1178 Best Restaurants in Italy

Renowned Italian chef Norbert Niederkofler, formerly of three-Michelin-star St. Hubertus in San Cassiano, creates zero-kilometer cuisine out of alpine ingredients in an historical villa owned by the Moessmers, a prosperous textile family. The “Cook the Mountain” menu includes 14 dishes that change with the seasons; pair them with fantastic local wines or unique house-made nonalcoholic beverages.

Take a ride on Milan's 1930s-era trams, enjoy a tour of the city, and have a romantic dinner or brunch (on weekends) all in one go. For dinner, choose between meat, fish, and vegetarian four-course set menus, which vary throughout the year and include a bottle of wine, mineral water, and coffee. Both dinner and brunch last about two-and-a-half hours, and you're asked to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the 11:30 am, 8 pm, or 8:30 pm departure from Piazza Castello, at the corner of Via Beltrami. Due to limited space, online reservations are mandatory.

This well-established hot spot on the Jewish Ghetto's main promenade has pleasant indoor and outdoor seating. The kitchen is kosher (many places featuring Roman Jewish fare are not) and is known for its Judeo-Roman meat dishes mixed with Middle Eastern recipes. Down the street is Ba'Ghetto Milky, the kosher dairy version of the original.

Outside the walls of Badia a Coltibuono is the abbey's pleasant restaurant, with seating on a terrace teeming with flowers or in soft-yellow rooms divided by ancient brick arches. The menu is schooled in Tuscan flavors, but has twists and flights of fantasy.

Ravello's best and most popular ice cream is so good it seems to make your baffone (mighty moustache) curl. All the fave flavors are here and pack a punch, including dark chocolate, stracciatella, caramel, and pistachio, as well as novel recipes like cheesecake, caffè, lime cream, and lemon crumble. Served here is the traditional Sicilian specialty of scoops of gelato in a split brioche roll, a popular breakfast-time sweet.

In the heart of the historic center, Prato's best restaurant has been serving since 1870, capably run by five generations of the Pacetti family (daughters Guja and Silvia are presently in charge). The food lives up to the building's colorful history—part of the structure dates from the 15th century, when it was a convent, and it was later the seat of the Freemasons.

Although Bar Corso is open for 20 continuous hours daily, the highlight is breakfast. This bustling café is filled with locals and tourists having their morning coffee with freshly made breads and pastries. The counter is filled with regional pastries like cucchitelle, a traditional pastry made with almond flour. Those with a savory palate will enjoy the bread made with semolina flour and filled with ham and cheese. Although the inside space is compact, there's a large outdoor seating area where you can people-watch. 

Cialde, a local specialty, are circular wafers made with flour, sugar, eggs, and almonds from Puglia. The Bargilli family has been serving them with their equally delicious ice cream since 1936. Try them at Bargilli, the family's shop and probably the best gelateria in town.

The cheese collection at Baroni may be the most comprehensive in Florence. They also have high-quality truffle products, vinegars, and other delicacies.

With views of the sea and Calabria in the distance, this bright dining room framed by plate-glass windows serves picture-perfect plates of composed antipasti, fresh pastas dressed with every sea creature possible, and showstopping secondi, such as lobster from the Messina Strait and fish cooked to perfection. During the summer season, there are alfresco tables directly along the water.

The scent of cookies wafts out into the street as you approach this family-run bakery, where a small team makes sweet treats the old-school way in a massive oven bought in the 1960s. There are dozens of varieties of baked goods, mostly sweet but some savory. Try the brutti ma buoni, the dainty floral cookies with marmalade centers, and anything made with almond paste or covered in chocolate.

This tiny storefront by famed pizzaiolo Gabriele Bonci is the city's most famous place for pizza al taglio (by the slice). It serves more than a dozen versions, from the standard margherita to slices piled high with prosciutto and other tasty ingredients. There's no seating, but you can stand at one of the tables outside. Avoid peak hours or be prepared to wait up to an hour.

Named after the phonetic spelling of the Dutch-Italian chef's last name, this innovative, high-concept restaurant, whose quiet dining rooms are done up in gray and gold, offers a choice of interesting tasting menus and à la carte options. Boer's contemporary Italian food is beautifully presented and full of complex flavors, and the well-matched wines lean toward the natural.

The staying power of Buca di Sant'Antonio—it's been around since 1782—is the result of superlative Tuscan food brought to the table by waitstaff who don't miss a beat. The menu includes the simple but blissful tortelli lucchesi al sugo (meat-stuffed pasta with a tomato-and-meat sauce), as well as more daring dishes such as roast capretto (kid goat) with herbs. A white-wall interior hung with copper pots and brass musical instruments creates a classy but comfortable dining space.

Follow your nose to this legendary, sweet-smelling Caprese fave for breakfast, beach picnics, and on-the-hoof snacks. Buonocore lures you down its steps on a Capri Town lane with all manner of pizze, panini, gelati, and paste, including their specialty almond and lemon Caprilú biscotti.

The Cacciani family has been running this stylish restaurant in the heart of Frascati old town since 1922, when it was a popular hangout for the likes of Clark Gable and Gina Lollobrigida. Perched high on a rise overlooking the town and the Roman plain, there are spectacular views from the Cacciani terrace, but you can also keep an eye on the gorgeous food being prepared in the open kitchen. The family runs a hotel in the same building in case you want to spend the night after enjoying the celebrated local recipes.

Dominated by stone arches, this welcoming eatery off Courmayeur’s pedestrian strip, run by the Garin family of nearby Auberge de la Maison fame, serves up tons of atmosphere along with elevated takes on traditional Valdostan dishes. The large menu offers a choice of hearty tried-and-true plates such as grandma’s salad, with ham, eggs, Mont d’Or cheese, and boiled potatoes, along with lighter fare like salmon trout with savoy cabbage.

This bustling café-bar is famed for its excellent creamy coffee and freshly made brioche—it's cheek by jowl al banco (at the counter/bar), with Veronese patrons spilling outside. The narrow space with star-vaulted ceiling on the charming Corso Borsari cobbles is packed with coffee- and tea-making pots and cups, as are its walls with colorful gifts and oddities according to the time of year.

Florian is not only Italy's first café (1720), but also one of its most beautiful, with glittering, neo-Baroque decor and 19th-century wall panels depicting Venetian heroes. The coffee, drinks, and snacks are good, but most people come for the atmosphere and history: this was the only café to serve women during the 18th century; it was frequented by artistic notables like Wagner, Goethe, Goldoni, Lord Byron, Marcel Proust, and Charles Dickens; and it was the birthplace of the international art exhibition that became the Venice Biennale. There's a surcharge for music; those in the know opt for the comfortable back bar.

Grand stone rooms and a pretty terrazza sprouting olive trees make this a flexible and fab venue to breakfast, brunch, and lunch—and to socialize with evening drinks. As well as a constant stream of excellent coffee, they do a selection of pastries, great-value daily specials (pasta for just €7), and various snacks.

Renowned Italian chef Antonio Cannavacciuolo, who cooks at three-Michelin-star Villa Crespi on Lake Orta, oversees the menu at this refined ode to contemporary Italian cooking just outside the town of Asti. Chef Gianluca Renzi creates playful riffs on Piedmontese classics, such as pigeon with black garlic, salted peanuts, and Nebbiolo crystals or hen-filled stuffed Piedmontese pasta (plin) with mushrooms, gorgonzola, and saffron, in his three tasting menus, ranging from five to eight dishes; the Menù Freehand includes five creative tastes of the chef's choosing.

It's well off the beaten path (even if it is in the center of Livorno's shopping district), but getting here is worth the trouble, as this tiny place has a short menu that changes daily, a superb wine list, and a gregarious staff. The baccalà alla livornese (deep-fried salt cod served with chickpeas) is succulent and crisp, and the ribollita and other soups are very soothing. You could also pop in to sample a glass at the wine bar or to browse the shelves filled with wines from all over Italy.

Inside an enchanting 18th-century palace with arched ceilings, this zero-kilometer restaurant uses products only from the surrounding area, including vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers from its own gardens, in its weekly changing seven-course tasting menus. In the warmer months, don’t miss dining amongst the roses in the romantic courtyard, where a smaller three-course menu with cocktail of the day is also offered.

A mainstay for anyone living or working in the area, this beautiful, family-run, 19th-century bacaro across from the squero (gondola boatyard) of San Trovaso has original furnishings and one of the city's best wine cellars, and the walls are covered floor to ceiling with bottles for purchase. The cicheti (small snacks) here are some of the most inventive—and freshest—in Venice (feel free to compliment the signora, who makes them up to twice a day); everything's eaten standing up, as there's no seating. Try the crostini-style layers of bread, smoked swordfish, and slivers of raw zucchini, or pungent slices of Parmesan, fig, pistachio, and toast. They also have a creamy version of baccalà mantecato (cod appetizer) spiced with herbs, and there are nearly a dozen open bottles of wine for experimenting at the bar. You'll have no trouble spotting the Cantinone as you approach; it's the one with throngs of chatty patrons enjoying themselves. Avoid the temptation to sit on the bridge's steps—this is a common touristic behavior that inconveniences, and thus annoys, anybody who needs to pass.

The restaurant in the graceful winter garden of Relais Briuccia's is simply one of the finest restaurants in Sicily and offers an utterly unique dining experience. Chef-owner Damiano Ferraro is endlessly creative, spinning his magic daily with the freshest of local Sicilian produce. Ferraro is a local who dreamed big and has worked all over the world (including at the Dorchester in London and with the Roux Brothers at La Gavroche); he then returned home and created this small-town gastronomic paradise. There are both tasting and à la carte menus. Although more expensive than those at other restaurants in the area, the tasting menus here offer a much more elevated and special dining experience that is well worth the additional cash.

To enhance a postprandial passeggiata along one of Palermo's main strolling thoroughfares, make a stop at this modern gelateria to pick up one of its exceptional gourmet ice creams. The flavors change with the seasons, but you should find the tangerine sorbet that bursts with sweet citrus tang and the classic cannolo siciliano available year-round.

Amiable Antonio's beguiling bistro is all about quality Sicilian seasonal ingredients combined in creative dishes that excite the senses. Book a table in the stylish coved-ceiling contemporary dining room or plant-fringed terrace, and dive into one of the exquisite antipasti medleys, focusing on either "mare nostrum" (sea) or "terra nostrum" (land).

Come here for creative panini, such as sgrombri e carciofini sott'olio (mackerel and marinated baby artichokes) and an ever-changing list of significant wines by the glass. It also has a good selection of bottles to go.

Tucked away on the third floor of the Green Pea sustainable retail venture (next to Eataly Lingotto), one of Turin's top destinations for fine dining is run by the fourth generation of the Vicina family, with Claudio and wife Anna leading the kitchen and Stefano managing the front of house. Excellent-quality traditional Piedmontese dishes are served with creative style, and the wine list is an encyclopedia, featuring not only the top Barolo producers but also many other small but notable wineries.

If you are visiting the local historic market nearby, this is a singular spot to queue and refuel, although online plaudits have made it überpopular. The owner Andrea and squadra can usually be found outside tempting people with their bulging panini stuffed with cheese, ham, grilled vegetables, jam, and piquant pickle.