristy restaurants, head to this trattoria that's been on the scene since the late 1950s. Stick with the classics, perhaps starting off with a mixed salumi plate featuring Parma ham and buffalo mozzarella before moving on to a primi (first course)—the amatriciana (with tomato sauce, guanciale, and pecorino cheese) is one of the standouts. Desserts are made fresh daily, and the tiramisu is always a winner. As at most Roman trattorias, the house wine is pretty good, but the wine list also has a decent selection of other options. In warmer months, tables spill out onto Piazza del Fico, making this an especially wonderful spot in the evening. On the upper floor of the same building is Bistrot da Francesco Su, a higher-end restaurant serving contemporary cuisine.

Diners in the know have sung the praises of this understated landmark since 1872. Imaginative sauces turn plates of risotto and paccheri pasta into one-off culinary experiences; tile floors, white tablecloths, and a terrace set above the main street create a soothing ambience.

The fashion and publishing crowds, as well as international bankers and businesspeople, favor this Milanese-Ligurian restaurant. The emphasis is on fish, and with its tile floor and bank of fresh seafood, the place has a refined neighborhood-bistro style.

Join businesspeople, ladies who lunch, and in-the-know travelers at this elegant restaurant atop the Museo del Novecento and with a glorious Duomo view (be sure to request a window table, though, or risk being relegated to a viewless back room). To complement the vistas, choose from a selection of well-prepared seafood, pasta, and meat courses for lunch and dinner; the servers are happy to recommend pairings from the extensive wine list.

It bills itself as a pizzeria, focacceria (endemic in these parts), and an insalateria. The pizzas are magnificent, as are their first cousins the focaccia. But if you tire of this, their salads are worth a trip in themselves. Portions are copious here. Enter hungry, exit rejoicing while perhaps believing that you ate in what once was a medieval bank (it probably was).

There's no shortage of old-school trattorias in Trastevere, but this one has a strong following. Both locals and expats enjoy the brusque but "authentic" service and the hearty Roman fare; snag a table outside in warm weather for the true Roman experience of cobblestone-terrace dining.

The whitewashed chalet on stilts above the beach at Bacoli is a popular spot for a seafood odyssey, and even fed Tony Soprano and Camorra boss Annalisa Zucca in The Sopranos TV series. Book a table by the picture windows, and let the staff guide you through the specials, including the pescato del giorno (catch of the day).

It doesn't get any more Venetian than this. At Marisa, a beloved Cannaregio institution, don't expect a menu, tourist or otherwise: what Marisa cooks—whether meat, wild game, or fish—you eat. Expect an abundant, five-course, prix-fixe meal of expertly prepared Venetian comfort food. The pasta and gnocchi are always fatto in casa (homemade). Primi might include tagliatelle with sugo del masaro (duck sauce), risotto di caroman (with mutton), or perhaps a zuppa di funghi, soup made with fresh mushrooms. Salmì di cervo (stewed venison) or fagiano ripieno arrosto (stuffed roast pheasant) are possibilities for secondi di carne, and on fish nights frittura mista. In temperate weather ask to eat canalside—but be on time or lose your table.

You may recognize Da Michele from the movie Eat, Pray, Love, but for more than 140 years before Julia Roberts arrived, this place was a culinary reference point. Despite offering only four types of pizza—marinara (tomato, garlic, and oregano), Margherita (tomato, mozzarella, and basil), cosacca (tomato, pecorino, and basil), and marita (half marinara, half Margherita)—plus a small selection of drinks, it still manages to draw long lines. The low prices may have something to do with it, but the pizza itself suffers no rivals, so customers are good-humored while waiting. The sounds of the boisterous, joyous atmosphere and the aromas of yeast and wood smoke waft out onto the street; get a number at the door, and then hang outside until it's called.

Locals don't flock to this restaurant on the outskirts of Strada in Chianti for the art on the walls, some of it questionable, most of it kitsch, but instead for the bistecca fiorentina. As big as a breadboard and served rare, one of these justly renowned steaks is enough to feed a family of four, with doggie bags willingly provided if required. First courses are typical, desserts are standard, but the wine list is a varied and extensive surprise. Outdoor seating on the upstairs terrace provides great views of the surrounding countryside.

A grove of 130 lemon trees provides the unique setting for this popular restaurant near Marina Grande and down a winding road in a residential area, toward the Bagni di Tiberio. The ubiquitous citrus perfumes the air as you tuck into a bomba—a fried pizza stuffed with mozzarella cheese, ham, and tomato—or one of the many lemon-based desserts.

A Triestino institution, this is the oldest and most esteemed of the many "buffet" restaurants serving pork and sausages around town, with a wood-paneled interior and seating outside. It specializes in bollito di maiale, a dish of boiled pork and pork sausages accompanied by delicately flavored sauerkraut, mustard, and grated horseradish. Unlike other Italian restaurants, buffets don't close between lunch and dinner, and tap beer is the drink of choice. For what seems to be a "fast food" restaurant, the service is surprisingly friendly and helpful.