1178 Best Restaurants in Italy

On the east corner of the piazza, in front of the Pantheon, this has been the place for serious coffee drinkers for nearly 80 years—there are no tables or frills, but there is a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to the dark coffee roasts that are perfect for espresso. Consider indulging in a granita di caffè con panna (coffee ice with whipped cream).

This cozy little spot doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside, it's the perfect rustic setting for an array of handmade pastas and other traditional Tuscan fare. Order the pici with ragù di cinghiale (wild boar ragu) or, if you're visiting in fall or winter, any of the dishes with fresh local truffles or porcini mushrooms. Desserts are also made in-house, so save some room for the excellent crema alla catalana. 

A tiny shop mere steps from the Santa Marina port is chock-full of delicious delicacies and gastronomic products from the Aeolian Islands, so you can bring a taste of the Isole Eolie back home with you. But with their selection of seasonal salads, panini, Sicilian wines and spirits, and their outdoor seating, Terre di Salina is not just a one-stop shop for the tastiest souvenirs, it’s also a great spot for a quick and casual lunch. 

It's hard to find genuinely good food in the Campidoglio area, but this wine bar next to Trajan's Column is an exception. Ideal for coffee, a late lunch, early supper, or just an aperitivo (aperitif), it showcases local produce and is a great spot to rest after wandering amid the ruins.

Named for the island that it sits on in the middle of the Tiber River, Tiberino is a historic caffè that has gotten a modern makeover. In the morning, stop in for a pastry topped with slivered almonds or a savory panino with mortadella and arugula. The coffee bar has also expanded into a restaurant for those who want a hot meal rather than a snack on the go. By the afternoon, the gelateria does brisk business selling scoops to visitors passing over the bridge (which happens to be Rome's oldest) linking Trastevere to the Jewish Ghetto. 

This buzzy spot is an ideal destination if you are looking to share a selection of Sicilian antpasti dishes in tapas style, in a relaxed, contemporary, stone-walled dining room. The magazine-style menu has info about the dishes, including Cefalú's favorite for All-Saints Day pasta a taianu, an earthenware platter heaped with oozing layers of rigatoni and a hearty meat, tomato, and eggplant sauce.

A fine variety of excellent tramezzini (sandwiches made of untoasted white bread triangles) lines the display cases at this busy tavola calda (roughly the Italian equivalent of a cafeteria) on the main thoroughfare from the Rialto to Santi Apostoli; inexpensive salad plates and daily pasta specials are also served. This is a great place for a light meal or snack before a performance at the nearby Teatro Malibran. Whether you choose to sit or stand, it's a handy—and popular—spot for a quick meal or a snack at very modest prices. Service is efficient, if occasionally grumpy.

Wood paneled and with a 1930s-style interior, this bustling trattoria has a wholesome menu based on local Veneto cooking. The "spin" in the restaurant's name refers to the spine of the baccalà, one of several justly famous specialties (served without the titular spine); also try the sopa coada, a pigeon-and-bread soup.  Reservations are essential, even for lunch, since the word is out that this is the best value in town.

With a terrace by Ragusa Superiore's cathedral and a smart and slightly quirky coved-ceiling dining room, this restaurant serves largely simple, classic Sicilian dishes with a few modern touches. After a hearty pasta alla Norma (with eggplant, basil, tomato and gooey ricotta), consider a subtly experimental main like seared ricciola (amberjack) with herbs and crunchy fennel slices and foam.    

The name refers to its proximity to the tram tracks, but it could also be used to describe the small interior of the restaurant, which is often packed with diners (in warmer weather there's a "side car" of tables along the sidewalk). Founded by Rosanna Borrelli and her two daughters, the restaurant gives Roman cuisine slight Puglian touches, emphasizing meat and vegetables—pappardelle with a white ragù of lamb and artichokes, for example—as well as a variety of homemade pastas.

Stefano Callegari is one of Rome's most famous pizza makers, but at Trapizzino he's doing something a bit different. The name of the restaurant is derived from the Italian words for sandwich (tramezzino) and pizza, and the result is something like an upscale pizza pocket, stuffed on the spot with local specialties like herby chicken alla cacciatore, or trippa (tripe), or roast pumpkin, pecorino, and almonds. The supplì (fried risotto balls) are also delicious. This original location is teeny, but more seating is available one storefront down.

Since 1965, Al Gatto Nero has offered the best fish on Burano; no matter what you order, though, you'll savor the pride the owner and his family have in their lagoon, their island, and the quality of their cucina (maybe even more so when enjoying it on the picturesque fondamenta). The fish is top quality and couldn't get any fresher; all pastas and desserts are made in-house; the fritto misto is outstanding for its lightness and variety of fish; risotto alla Buranella features gò (short for ghiozzo fish), a Burano cucina povera ("kitchen of the poor") standard that had almost disappeared from local menus until Anthony Bourdain introduced it to travelers.

A meal in this rustic place is always special, as the menu offers Tuscan classics as well as other dishes with a hint of fantasy. Try the excellent mushroom soup made with porcini, or opt for a roast boar or another of the dishes featuring game. The menu is rounded out by a varied wine selection. In warmer months, this fine fare can be had in the garden.

Steps from the staircase of Santa Maria del Monte, you'll find this cozy trattoria serving traditional Sicilian fare. Be sure to start with a typical Sicilian antipasto—with grilled veggies, mini arancini, and cured meats. The owner's recommendations for the main course are spot-on, and even if you're not overly hungry, the delicious food will entice you to indulge. In the warmer months, dine outside for people-watching as you sip on a glass of Frapatto. 

If you are hankering for something different from the usual meat-based Piedmontese cuisine, give this simple, extremely popular family-run spot a try. They serve only seafood, and they do it well.

Here, in the mirrored interior, a mostly young crowd chows down on classic regional fare at affordable prices. Nimble staff bearing multiple plates sashay neatly between the closely spaced tables delivering such standards as tortellini in brodo and cotoletta alla Bolognese (veal with Parmigiano-Reggiano and prosciutto). It is the kind of place where the waiters don't glare at you if you only order a plate of pasta—perhaps another reason it's a student favorite.

This café, bar, restaurant, and pizzeria has a daily menu of specials to choose from, including starters, pasta dishes, meat-based mains, sides, and desserts. Your charming and helpful hosts will guide you through the selection of reasonably priced dishes.

Family-run Da Badò—with Lucia in the kitchen and her sons, Giacomo and Michele, waiting tables—is the best place in town to eat traditional food elbow-to-elbow with locals; Lucia likes to concentrate on just a few dishes, so it won't take long to decide between the standards, all prepared with a sure hand. Consider the zuppa alla volterrana (a soup made with vegetables and bread), pappardelle alla lepre (wide fettuccine with rabbit sauce), or a stew of either rabbit or wild boar—for dessert, a slice of homemade almond tart is a must.

This beloved neighborhood trattoria does many things well, from the fried starters to the pastas to the meaty secondi (second course), so it's no surprise that it's won the hearts—and stomachs—of Romans all over town. The wine list is extensive, and the friendly waitstaff are happy to offer advice. There's also a pleasant outdoor seating area when weather allows.

There is just a handful of wooden tables crowded into the upstairs and downstairs dining rooms at this family-run trattoria, where the walls are festooned with photographs and soccer jerseys. Owner Danilo Valenti presides over the dining room, while his mother, Pina, whips up Roman classics, including an excellent carbonara, carciofi alla romana, and cacio e pepe that gets tossed tableside in a wheel of pecorino cheese.

Tucked away from the main tourist areas, this local favorite offers an authentic taste of the region with its fresh seafood and a fantastic selection of starters like grilled shrimp and octopus. Beyond the area's classic seafood dishes, local vegetables, including steamed artichoke, are also popular with regulars. The dining room is unpretentious, but the dishes are reasonably priced and packed with flavor. 

The macabre decor is not for the faint of heart, but any lover of seriously good food can look beyond the disembodied dolls (among other things) adorning the dining room's walls. The menu is strong on local dishes, served in generous portions. If you're lucky, Ubaldo himself will be on the scene.

Waves lap at the shore just inches from your table at this elegant but unpretentious trattoria, which often has a cozy fireplace ablaze in winter. You must follow a narrow twisting lane to get here, but it's worth the effort for specialties like the raw seafood antipasto, which features shellfish you might not find anywhere else. Cozze pelose (local mussels), hiding inside their spiked-hair shells, are briny and buttery, and big local oysters are all about rich texture.

Along a road on the way up to Agrigento proper from the temple area, this vaulted family-run restaurant serves up tasty traditional food, namely daily house-made pasta specials and plenty of fresh fish dishes, all prepared with Sicilian flair. Your best bet is to ask the advice of brothers Giuseppe and Simone, the owners and chief orchestrators in the restaurant, who can also help select a Sicilian wine to pair with your meal. Reservations are recommended in high season.

The bright, clean, and simple decor reflects this place's lighter take on traditionally heavy Neapolitan food. The soupy pasta e piselli (with peas) is a wonderful surprise for anyone who has bad memories of pea soup, and the mezzanini allo scarpariello (pasta tubes with fresh tomato, basil, and pecorino cheese) will set taste buds quivering.

At this simple trattoria off the main tourist circuit, much care has been taken with the decor: the rooms, overseen by host Flavio, are small and intimate, and the wooden walls painted a creamy whitish gray. Chef Tommaso gives equal care to the menu and deftly turns out Bolognese classics, as well as dishes with a modern twist—among the antipasti, his tosone avvolto nella pancetta incorporates roasted Parmigiano-Reggiano trimmings and unsmoked bacon. Pastas are mostly homemade, and desserts are delicious. Though the trattoria is not in the centro storico, it's only a five-minute walk from the train station, and well worth a detour.

In a town with an overabundance of touristy pizza and pasta places, this unassumingly modern family-run bistro raises the bar. Although the shabby-chic decor and friendly service entice, the real draw is the short but smart menu of creative Italian dishes and vegetarian options. Start with the antipasto misto di Lago (variety of lake fish) followed by a homemade gnocchi or tagliolini, or opt for a heartier main like the pork fillet with mixed vegetables. Just make sure to leave room for the daily desserts.

Mercurial host Ermes Rinaldi greets you as you walk in and seats you wherever he happens to have room: it doesn't matter that you might be put with people you don't know, since the host feels this quasi-communal style of lunching encourages conviviality. In the kitchen, Bruna, Ermes's wife, turns out splendid versions of cucina casalinga modenesi (home cooking, Modena-style). Ermes recites the short list of primi and secondi on the set-price menu, which change daily and arrive promptly. The accompanying wine is local, simple, and inexpensive: most stick to Lambrusco. It's no surprise that this rough-and-ready place is favored by everyone from suits to construction workers to students. Come early to get a table, and note that bookings are not accepted.

The word "trattoria" usually suggests somewhere casual and even slapdash and while this place has an informal feel, there is nothing at all lacking in the level of service or the quality of the food. Dating back to 1963, the place has a classic feel, as reflected on an extensive menu that focuses on fish (there's a display of what's on offer as you come in), but also includes very acceptable versions of old favorites such as lasagna, couscous, escalopes in Marsala sauce, and, for dessert, cassata siciliana. Also noteworthy are the tasty busiate garibaldine, local pasta prepared with pistachio paste, red prawns from Mazara del Vallo, and burrata. Tables are distributed In a series of well-lit rooms with wooden beams, arched doorways, and white walls adorned with portraits of the hero of Italian independence to whom the place is dedicated. Locals come here in droves, often with families in tow.