Best Restaurants from my Trip to Italy
Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world and for good reason, it has spectacular sites, beautiful beaches and amazing food! These were the main factors that motivated me to visit the beautiful country of Italy!
During my trip I had the opportunity to visit Rome, Bologna, Florence, Prato and Naples. Each of these cities were not only incredibly distinct culturally but also in regards to the food! I will be making a separate post on what my favorite part of each city was so for now I will just focus on the food. I had so much amazing food during my trip but I think that these are definitely the best restaurants from my trip to Italy!
Osteria il Matto - Rome
The first spot on this list is actually one of the first restaurants I visited on my trip! I was staying in the Monteverde community in Rome which is conveniently a short walk to both Testaccio and Trastevere. While these two adjacent areas are popular for food, this restaurant is located in Moteverde, making it a bit out of the way from the main touristic areas of Rome. Personally, I love staying in less touristy areas when I visit a city because I find that you can get great local eats without falling victim to tourist traps, and I think this restaurants is a good example of that!
A worker at the hotel I was staying at recommended this place so when I came back to my room hungry from a long day of exploring I decided to check it out. The first thing that captured my attention when I arrived at Osteria il Matto was how busy this place was! I definitely did not expect a restaurant in this community to be packed on a weekday but I took it as a good sign. The staff were also so friendly and helpful when it came to ordering!
I decided on trying three dishes, a bean spread which I don't remember the name of, Cacio e Pepe and Pasta alla Vacinara. Starting off with the bean spread, it was so delicious! I am personally a big fan of beans and this dip was creamy, savory and simply perfect with their bread. I found myself craving this bean dip in the following days and regret not coming back just to order it to go for a late night snack.
I tried Cacio e Pepe for the first time at this restaurant and I think it was well executed but personally the dish just isn't really for me. On the other hand, the Pasta alla Vacinara was perfect for me! This dish is oxtail stew over pasta which sounds as amazing as it tasted. I personally love oxtail and in this dish it was fall apart tender with a perfectly balanced savory flavor from the meat and tartness from the tomatoes. The only thing I would change is that it was a bit oily for me personally but I still highly recommend trying this dish and visiting this restaurant if you are in Rome and find yourself in the area!
All'Antico Vinaio - Rome/Florence
Now for something a lot less under the radar, I couldn't make this list without including what is probably the most famous sandwich shop chain in the world. All'Antico Vinaio is probably the restaurant I was most excited for prior to visiting Italy. I was so excited in fact, that I couldn't wait until Florence to try it at the original location and instead tried it first in Rome.
I decided to get the Vegetarian 5 sandwich and was absolutely blow away when I received it! The sandwich looked even bigger than in the videos and was very nicely filled so I instantly knew I was in for a treat. When I tried the sandwich I was so impressed by the quality and delicious flavor of each ingredient. It really feels like you can taste every ingredient and that each one is fresh and prepared perfectly. The bread was also perfectly firm and overall I think considering the size and quality of ingredients of this sandwich it is incredible value!
I did say in my TikTok reaction video that I thought the sandwich was a bit overrated so allow me to explain myself in case you have seen the video. The first thing is that there is no chicken on the menu and only one or two beef sandwiches so I was pretty much limited to only vegetarian sandwiches. This is completely fine but I did add some roasted chicken to the vegetarian sandwich on another occasion and I thought it was incredible so I definitely wish they had some chicken options!
There also wasn't a punch of flavor from the sandwich which again is totally fine but if you follow me on social media you know I definitely prefer dishes that pack more of a punch. Despite these points, this was still one of my favorite restaurants in Italy! I will say that it wasn't the best sandwich shop I have been to though, Ba Le Restaurant in Boston still holds that title.
I also thought I should mention that I actually preferred the Rome location over the Florence location! I had heard that the bread at the Florence location is much crispier but I didn't expect the difference to be so dramatic... the bread at the Florence location was as hard as a cracker! Again, this is still a must-try restaurant in Italy in my opinion but keep the above points in mind when you plan on visiting!
Cremeria Santo Stefano - Bologna
Arguably my favorite part of eating in Italy was enjoying the gelato. During my time in Spain a year ago, I discovered that the ice cream / gelato in Europe in general is a massive step up compared to what we have in Canada. This is why I was so excited to try gelato in its birthplace and made sure to get it every single day!
In Rome I had varied success with the gelato shops and while I did try some very solid spots nothing really stood out. I then headed to Bologna where I tried Venchi, a popular Italian chocolate shop chain that happens to make some amazing gelato! Until this point this was actually probably my favorite gelato shop but then I discovered a gelateria ranking system in Italy. This Italian food magazine called Gambero Rosso awards esteemed gelato shops with one to three cones, three being the best, similar to the famous Michelin guide but for gelato. Of the 70 gelaterias receiving three cones I noticed that there were a couple in Bologna including Cremeria Santo Stefano which I had actually also seen on some lists of the top gelato shops in Italy!
When I walked into the shop I instantly knew I was in for a treat. The storefront is open from the back, revealing the gelato preparation process, and the gelato is stored in the iconic metal tins. For those of you who don't know, seeing gelato stored in metal tins is considered a good sign that you are receiving authentic gelato because the gelato is stored at a very controlled temperature.
I arrived right when they opened so I think some flavors weren't ready yet and I ended up settling on dark chocolate, pistachio and coffee cream. Each flavor was absolutely perfect in a way I cannot even begin to describe. The best way I can describe it is that it's as if a magician transformed each of the ingredients into a perfectly corresponding gelato in regards to the flavor. The texture was also incredibly creamy without being too heavy which was perfect as well.
I pretty much tried a new gelateria every day that I was in Italy, including a couple other three cone gelaterias, and nothing was comprable to this spot. This may sound a bit extreme but the gelato at Cremeria Santo Stefano is truly unlike anything I have had and this was genuinely probably my favorite food spot from my entire trip!
Sergio Pollini Lampredotto - Florence
After Bologna I headed to the beautiful city of Florence! This was probably the most aesthetic city I visited in Italy but compared to the other cities I visited I felt like there was a comparatively lower density of restaurants. I am not sure if this is actually true but either way this wasn't much of an issue because for a lot of my meals I knew exactly where I wanted to go, including Sergio Pollini Lampredotto.
Lampredotto is a Florentine tripe sandwich that simply consists of stewed tripe, bread and some optional sauces. This is a pretty common street food in Florence but there is one spot that is considerably more famous than the rest and that is Sergio Pollini Lampredotto which has been featured in many blog posts, YouTube videos and TV shows.
This street food cart has been around for 23 years according to their website and as soon as I arrived I was greeted by an incredibly friendly duo serving up the iconic sandwich. They have a couple of sandwiches that they prepare including another famous tripe sandwich in a tomato sauce called trippa alla fiorentina, but I knew I was just coming for the lampredotto!
I got the sandwich with both of the sauces and although I am pretty comfortable with organ meats it is definitely not something I eat regularly so I was a bit nervous. I also find that tripe can be quite hit or miss compared to other organ meats so that simply added to my nervousness but my excitement easily beat these feelings and I took a big bite from the sandwich. It was absolutely phenomenal. The tripe was melt in your mouth tender, there was little to no "organ flavor", it was crazy savory and very salty. The bread was also perfection, being quite hard but slowly getting softer from the moist tripe and from the fact that they dip the bread in the broth, but it was not at all soggy. Finally, the herb and spicy sauces provided the perfect flavor kick to accompany the tripe. I definitely enjoy the concessional organ meat but even if you aren't a fan of organ meats or tripe I highly recommend trying this sandwich!
Di Matteo, Starita, Sandropizzettata - Naples
After Florence I headed to Portugal, which will be getting its own top restaurants post, but afterwards I returned to Italy because my return flight was from Naples. I had 4 days in Naples so I had a lot of time to explore the entire city and really appreciate it, I even got to visit Pompeii which was so cool! This was also my favorite city for food in Italy, mostly because of the pizza.
I am a huge pizza lover because it combines two of my favorite things, bread and cheese. Prior to visiting Naples I had a bunch of pizza in Rome and was honestly a little disappointed because I wasn't a big fan of Roman style pizza. I am personally a big fan of Neapolitan style pizza though so I naturally had high hopes for Naples, and the pizza in Naples was even greater than I imagined!
I listed three restaurants above because all three were pretty much equally good in my opinion. You pretty much can't get bad pizza in Naples from my experience! The first spot I visited was Di Matteo where I got a vegetarian pizza and it was amazing. This is an iconic spot in the historic center that I highly recommend for some of their more unique pizzas.
Starita is a short walk from the city center on an unassuming street that is similarly iconic. It was at this restaurant that I discovered that Gambero Rosso did not only rate gelaterias, the also rated pizza shops! In this case, Starita had a three pizza rating, which again is the highest rating on the scale, so I knew the pizza would be amazing. I also got a vegetarian pizza here, the Ortolana, and the staff was kind enough to allow me to customize my pizza and add some tomato sauce. This was similarly amazing to the pizza at Di Matteo. Both pizzas had perfect tomato sauce, delicious vegetable toppings, and perfectly thin dough with just the right amount of chew.
Sandropizzettata is a spot with a more local feel, since it is in the Vomero community, which I absolutely loved and the staff were so friendly. It is a totally different vibe than the other spots and I wish I ate in but I decided to take my pizza to a nearby park to eat. I tried the margherita with mushrooms and olives and it was stunning just like the other two spots. Perfect texture of the dough, phenomenal tomato sauce and delicious toppings. There are a lot of traditional dishes that you shouldn't miss when you are in Naples but the star of the show is undoubtedly the ridiculously good pizza!
Best Restaurants from my Trip to Italy
Prior to visiting Italy, my knowledge on Italian cuisine was quite limited so it was such an amazing experience to discover the diversity of the food that this country has to offer. There was such a striking difference in the cuisine of each city, especially Naples, likely owing to the fact that Italy is also known for its significant difference between the South and the North. I cannot wait to come back to Italy and visit a lot of the cities/areas I missed like Sicily, Venice, Milan and Turin.
If you are planning a trip to Italy I highly recommend each of the cities I visited and will reveal my favorite parts of each city in my next blog post. When you visit also make sure to checkout all these amazing restaurants, I am sure they will not disappoint! I hope you all enjoyed this lengthy restaurant review post and if you did make sure to checkout my social media and other blog posts. Also subscribe to my newsletter if your interested in updates on my content and some fun anecdotes from my foodie adventures. See you all on the next post and in the meantime go out and get yourself some delicious Italian food!
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