The World’s 10 Best Italian Restaurants
Italian restaurants span a wide range of regional traditions, from the hand-rolled pastas and long-simmered ragùs of Emilia-Romagna to the seafood-forward plates of the coast and the wood-fired simplicity of southern Italian kitchens. In a guide like this, the common thread is not a single dish but a culinary language built on olive oil, tomato, herbs, cheese, grains, and careful seasonal cooking. The best Italian dining rooms often pair that food with an atmosphere that feels both convivial and intentional: a place for antipasti, pasta, grilled meats, and desserts that finish a meal at an unhurried pace. Across cities, Italian restaurants may range from polished fine dining to neighborhood trattorie, but the hallmark remains the same—balance, generosity, and a focus on ingredients that need little embellishment. For readers, that makes Italian restaurants an easy category to love and an endlessly varied one to explore. Some emphasize luxury and tasting menus, while others lean into rustic comfort or contemporary interpretations of classic recipes. Together, they offer one of the world’s most recognizable dining traditions, always rooted in regional identity even when adapted far from Italy.
Da Vittorio
Brusaporto, Italy
Da Vittorio brings the Cerea family’s approach to Italian hospitality to a country estate in Brusaporto, outside Bergamo. Gardens, paths and small lakes establish a leisurely setting before guests reach the restaurant. Its position in the Lombard countryside gives the experience a sense of retreat, while the family’s long involvement remains central to both the kitchen and the welcome. The cooking combines regional traditions with a broad interest in exceptional seasonal produce. Seafood has an important place, alongside meat, game, vegetables and the mushrooms and truffles associated with the changing year. Tasting menus and an à la carte selection provide different routes through this repertoire. Careful sourcing is part of the restaurant’s identity, with ingredients drawn from specialist producers across Italy rather than from a single narrow area. Pastry receives sustained attention, making the final stages of a meal a substantial part of the experience. The wine cellar extends the same interest in provenance, with staff helping to connect bottles to the food. Dining here suits an unhurried itinerary, whether as a destination meal from Bergamo or as part of a longer stay on the estate.
8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana
Hong Kong
8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana is a restaurant in Hong Kong.
Carbone
New York, USA
Carbone is the New York branch of the Italian-American restaurant at 181 Thompson Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The official Carbone NYC pages identify it as the original location and give the city dining room’s contact details, so this entry refers to the specific restaurant rather than the wider brand. Its position in a well-known downtown neighbourhood suits a destination dining room built around formal service and a strong sense of occasion. The restaurant’s food is framed around Italian-American cooking shaped by Little Italy traditions and mid-century New York influences. Official descriptions present it as a polished take on familiar red-sauce dining, with a menu structure that includes starters, pasta, seafood and desserts. That approach suggests a meal designed for lingering rather than casual drop-in eating, with classic flavours given a more theatrical and elevated treatment. Carbone’s room is presented as glamorous rather than rustic, with a design language that mixes old-world references and contemporary polish. The restaurant highlights charismatic service, tuxedoed captains and artwork by Julian Schnabel, while the official copy also refers to its classic Italian and mid-century New York inspiration. Together those elements point to a highly styled dining room with a formal, visually distinctive atmosphere. Practical details on the official site show lunch and dinner service, reservations through the restaurant and approved booking channels, and non-private arrangements for groups of nine to eighteen. Carbone also states a corkage fee and a dress code that excludes shorts, open-toed shoes and tank tops. Those policies reinforce its structured, carefully managed character and make it best understood as a formal restaurant for planned meals rather than a casual neighbourhood stop.
Il Ristorante - Niko Romito at Bulgari Hotel
Dubai, UAE
Il Ristorante - Niko Romito is an acclaimed fine dining restaurant located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Niko Romito is a highly regarded Italian chef known for his innovative approach to Italian cuisine. He brings his culinary expertise and passion for Italian flavors to Il Ristorante, offering guests a unique dining experience. Il Ristorante - Niko Romito is known for its modern interpretation of Italian cuisine. Chef Romito's dishes are characterized by their simplicity, elegance, and focus on high-quality ingredients. The menu often features traditional Italian dishes with a contemporary twist, showcasing the chef's creativity and skill. The restaurant boasts a sophisticated and elegant ambiance, with stylish decor, luxurious furnishings, and attentive service. Guests can expect a refined dining experience in a comfortable and inviting setting. Il Ristorante - Niko Romito offers tasting menus that allow guests to experience a variety of flavors and textures curated by the chef. These multi-course menus highlight the best of Italian cuisine and showcase Chef Romito's culinary vision. The restaurant offers an extensive wine list featuring a selection of Italian and international wines carefully chosen to complement the flavors of the dishes. Knowledgeable sommeliers are available to assist guests in selecting the perfect wine pairing for their meal. Attention to detail is evident in every aspect of the dining experience at Il Ristorante - Niko Romito, from the presentation of the dishes to the service and ambiance. The restaurant strives to create a memorable and immersive culinary journey for its guests.
Civico 47
Sydney, Australia
Civico 47 is a restaurant in Sydney, Australia.
La Scala
Bangkok, Thailand
La Scala is the Italian restaurant at The Sukhothai Bangkok in Sathorn, Bangkok 10120, on South Sathorn Road. The operator’s current restaurant page identifies it as La Scala Restaurant and places it within The Sukhothai Bangkok, rather than as an independent venue. The hotel itself describes its setting as a luxury hotel in the heart of Bangkok, which helps situate the restaurant within a broader urban resort environment. The kitchen centres on Italian cooking, with the official page describing vibrant Italian cuisine, an à la carte menu and a set lunch, alongside a Sabato Italiano Saturday Lunch. The restaurant also notes a chef de cuisine and references a rotating trolley, freshly shucked oysters and handcrafted desserts for the Saturday lunch, while the hotel’s dining pages link La Scala to Italian favourites and attentive service. La Scala offers both indoor and terrace dining. The restaurant page describes a cosy interior with warm tones, an open kitchen and an intimate atmosphere, plus alfresco tables beside the swimming pool. The operator also specifies a smart-casual dress code and states that the restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner, with last-order times published on the venue page. Its location on the hotel grounds means guests are dining within a larger property that also offers spa, pool and fitness facilities, though those amenities belong to The Sukhothai Bangkok rather than to La Scala itself. For the restaurant proper, the verified experience is focused on formal yet relaxed Italian dining, with menus, wine and beverage lists, and reservation contact provided directly by the hotel operator.
Le Calandre
Rubano, Italy
Le Calandre is the Alajmo family’s restaurant in Sarmeola di Rubano, just outside Padua. The setting places the emphasis on the table, where Massimiliano Alajmo’s cooking explores the ways aroma, texture and temperature influence flavour. His work draws on Italian culinary memory while allowing ingredients to appear in unfamiliar forms, with a particular interest in clarity and lightness. The restaurant offers several tasting routes, including a selection of established dishes and menus devoted to more recent creations. These provide different perspectives on a kitchen that treats experimentation as an ongoing process. Vegetables, seafood and other seasonal ingredients become the starting point for combinations intended to engage several senses at once. Guests can discuss their preferences with the team when choosing how to approach the meal. The dining room’s considered proportions and restrained presentation support close attention to the food without overwhelming it. Wine is another important part of the experience, with the cellar connecting producers and growing regions to the dishes. Le Calandre suits travellers seeking a substantial contemporary Italian meal near Padua, with enough time to follow the progression of flavours and the ideas behind them.
Buona Terra
Singapore
Buona Terra is a contemporary Italian restaurant at 29 Scotts Road in Singapore, set inside a conserved black-and-white bungalow that gives the address a secluded, residential feel. Michelin describes it as an intimate restaurant in a refurbished colonial house, while the restaurant’s own information sets out a compact layout shaped for a small number of diners. The main dining room has ten tables and seats up to thirty guests, and the property also provides an on-site car park for visitors arriving by car. The restaurant frames its cooking around seasonality and respect for ingredients, presenting a modern Italian approach rather than a broad all-day menu. Buona Terra works through set menus only. On weekdays, lunch is offered in four-course and five-course formats, and the restaurant also states that the dinner menu may be served at lunch when available. This structure points to a paced meal shaped by the kitchen, with dishes selected as part of a sequence rather than ordered individually from an à la carte list. For groups or more private occasions, Buona Terra states that it has three private rooms that can host up to fourteen guests. The menu information also notes that dietary requirements and many allergies can be accommodated with advance notice, which is a practical part of the service for guests planning ahead. Wine forms a clear part of the experience as well: the restaurant lists a three-glass wine flyer, a six-glass wine pairing and a corkage policy, showing that drinks can be woven into the meal rather than treated separately. The setting and service help define the character of the restaurant as much as the food. Michelin notes an elegant interior with an imposing display of wine bottles, while the restaurant describes its hospitality as warm, professional and personal. Further practical touches include the option to arrange celebration cakes in advance through Ami Pâtisserie. Taken together, those elements suggest a composed, small-scale dining experience in which the house, table count and set-menu format create an unhurried and carefully structured atmosphere.
Cecconi’s
London, UK
Cecconi’s Mayfair is the original London restaurant in the group, at 5A Burlington Gardens in Mayfair, near Bond Street. The official site says it has welcomed guests since 1978 and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. That places it as a long-established Northern Italian dining room in the West End, with a central address suited to both pre-theatre stops and longer meals in one of London’s busiest restaurant districts. The kitchen is built around modern classic Northern Italian cooking. Online menus show cicchetti, burrata, calamari fritti, tagliolini with lemon and caviar, spaghetti lobster, veal Milanese and Dover sole, alongside salads, grill dishes, sides, bakery items and desserts. The structure of the menu suggests an all-day restaurant rather than a fixed single-format trattoria, with breakfast and brunch choices sitting comfortably beside more substantial lunch and dinner plates. The operator describes theatrical dining, with selected fish and salad dishes finished and served at the table. That detail gives the room a more polished, performative character than a straightforward neighbourhood Italian restaurant. Cecconi’s also offers private hire and semi-private dining for up to 12 guests, so the space can accommodate both informal visits and more tailored gatherings without losing its core restaurant identity or its Mayfair setting. Taken together, Cecconi’s Mayfair presents itself as a formal but accessible Italian restaurant rooted in its original London opening. Its appeal lies in a central location, a menu focused on Venetian and northern Italian classics, and service that combines tableside presentation with broader event hosting. The result is a restaurant that supports daytime dining, evening meals and private occasions in a polished West End environment.
Gucci Osteria
Florence, Italy
Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura is a restaurant on Piazza della Signoria in Florence, with its official Florence pages giving the address as Piazza della Signoria 10 in the city’s historic centre. It is distinct from Gucci Giardino, the related bar and café venue at Piazza della Signoria 37r. The Florence restaurant pages present menus and booking for this specific branch, making clear that the dining room operates as its own destination within the wider Gucci hospitality presence on the square. In Florence, Michelin identifies Karime López and Takahiko Kondo as leading the kitchen, while an official menu page presents Kondo’s cooking as informed by international careers, culinary travel, art and music. The food centres on contemporary interpretations rather than straightforward traditional reproductions. Current dishes listed for Florence include Think Green, Journey to Modena, Non dire cassate, Rossini, thanks, Cacciucco’s dreaming and Animella mia!. Pasta offerings on the same menu include tortellini with Parmigiano Reggiano cream and spaghetti with pistachio and bergamot. Michelin classifies the cuisine here as Italian Contemporary with International influences, matching a restaurant identity built around Italian references viewed through a broader lens. Its Florence listing describes elegant interiors with hand-painted parquet flooring, and also notes practical features including air conditioning, a terrace and acceptance of credit cards. Those details suggest a polished dining room with a strong visual character, set within one of Florence’s most recognisable civic spaces and shaped by a collaboration associated with Gucci and Massimo Bottura. The overall impression is of a centrally located Florence restaurant with a clearly defined personality and a menu that uses playful dish names alongside familiar Italian ingredients and formats. Rather than presenting itself as a conventional trattoria, it combines design-conscious surroundings with cooking that draws from travel and varied cultural influences. The Piazza della Signoria address, the distinction from the separate Giardino venue, and the combination of contemporary cuisine and carefully described interiors give this branch an identity that is specific to Florence rather than interchangeable with other names in the group.