Other restaurants in Italy
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Enopolis
A visit to this restaurant and international wine establishment is worth it simply for the tour of the labyrinthine cellars of the 18th-century Palazzo Jona, as the cellars descend a full three levels under the streets above. With fresh fish as the main event (besides, of course, the wine), you can sit amongst contemporary art or next to an ancient well as you sample the fixed-price menus (€36 to €45) along with recommended wines for each course.
reviewed
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A
La Corte dei Vini
Strategically placed between Piazza Napoleone and Piazza San Michele, this friendly ‘enoteca e picola cucina’ (wine bar and small kitchen) is a great choice for an aperitivo or casual meal. It specialises in rustic dishes, including tortelli Lucchesi (meat ravioli) and minestra di farro della Garbagnana (soup made with spelt). Get here early to score a choice table on the front terrace.
reviewed
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B
Osteria da Mariano
Specialising in the mountain cuisine of nearby Ragusa, with more meat than fish, this cheerful place sets out a river of tables under the lights and balconies of a narrow alleyway, with cosy indoor seating in a beamed dining room. Everything’s tasty and affordably priced, and the atmosphere’s very convivial, if you can forgive the sometimes lackadaisical service.
reviewed
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Pizzeria Trattoria Vecchio Mulino
This old-school eatery is a good bet for a classic wood-fired pizza, cheesy antipastos and chargrilled hunks of pork and lamb. In summer the pretty streetside terrace provides a good perch to people-watch as you wait for your order.
reviewed
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Al Porticciolo
If the indoor dining room looks empty, it’s because everyone’s piled out on the ample waterfront terrace, one of the prettiest in town. The pizzas are excellent, and fixed-price menus start at €18.
reviewed
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C
Antico Caffè Spinnato
A sophisticated cafe dating back to 1860 located on the smart pedestrian boulevard. Sit on the vast terrace to enjoy coffees, cocktails, ice creams, sumptuous cakes and snacks.
reviewed
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Trattoria Il Cortile
Home-cooked meals are lovingly prepared by the nonna of a boisterous family. Top off a healthy meal of bitter greens with homemade gelato or delectable cakes.
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L’Osteria di Giovanni
Our number-one choice for Florentine dining is – insert drum roll – this wonderfully friendly neighbourhood eatery, where everything is delicious and where the final reckoning will be within most budgets. Many opt to start with the house antipasto (a plate of salami, fresh ricotta and crostini with liver pâté) and lardo (marinated pork fat), move onto a plate of homemade pasta (perhaps with porcini mushrooms and black truffles) and then forge ahead with a milk-fed veal chop with roasted cherry tomatoes or a sensational bistecca alla fiorentina. Make sure you ask about daily specials, particularly desserts.
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Da Cicciotto
Perched on a cliff in the fishing village of Marechiaro, low-key yet elegant Cicciotto is a seasoned charmer. Edible highlights include a sublime carpaccio antipasto (thin slices of raw seafood drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil), lightly battered courgette flowers stuffed with ricotta and a pacchetti pasta dish served with local crab and cherry tomatoes. Desserts such as crostata with lemon cream, wild strawberries and Chantilly cream are equally mesmerising. There’s a warm-weather terrace, and a free courtesy shuttle ([tel] 338 380 93 75, in Italian) servicing various city hotels. Book ahead.
reviewed
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Don Giovanni
Open only for dinner, this highly acclaimed eatery specialises in fresh-caught fish from the Adriatic, vegetables harvested from the restaurant’s own garden, eight varieties of bread baked daily and a wine list featuring over 600 Italian and international labels. The menu is an imaginative feast of unconventional concoctions such as tortelli con faraona allo zabaione di parmigiano e prosciutto croccante (guinea fowl–stuffed pasta in a custard of Parmesan and crunchy ham) or anguilla arrostita con finferli e emulsione all’alloro (roast eel with chanterelle mushrooms in bay-leaf emulsion).
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Pizzeria Orsucci
For a slice of Ferrarese culinary history, head to this hole-in-the-wall pizzeria, run by the same family since 1936. Choices are simple: do you want your pizza margherita small or medium-sized, with or without anchovies? Aside from draught beer, the only other menu item is padella di ceci (a chickpea-flour treat cooked in the wood-fired oven). If you ask, the amiable proprietor Giulio can tell you a story or two about the news clippings and photos that cover the walls, documenting Orsucci’s numerous awards and history as a film set.
reviewed
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Melius
Beef up the larder (or picnic hamper) at this luscious gourmet deli, where local delicacies include fresh mozzarella di bufala, Graniano pasta, sopressata Cilentana (smoked salami from Cilento), citrusy Amalfi Coast marmalades and liquore alla mela annurca, a liqueur made using Annurca apples. For a self-catered treat, pick up some fragrant bread, a bottle of local Falanghina and some ready edibles; the peppery marinated aubergines and pizza di scarole (escarole pie) are equally divine.
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La Taverna del Buongustaio
A stroll through La Pignasecca is bound to whet your appetite. Mercifully, this low-fuss, Totò-loving, white-tiled dining room is a fork plunge away. Written menus are traded in for fast-talking, white-capped cooks who speed through the daily specials with seasoned dexterity. Don’t stress! It’s all fresh, faithful home cooking, from the moreish fritto misto (mixed fried seafood) to the sublime spaghetti alle frutte di mare (spaghetti with mussels and clams). A local favourite; it’s best to book ahead.
reviewed
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H
Tarallificio Leopoldo
Made with pepper, almonds and pork fat, oven-baked tarallini mandorlati (savoury almond biscuits) are dangerously moreish and readily available at this fourth-generation bakery- pasticceria. For a sugar hit, try the buttery taralli zuccherati (sugared taralli); the ones without the icing sugar are best. Taralli’s traditional rivals are also available here, from babà to a wicked cannoletto crammed with chocolate butter cream and dipped in dark chocolate.
reviewed
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Trattoria Le Cave di Maiano
Florentines adore this terrace restaurant in Maiano, a neighbouring village five minutes from Fiesole by car, and flock here every fine weekend to enjoy leisurely lunches on the outdoor terrace. The food here is memorable – huge servings are the rule of thumb and everything is home-made, with pastas and vegetable dishes being particularly impressive. A taxi from Fiesole costs approximately €9 and the trip back will be double that (the meter starts ticking when the taxi leaves its base in Fiesole to collect you).
reviewed
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Da Giona
Right on a sandy beach with views of Procida and Ischia, this retro, sun-bleached restaurant enjoys cult status in Naples (book ahead on weekends). The seafood dishes are simple, fresh and lingering, from the antipasto misto (which might include fried courgettes and prawns, marinated carpaccio and octopus salad) to an unforgettable spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams). If the weather’s on your side, request a table on the raffish deck, and while away the hours with a local Falanghina.
reviewed
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Il Garum
The kind of place you keep coming back to, this cosy osteria (wine bar that serves food) blends whitewashed walls, linen-clad tables and softly glowing wrought-iron lanterns. Delicately flavoured, revamped classics are the order of the day in dishes like rigatoni with shredded courgettes (zucchini) and mussels, and an exquisite grilled calamari stuffed with vegetables, cherry tomatoes and Parmesan. All the cakes are made on the premises and there’s live Neapolitan music once or twice a week.
reviewed
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El Molin
Something of a legend in Val di Fiemme and recent recipient of a Michelin star (meaning it ain’t cheap), El Molin is housed in an old mill; at street level you can sit at small tables on high stools and dine on delicious fish, meat and pasta dishes. Downstairs, next to the old waterwheels, it’s a wonderland of stone nooks and crannies, candlelight and the concoctions of chef Alessandro Gilmozzi. Think local, seasonal ingredients embellished with a quirky, playful twist.
reviewed
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Piazza Duomo-la Piola
The best of both worlds are bivouacked in this two-in-one, suit-all-budgets culinary extravaganza in Alba’s main square. Downstairs, La Piola sports local blackboard specials, such as vitello tonnato, that change daily and allow diners to create their own plates. Upstairs, the theme goes more international in chef Enrico Crippa’s Michelin-starred Piazza Duomo, where you can eat creative food beneath colourful wall frescoes painted by contemporary artist Francesco Clemente.
reviewed
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Vittorio
If you’ve got a car, this is one detour you absolutely shouldn’t miss. In business for over 40 years, Vittorio has earned a reputation as one of Sicily’s best seafood eateries, serving hefty portions of the freshest fish and shellfish around. Come here at sunset and dine to the sound of crashing breakers. It’s right on the beach in Porto Palo, a 15km drive east of Selinunte. Rooms are available upstairs for anyone too stuffed to drive home (single/double €60/80).
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Ristoro al Vecchio Teatro
The Vecchio Teatro’s genial host is proud of his set menu, and for good reason. The four courses are dominated by local seafood specialities and diners will encounter delights such as torta di ceci infranti con le arselle (an unusual savoury cake of smashed chickpeas with mussels) and risotto with prawns and orange. The dessert finale includes a castagnaccio (sweet chestnut cake) that has been known to prompt diners to spontaneous applause.
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Scaturchio
In a city infamous for belt-busting temptations, this vintage pasticceria enjoys cult status. While you’ll find all the local classics (including a particularly luscious babà), the star attraction is the ministeriale. A dark-chocolate medallion invented in the 19th century, the ingredients of its liqueur-laced ganache filling are a closely guarded secret. At the time of research, a frescoed tearoom was set to open upstairs.
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Angelo Carbone
Off the tourist trail but well on the radar of locals, this chintzy bar-pasticceria-rosticceria makes one seriously buttery sfogliatella, not to mention a heavenly pasticcino crema e amarena (a short-pastry bun filled with cherries and custard). Savoury options include satisfying panini (€2) and there’s alfresco seating beside the frescoed porticos of the Chiesa Santa Maria Regina Coeli opposite.
reviewed
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Monkey
A quick walk from the Parco Archeologico di Baia, this piazza-side neighbourhood bar-geletaria combo dishes out a fine aperitivo spread nightly from 7pm (get in early). The real star, however, is the wickedly good gelato, served in waffle cones. Freshly made, the small selection of flavours is seasonal and regularly changing – the creamy cioccolato and delectable nocciola (hazelnut) are particularly fine.
reviewed
