Country dossier
Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries across Italy in the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Italy
In Rome, these starred restaurants run sommelier-led wine lists in Monte Mario, Campo Marzio, Ponte, and Della Vittoria. La Pergola, Acquolina, and Il Pagliaccio also hold Wine Spectator awards.
In Monte Mario, La Pergola serves modern Italian fine dining from a rooftop terrace with panoramic views of Rome, and it holds three Michelin stars. Chef Heinz Beck offers a tasting menu and à la carte. Sommelier Marco Reitano leads the list, which holds a Wine Spectator Grand Award.
Acquolina in Campo Marzio is a modern Mediterranean seafood restaurant with two Michelin stars and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. Chef Daniele Lippi runs two tasting menus of seafood and selective meat courses. The wine list runs to roughly a thousand labels.
Il Pagliaccio in Ponte holds two Michelin stars for Italian and Japanese fine dining, with blind tasting menus led by chef Anthony Genovese. The list is sommelier-led, with approximately 1,750 selections and a cellar of around 10,000 bottles, and it holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence.
Enoteca La Torre in Della Vittoria holds two Michelin stars for modern Italian fine dining inside Villa Laetitia. Chef Domenico Stile serves tasting menus and à la carte in Renaissance-era rooms with frescoes and Art Nouveau details. The wine list is sommelier-led.
Drink Kong in Monti and Freni e Frizioni in Trastevere are cocktail bars. La Mescita is an enoteca in Ostiense, and Achilli al Parlamento in Campo Marzio is a restaurant that began as an enoteca, with over 4,000 wine labels.
Drink Kong in Monti is a Blade Runner-inspired multi-room bar with mood-based craft cocktails and fusion small plates. It has held a place on the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2020, and it placed number 32 on Europe's Best Bars in 2026.
Freni e Frizioni in Trastevere is a former mechanic's workshop serving craft and classic cocktails, with a vegetarian buffet at aperitivo. In 2025 it placed number 37 on the Top 500 Bars list and number 58 on the World's 50 Best Bars list.
La Mescita in Ostiense is an enoteca for natural and organic Italian wines, alongside conventional wine and craft beer. Sommeliers lead the list, and slow-cooked Italian small plates are served in an unhurried, convivial setting. The bar holds a Star Wine List award and 88 Falstaff points for 2026.
Achilli al Parlamento in Campo Marzio began as an enoteca in 1972 and now works as a Michelin-starred restaurant with over 4,000 wine labels. The format still reflects its wine-shop roots, with a wide selection by the glass and Campania-influenced tasting menus.
Montalcino is the most clearly wine-led part of this country page, where wineries outnumber restaurants and Brunello shapes the dining map.
Biondi-Santi Tenuta Greppo in Montalcino is the birthplace of Brunello di Montalcino. The estate has a proprietary BBS11 Sangiovese clone and has produced age-worthy wines since 1888. It holds five stars from Falstaff Winery for 2026.
Campo del Drago in Castiglion del Bosco pairs two Michelin stars with modern Tuscan fine dining inside the Rosewood estate. Chef Matteo Temperini builds the menu around produce from the estate’s own kitchen garden, and the wine list runs to over 700 labels weighted toward Brunello di Montalcino.
Rosewood Castiglion Del Bosco in Castiglion del Bosco / Montalcino is a 5,000-acre UNESCO-listed estate in Val d'Orcia, with 42 suites, 11 villas, a Brunello di Montalcino winery, and Michelin-starred dining. The property also has a private golf course on the estate.
Castello Banfi in Montalcino is a medieval castle estate producing Brunello di Montalcino, with a hotel and a Michelin-starred restaurant. Its wine experiences span several Tuscan appellations. The estate holds a Relais Chateaux Award for 2025.
Outside Rome and Montalcino, the guide points to coastal seafood rooms and regional kitchens where tasting menus and cellar depth carry the meal.
Il Piccolo Principe in Passeggiata di Viareggio holds two Michelin stars for modern Italian seafood fine dining. Chef Giuseppe Mancino runs three tasting menus inside the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte, drawing Campanian technique into a Tuscan coastal kitchen. The room has a nautical veranda overlooking the sea.
Romano in Viareggio is a one-Michelin-star seafood restaurant that marks 60 years in 2026, focused on top-quality local fish. Chef Nicola Gronchi keeps a tradition-forward kitchen and applies measured contemporary technique. The restaurant offers a tasting menu and à la carte.
Harry's Piccolo in Historic Center holds two Michelin stars under chefs Matteo Metullio and Davide De Pra, inside a former stock exchange building. Three tasting menus cover meat, fish, and signature classics, and they run in front of an open kitchen. À la carte is also offered.
Campo Marzio, Ponte, Monte Mario, Ostiense, Via Alessandria, Montalcino, and Castiglion del Bosco are neighbourhoods with serious wine lists in our guide. In Rome, Wine Spectator restaurants sit in Campo Marzio and Ponte, and Monte Mario holds La Pergola's Grand Award. La Mescita in Ostiense and Enoteca Grado in Via Alessandria are wine-led enoteche. Campo del Drago in Castiglion del Bosco has a Brunello-weighted list, and Brunello estates sit in the Montalcino neighbourhood.
Italy has 92 Michelin-starred restaurants in our guide, with 112 Michelin stars in total. The Michelin figures cover the cities listed for this country. The 92 is the restaurant total, and the 112 is the star total, each taken across that full city list.
In Rome, tasting menus are served in Monte Mario, Campo Marzio, Ponte, Della Vittoria, Parione, San Eustachio, and Trastevere. The rooms include La Pergola, Acquolina, Il Pagliaccio, Enoteca La Torre, Pipero Roma, Idylio by Apreda, and Zia. Campo del Drago, in Castiglion del Bosco in Montalcino, serves a tasting menu and à la carte.
Six restaurants in Rome hold Wine Spectator awards on this page: La Pergola in Monte Mario, Il Pagliaccio in Ponte, Acquolina in Campo Marzio, Imàgo in Campo Marzio, Il Convivio Troiani in Ponte, and Achilli al Parlamento in Campo Marzio. La Pergola holds the Grand Award. The other five hold a Best of Award of Excellence.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
City atlas
Italy
Selected entries from the current guide for Italy.
Alba, Italy
Piazza Duomo places Alba’s truffle-and-Barolo identity inside a progressive Italian frame, with Enrico Crippa’s plant-led menus pulling the Langhe into a far more technical register. The draw is not only Michelin three-star status, La Liste 96 points for 2026, or its long World’s 50 Best Restaurants run, but the way regional produce becomes the grammar of the meal rather than a decorative accent.
Modena, Italy
Osteria Francescana is Modena’s high-concept reading of Emilia-Romagna, where Parmigiano Reggiano, balsamic vinegar, pasta memory, and contemporary Italian technique are treated as cultural material rather than comfort-food nostalgia. Massimo Bottura’s dining room carries rare external validation, including La Liste 97 points in 2026, Les Grandes Tables du Monde membership, and sustained international ranking history.
Ragusa, Italy
Two-Michelin-starred Duomo Ragusa showcases Chef Ciccio Sultano's deeply personal interpretation of Sicilian cuisine within an intimate baroque palace setting. Located steps from the historic Duomo di San Giorgio, this celebrated restaurant transforms island traditions into contemporary haute cuisine through signature dishes like sea urchin pasta and an extraordinary Sicilian wine program.
Brunico, Italy
Three Michelin stars and 99 points on La Liste 2026, Atelier Moessmer sits in a 19th-century Brunico villa where Norbert Niederkofler's Cook the Mountain philosophy restricts the kitchen to hyper-local Tyrolean ingredients. A 12-course tasting menu, service Thursday through Sunday, and a format that moves guests through lounge, dining room, and kitchen counter make this among the more deliberate fine-dining experiences in the Alpine north.
Rome, Italy
Rome's only three-Michelin-star restaurant, La Pergola sits atop the Roma Cavalieri hotel on Monte Mario hill, where chef Heinz Beck has held the kitchen since 1994 and sommelier Marco Reitano commands one of Italy's most decorated wine programs. Recognised by La Liste (96.5 points in 2025) and Les Grandes Tables du Monde, it occupies a tier of its own in the Italian capital's fine dining hierarchy.
Milan, Italy
Seta occupies a refined position within Milan's two-Michelin-star tier, operating inside the Mandarin Oriental on Via Monte di Pietà. Chef Antonio Guida structures the kitchen around three distinct tasting menus, with seasonal ingredients and citrus as recurring reference points. Ranked 29th in Opinionated About Dining's Classical Europe list for 2025, it draws both business travellers and dedicated diners seeking modern Italian cooking with compositional precision.
Rome, Italy
On Via dei Banchi Vecchi, Il Pagliaccio holds two Michelin stars and a place in the La Liste global top tier, where Anthony Genovese's tasting menus move fluidly between Italian regional technique and Japanese reference points. The wine list runs to approximately 1,750 selections with a cellar of around 10,000 bottles. Dinner runs Tuesday through Friday, with Saturday lunch and dinner service available.
Florence, Italy
Inside a 13th-century palace once home to a Medici-era diplomat, Locale Firenze operates at the serious end of Italian bar culture. Ranked #15 in the Top 500 Bars (2025) and #36 in the World's 50 Best Bars (2024), the programme pairs modernist technique with low-waste discipline and a kitchen-bar dialogue that sets it apart from Florence's broader cocktail scene.
Florence, Italy
One of Italy's eleven three-Michelin-star restaurants, Enoteca Pinchiorri has occupied its 17th-century palazzo on Via Ghibellina since 1972, building one of Europe's most celebrated wine cellars alongside a kitchen that draws from both Italian and French traditions. Rated 94 points on La Liste 2026 and ranked in the Opinionated About Dining Classical Europe list, it operates dinner service Tuesday through Saturday at the upper tier of Florentine fine dining.
Rome, Italy
Perched atop the Spanish Steps inside the Hassler Hotel, Imàgo holds a Michelin star, a World's Best Wine Lists 3-Star Accreditation, and a La Liste score of 86.5 points. Chef Andrea Antonini runs two tasting menus across a dining room where floor-to-ceiling windows frame Rome's skyline from Trinità dei Monti to the Capitol. The wine list spans 1,450 selections across 22,000 bottles, with particular depth in Piedmont, Tuscany, and Burgundy.
Verona, Italy
Three-Michelin-starred Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli represents Giancarlo Perbellini's triumphant return to his Verona origins, where historic frescoed rooms and an intimate twelve-seat Chef's Table showcase Italy's most personal fine dining experience through three distinctive tasting menus.
Milan, Italy
Enrico Bartolini al Mudec occupies the third floor of Milan's Museum of Cultures in Tortona, holding three Michelin stars and a 96.5-point La Liste score. The kitchen, run alongside resident chef Davide Boglioli, offers two tasting formats plus à la carte selection, with cooking that prizes flavor intensity over intellectual abstraction. Ranked 85th on the World's 50 Best list in 2023, it sits at the summit of Milan's fine-dining tier.
Serralunga d'Alba, Italy
A two-Michelin-star address set within Il Boscareto Resort outside Alba, La Rei Natura by Michelangelo Mammoliti holds a 92-point score from La Liste (2026) and a ranking of 348 in Opinionated About Dining's European classical list. Three tasting menus anchor the kitchen's vegetable-forward, biodynamically sourced program, with à la carte access available on two of them. Open Thursday through Sunday evenings, with Saturday and Sunday lunch service.
Massa Lubrense, Italy
Three Michelin stars in a village that requires genuine commitment to reach: Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone has grown from a beachside pizzeria into one of Campania's most decorated restaurants over four decades. Chef Fabrizio Mellino works Mediterranean ingredients, Amalfi lemons, San Marzano tomatoes, Sorrento coastline seafood, through a technique-driven lens that earned a La Liste score of 97 points in 2026 and an Opinionated About Dining Classical Europe ranking of 52nd in 2025.
Vico Equense, Italy
Occupying a medieval watchtower a few metres from the Tyrrhenian at Marina di Equa, Torre del Saracino holds two Michelin stars under chef Gennaro Esposito, one of Campania's most recognised figures in modern Italian cooking. The aperitivo ritual in the tower itself, paired with an inventive antipasti selection, sets the tone before guests move to dining rooms framing Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. Rated 92 points by La Liste in both 2025 and 2026 and ranked #146 in Opinionated About Dining's European list for 2025.
Milan, Italy
Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia occupies a quieter residential corner of western Milan, far from the city's fashion-week circuit, where the dining room's sober, contemporary interior signals immediately that the food and wine are the entire point. Decades of operation have placed it among Italy's most consistently regarded fine-dining addresses, where the meal is paced as a deliberate, unhurried ritual rather than an event.
Milan, Italy
A two-Michelin-star address on Corso Venezia, Andrea Aprea sits on the top floor of the Luigi Rovati Foundation and offers three tasting menus ranging from a four-course creative format to an eight-course signature experience. Scored 90 points by La Liste in 2026 and recognised by Les Grandes Tables du Monde, it holds a place among Milan's most decorated contemporary Italian kitchens. Dinner runs Tuesday through Saturday; Saturday lunch is also available.
Venice, Italy
Inside Palazzo Venart on the Grand Canal, Glam holds two Michelin stars under resident chef Donato Ascani, working within a framework established by multi-starred Enrico Bartolini. Two tasting menus divide between Venetian-rooted dishes and Bartolini's signature canon. La Liste awarded 90 points in both 2025 and 2026. Arrival by private water taxi is possible, which fits the setting precisely.
Montalcino, Italy
A medieval castle estate in the hills above Montalcino, Castello Banfi operates as a wine resort and hospitality destination at the serious end of Brunello di Montalcino production.
Naples, Italy
Two Michelin stars and a 90-point La Liste score place George Restaurant among the more decorated tables in Naples. Chef Domenico Candela works Campanian produce through French-trained technique from an open kitchen on the rooftop terrace of Grand Hotel Parker's, with Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples filling the view behind every plate.
Ischia, Italy
Tucked into the residential hills above Ischia, daní maison occupies chef Nino Di Costanzo's own home, where just a handful of tables sit beneath vaulted ceilings in a setting that reads more private estate than restaurant. Two Michelin stars and a 94-point La Liste score (2026) confirm its position among Italy's most technically serious kitchens. Expect concept-driven, elaborately constructed dishes from one of Campania's most decorated chefs.
Turin, Italy
Operating from Piazza Carignano since the 18th century, Del Cambio holds a singular position in Turin's fine dining circuit: a room where Cavour once dined, now earning a Michelin star and 91 points from La Liste 2026 under chef Matteo Baronetto's progressive Piedmontese kitchen. The wine list runs to 3,200 selections and 15,000 bottles in inventory, with particular depth in regional Italian and German Riesling verticals.
Milan, Italy
Where Via Solferino meets the Brera district, Dry Milano occupies a position that few pizzerias in the city can match: an award-winning address that treats the pizza counter and the cocktail bar as equals. Gourmet-leaning pies and a creative drinks program coexist in a minimalist space that draws a crowd looking for more than a quick slice.
Dolegna del Collio, Italy
In the hills above Dolegna del Collio, where Friuli meets Slovenia, L'Argine a Vencò operates from a restored mill surrounded by its own kitchen garden. Chef Antonia Klugmann holds a Michelin star and ranks #113 in Opinionated About Dining's Europe list for 2025. The cooking draws directly from the borderland terroir, with aromatic herbs from the garden appearing across a menu that sits at the intersection of precision and place.
Italy
Selected entries from the current guide for Italy.
Florence, Italy
Four Seasons Hotel Firenze is Florence at palace scale: a Renaissance palazzo and former convent set around an 11-acre private garden, with frescoes, friezes, pool, spa and serious dining folded into the fabric. Its recognition from World's 50 Best Hotels and La Liste places it in the city's upper luxury tier, but the real argument is architectural rather than merely service-led.
Amalfi, Italy
Hotel Santa Caterina transforms a 19th-century Liberty-style villa into the Amalfi Coast's most prestigious family-run luxury hotel, where 66 rooms and suites cascade down terraced cliffs to a private beach. Four generations of Gambardella family hospitality, Michelin-starred dining, and dramatic Gulf of Salerno views define this well-known Italian coastal sanctuary.
Capri, Italy
JK Place Capri belongs to the island’s small, design-led hotel tier: intimate, sea-facing, and sharpened by Michele Bonan interiors rather than resort scale. Its Marina Grande setting keeps the harbour close while the mood stays composed, with 22 rooms, Mediterranean dining, spa facilities, beach access, and a polished villa sensibility that suits Capri more than grand-hotel ceremony.
Rome, Italy
Housed in a 17th-century Palazzo Borghese townhouse steps from the Spanish Steps, JK Place Roma holds a Michelin 2 Keys rating (2024) and La Liste Top Hotels recognition at 96 points (2026). Rates start at approximately $951 per night.
Venice, Italy
Aman Venice occupies Palazzo Papadopoli, a Renaissance palace on the Grand Canal in the San Polo sestiere. With just 24 rooms, Michelin 3 Keys recognition, and one of the only private gardens fronting the canal, it sits in a category apart from Venice's other converted-palace hotels. Ranked 79th on the World's 50 Best Hotels list in 2025 and awarded 97.5 points by La Liste in 2026.
Montalcino, Italy
Set within a 5,000-acre UNESCO-protected estate in Val d'Orcia, Rosewood Castiglion Del Bosco combines nine centuries of Tuscan agricultural history with Michelin-starred dining, a private 18-hole golf course, and an on-site Brunello di Montalcino winery. With 42 suites and 11 restored villas, it occupies a different tier from conventional Tuscany resort hotels, closer in concept to a working estate that happens to accommodate guests than a hotel that borrows countryside aesthetics.
Porto Ercole, Italy
Il Pellicano is the Argentario coast’s grand private-club fantasy translated into hotel form: terraced gardens, cliff-edge sea access, a heated seawater pool, serious dining, and a design language that treats glamour as something lived-in rather than staged. Choose it for a stay where architecture, beach rhythm, and Porto Ercole’s maritime setting carry as much weight as the restaurants and bars.
Milan, Italy
Portrait Milano occupies a converted 16th-century seminary on Corso Venezia, within the Golden Quadrangle, carrying Michelin 2 Keys recognition and a 2025 World's 50 Best Hotels ranking of #99. The Lungarno Collection's first Milan property brings 73 rooms designed by Michele Bönan, Italy's inaugural Beefbar, and a biohacking-focused spa beneath original vaulted ceilings. Rates from $1,383 per night position it at the upper tier of Milanese luxury hospitality.
Rome, Italy
Fourteen suites above the Salvatore Ferragamo men's store on Via Condotti, Portrait Roma occupies among the more deliberate addresses in the Italian capital. Awarded a Michelin Key in 2024 and scoring 95 points in the 2026 La Liste Top Hotels ranking, it sits at the tighter, more personal end of Rome's luxury hotel market, where the design language is fashion-house restraint rather than palatial grandeur.
Rome, Italy
Perched at the summit of the Spanish Steps, Hassler Roma has anchored Rome's upper luxury tier since the 1890s, operating under six generations of the same Swiss family. Its 84 rooms and suites combine period craftsmanship with Michelin-starred dining at Imàgo, earning a La Liste score of 97.5 points in 2026 and Michelin's one-key designation in 2024.
Positano, Italy
Built into the cliffside east of Positano, Il San Pietro di Positano earned three Michelin Keys in 2024 and a 99.5-point La Liste ranking in 2026. Its 57 rooms occupy a promontory where the property descends the rockface one room deep, every terrace opening directly onto the Gulf of Salerno. Adults-only, seasonal, and deliberately secluded, it operates in a tier apart from Positano's town-centre hotels.
Amalfi, Italy
Carved into the cliffs above Conca dei Marini, Borgo Santandrea occupies a thoroughly restored 1960s structure with 45 rooms, a private pebble beach, and mid-century design pieces drawn from the owners' personal collection. Ranked 53rd on the World's 50 Best Hotels list in 2025 and awarded two Michelin Keys, it sits at the serious end of the Amalfi Coast's luxury tier. Rates from US$1,667 per night.
Florence, Italy
On the Oltrarno bank of the Arno, Hotel Lungarno is the founding property of the Ferragamo family's Lungarno Collection. Designed by Florentine architect Michele Bönan, the 63-room hotel holds a Michelin Key (2024) and a La Liste Top Hotels ranking of 93 points (2026), with the Michelin-starred Borgo San Jacopo restaurant opening directly onto views of the river and Ponte Vecchio.
Florence, Italy
Set in a 15th-century estate along the Arno River, just 15 minutes from Ponte Vecchio by complimentary shuttle, Villa La Massa offers 51 rooms across six historic buildings on 22 acres of Tuscan parkland. A Michelin 2 Keys recipient and La Liste Top Hotels 2026 member (91 points), it occupies a distinct tier between countryside retreat and Florence city access, hard to replicate at this proximity.
Positano, Italy
Le Sirenuse reads Positano through architecture: an 18th-century palazzo turned seasonal hotel, with Vietri tiles, family antiques, sea-facing terraces and a red façade set against the cliff town. Its 59-room scale, Sersale family ownership, La Liste Top Hotels score and World's 50 Best Hotels recognition place it in the upper tier of Amalfi Coast hospitality without losing the house-like grammar that defines it.
Venice, Italy
Set on Giudecca Island across the lagoon from St Mark's Square, Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel carries a lineage that runs through the invention of the Bellini and the founding of Harry's Bar. Ranked 72nd in the World's 50 Best Hotels (2025) and awarded Michelin 3 Keys (2024), it holds the only Olympic-sized pool in central Venice. The hotel closes seasonally and reopens on 23rd April 2026.
Lake Garda, Italy
Lefay Resort & Spa Lago di Garda sits on a hillside above Gargnano, earning a Michelin Key (2024), La Liste Top Hotels recognition at 93.5 points, and three World Luxury Hotel Awards. Its 96 lake-view suites, a 46,285-square-foot spa, and two distinct dining programmes, including fine-dining restaurant Gramen, place it among the western shore's most coherent wellness-focused properties.
Florence, Italy
A 20-room townhouse on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, THE PLACE Firenze sits opposite Leon Battista Alberti's proto-Renaissance basilica and holds Leading Hotels of the World membership alongside a 92.5-point La Liste rating for 2026. Renovated by architect Luigi Fragola in 2021, it pitches itself against Florence's boutique-intimate tier with all-day dining built entirely around Tuscan artisanal sourcing and a Negroni masterclass rooted in the cocktail's Florentine origins.
Sorrento, Italy
Owned by the Fiorentino family since 1834, Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria occupies a clifftop position above Sorrento's harbor with unobstructed views across the Bay of Naples toward Mount Vesuvius. Its 81 rooms span three joined 19th-century villas, and the Michelin-starred Terrazza Bosquet restaurant and a private cliffside elevator to the seafront make the address work as hard as the history.
Florence, Italy
Set on a secluded hilltop north of Florence's historic centre, Collegio alla Querce occupies three adjacent Renaissance-era buildings, a former Jesuit seminary and two historic villas, transformed by Auberge Resorts Collection in 2023. Eighty-three rooms and suites look out over Tuscan countryside or historic courtyards, while multiple dining venues, an infinity pool, and 18 acres of gardens complete a property that reads as a country estate rather than a city hotel.
Capri, Italy
Jumeirah Capri Palace reads Anacapri through design: white architecture, vaulted interiors, contemporary art, a medical spa, and dining that reaches from L’Olivo’s two Michelin stars to Il Riccio by the sea. Its appeal is quieter than Capri town’s evening theatre, with 67 rooms and a hilltop setting that suits travelers who want the island’s polish without sleeping in the densest part of the action.
Taormina, Italy
A 14th-century Dominican convent turned Four Seasons property, San Domenico Palace occupies a clifftop position above Taormina with views across the Ionian Sea to Mount Etna. Recognized with two Michelin Keys (2024) and a La Liste Top Hotels score of 93.5 points (2026), the 111-room hotel holds its Michelin-star restaurant, three additional dining venues, and a full spa within walls that predate the modern town below.
Florence, Italy
A neoclassical villa built for Baron Oppenheim in the 1870s, Villa Cora sits above the Boboli Gardens on Florence's quieter southern edge. Forty-three rooms furnished with period antiques and Persian rugs, a year-round heated pool, and a complimentary shuttle to the city centre place it at a distinct remove from the tourist density of the historic core. Awarded two Michelin Keys in 2024 and rated 92 points on La Liste Top Hotels 2026.
Rome, Italy
Orient Express La Minerva opened in April 2025 on Piazza della Minerva, steps from the Pantheon, marking the storied travel brand's first hotel. Housed in a 17th-century mansion restored by designer Hugo Toro, the 93-room property blends original marble statues and Murano chandeliers with Art Deco detailing. Rates are available on request, and the rooftop restaurant offers Mediterranean cuisine with direct views across the Roman skyline.
Italy
Selected entries from the current guide for Italy.
Florence, Italy
Inside a 13th-century palace once home to a Medici-era diplomat, Locale Firenze operates at the serious end of Italian bar culture. Ranked #15 in the Top 500 Bars (2025) and #36 in the World's 50 Best Bars (2024), the programme pairs modernist technique with low-waste discipline and a kitchen-bar dialogue that sets it apart from Florence's broader cocktail scene.
Rome, Italy
Perched atop the Spanish Steps inside the Hassler Hotel, Imàgo holds a Michelin star, a World's Best Wine Lists 3-Star Accreditation, and a La Liste score of 86.5 points. Chef Andrea Antonini runs two tasting menus across a dining room where floor-to-ceiling windows frame Rome's skyline from Trinità dei Monti to the Capitol. The wine list spans 1,450 selections across 22,000 bottles, with particular depth in Piedmont, Tuscany, and Burgundy.
Milan, Italy
A former textile warehouse in central Milan reimagined as a cocktail bar, bistro, and fine-dining space, Moebius Milano ranked 38th at the World's 50 Best Bars in 2024 and 9th in the Top 500 Bars list in 2025. The drinks programme draws on culinary technique, the ground floor runs globally influenced small plates, and the first-floor Moebius Sperimentale operates as a glass-enclosed Michelin-starred restaurant. It resists easy categorisation, which is precisely the point.
Milan, Italy
Where Via Solferino meets the Brera district, Dry Milano occupies a position that few pizzerias in the city can match: an award-winning address that treats the pizza counter and the cocktail bar as equals. Gourmet-leaning pies and a creative drinks program coexist in a minimalist space that draws a crowd looking for more than a quick slice.
Milan, Italy
1930 puts Milan's cocktail culture in its high-concept, low-capacity lane: a speakeasy-format bar known for food-leaning drinks and sustained placement on major bar lists. Its programme is built around gastronomic references rather than simple retro theatre, with recent recognition including World's 50 Best Bars positions and a Top 500 Bars 2026 ranking.
Rome, Italy
Drink Kong has held a position on the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2020, placing it in the upper tier of Rome's bar scene and among Italy's most globally recognized cocktail programs. Set across multiple rooms in Celio, the bar runs nightly from 18:30 with a menu format that guides guests by sensation rather than category. A serious destination for those who treat cocktails as a discipline.
Rome, Italy
Ranked #37 in Top 500 Bars and #58 in the World's 50 Best Bars for 2025, Freni e Frizioni has become one of Rome's most consistently recognised drinking destinations. Set in Trastevere, it draws a loyal nightly crowd from aperitivo hour through to the early morning. Its trajectory across three consecutive years in the 50 Best rankings signals a bar that has moved well past cult-local status.
Milan, Italy
On the fourth floor of the historic ENEL palazzo in Milan's northern Isola district, Ceresio 7 pairs a Michelin Plate kitchen with a cocktail program ranked 53rd in the Top 500 Bars for 2025. Two rooftop pools, a long outdoor terrace, and views across the financial quarter give it a profile that few restaurant-bar hybrids in the city can match. The mood shifts considerably between a lunch sitting and an evening service, a distinction worth understanding before you book.
Naples, Italy
Open daily from 18:00 to 03:00, the bar occupies a space that blurs antique-cabinet atmosphere with serious drink-making credentials, positioning it at the upper tier of Southern Italy's bar scene.
Rome, Italy
A one-Michelin-star restaurant on Viale Aventino, Marco Martini Chef occupies the first floor of a period palazzo that reads like a winter garden, with greenery, natural light, and decorative floor tiles framing creative cuisine rooted in Roman flavour intensity. Ranked #441 in Opinionated About Dining's Top European Restaurants for 2025, it sits in a mid-tier creative bracket well below Rome's €€€€ flagships, making it one of the more accessible starred options in the capital.
Milan, Italy
Positioned at the base of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II since 1867, Camparino in Galleria occupies a category of its own in Milan's aperitivo culture. Ranked 27th on the World's 50 Best Bars in 2021 and holding a place in the top 100 through 2024, it earns that recognition not through novelty but through institutional authority. This is where Campari-based drinking tradition lives in its original setting.
Florence, Italy
A Michelin-starred dining room set within Hotel Lungarno, Borgo San Jacopo operates at the serious end of Florence's fine-dining tier, ranked #336 among Europe's classical restaurants by Opinionated About Dining in 2025. Chef Claudio Mengoni's menu moves between two tasting formats and an à la carte, with creative meat and fish dishes that carry selective Tuscan inflection, served across a room with two coveted balcony tables overlooking the Arno.
Rome, Italy
On Via dei Giubbonari in Rome's Campo de' Fiori quarter, Roscioli operates as both a deli counter and a sit-down trattoria, drawing on a pantry of carefully sourced Roman staples. Ranked #9 in Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in Europe for 2025 and holding a Michelin Plate, it represents the kind of ingredient-led Roman dining that resists the city's drift toward theatrical tasting menus.
Rome, Italy
Jerry Thomas Bar Room is the Trastevere sister bar to Jerry Thomas Speakeasy, listed separately by Top 500 Bars.
Florence, Italy
Located on Via di Mezzo in the Sant'Ambrogio quarter, it draws. For a city better known for Chianti than cocktails, that sustained recognition signals something deliberate happening behind the bar.
Florence, Italy
Ranked #234 in the Top 500 Bars for 2025 and. It sits in a different competitive tier from the heritage cocktail rooms of central Florence.
Florence, Italy
Positioned on Piazza della Signoria, Gucci Giardino sits at the intersection of Florentine heritage and contemporary cocktail craft. Ranked #31 in the Top 500 Bars (2025) and #99 in the World's 50 Best Bars (2025), the bar operates at the upper tier of Italy's competitive cocktail scene, where sourcing discipline and formal technique carry as much weight as the address.
Rome, Italy
One of Rome's most awarded cocktail bars, Jerry Thomas Speakeasy has held a place in the World's 50 Best Bars since 2013, peaking at number 19 before settling into a consistent presence in global rankings. Its speakeasy format, tucked into a narrow alley off Campo de' Fiori, represents the pre-theatrical era of the genre before the city's bar scene moved toward more transparent technical programs..
Florence, Italy
Ranked #295 in the World's Top 500 Bars for 2025, Santa Cocktail Club occupies a prime position on Piazza Santa Maria Novella with a program that draws on Dante-era Florentine symbolism and contemporary technique in equal measure. The result is one of the city's more considered bar programs, where Italian hospitality and craft-forward thinking share the same counter.
Bologna, Italy
Among Italy's few Japanese-concept bars to earn global recognition, Sentaku Izakaya transplants the izakaya format to Bologna's medieval centre, pairing a zero-waste back-of-house philosophy with creative cocktail work that placed it at number 272 in the Top 500 Bars ranking for 2025. The address on Via Marchesana puts it in the dense heart of the old city, where the bar operates as an outlier in a neighbourhood defined by Emilian wine culture and centuries-old trattorias.
Florence, Italy
La Ménagère occupies a converted nineteenth-century household goods store on Via de' Ginori, operating today as a multi-concept space that folds restaurant, bar, flower shop, and design retail into a single address. Among Florence's more formal dining rooms, it offers a distinct register: the atmosphere reads more like a Parisian concept store than a Tuscan trattoria, positioning it in a different competitive tier from the white-tablecloth rooms at Enoteca Pinchiorri or Santa Elisabetta.
Rome, Italy
The Court occupies a significant address on Via Labicana, in the shadow of the Colosseum, placing it within one of Rome's most historically charged dining corridors. The setting frames a meal in a way few city-centre restaurants can match, where the weight of the surrounding archaeology shapes the pace and register of the experience. It belongs to a tier of Roman dining where context and craft operate together.
Venice, Italy
Ranked #216 in the Top 500 Bars for 2025, Aman Bar occupies the piano nobile of Palazzo Papadopoli, one of Venice's most architecturally significant sixteenth-century palaces. It sits in a different tier from the city's bacaro-and-spritz circuit, trading neighbourhood informality for the kind of hushed grandeur that draws returning guests rather than one-time visitors.
Bergamo, Italy
Ranked #482 in the Top 500 Bars 2025, Barrier occupies a corner of Piazza Giacomo Matteotti in Bergamo's lower city, bringing a programme of considered cocktails to a town better known for wine cellars and polenta than bar culture. Its presence on a global ranking list signals something beyond local ambition, this is a serious drinks operation in an unexpected address.
Italy
Selected entries from the current guide for Italy.
Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella, Italy
The estate sits within the Classico zone where Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara define the regional canon, and where the appassimento technique gives Amarone its structural weight and cellar longevity.
Barbaresco, Italy
Gaja sits at Via Torino, 5 in the village of Barbaresco, Piedmont, and ranks among the more recognised Nebbiolo producers in Italy. Winemaker Angelo Gaja shaped the estate's modern identity through a combination of single-vineyard discipline and international ambition.
Montalcino, Italy
The estate that defined Brunello di Montalcino. For anyone tracking the origins of Italy's most age-worthy red wines, this address is the primary source.
Monforte d'Alba, Italy
Giacomo Conterno, based at Località Ornati in Monforte d'Alba, is one of the Langhe's most closely watched Barolo producers. Visits are reserved for serious collectors and those already familiar with Piedmont's longer cycles of production.
Castagneto Carducci, Italy
Masseto belongs to the Tuscan coast's small, high-pressure circle of benchmark estates, where clay, sea air, and Merlot sit at the centre of the argument. In Castagneto Carducci, its reputation is less about broad regional variety than about a single-site idea pursued with unusual discipline beside Ornellaia.
Castagneto Carducci, Italy
Ornellaia places Castagneto Carducci inside the international conversation on Bolgheri, where coastal Tuscany speaks through Bordeaux varieties rather than the region's older Sangiovese grammar. The visit is less about rustic cellar romance than about reading a modern Tuscan estate through site, structure, and comparison with names such as Masseto, Tenuta San Guido, and Le Macchiole.
Bolgheri, Italy
Tenuta San Guido is the Bolgheri estate that defined the Sassicaia category and, by extension, rewrote the rules for Italian fine wine. With Graziana Grassini as winemaker and a first vintage dating to 1968, the estate operates at the upper tier of Bolgheri's appellation hierarchy.
Montalcino, Italy
Valdicava Az Agr belongs to the Montalcino conversation where Brunello is judged less by polish than by how convincingly Sangiovese carries site, altitude, exposure, and vintage. With Vincenzo Abbruzzese associated with the estate and a first vintage recorded in 1987, it reads as a focused stop for travelers who want terroir rather than spectacle.
Montalcino, Italy
A medieval castle estate in the hills above Montalcino, Castello Banfi operates as a wine resort and hospitality destination at the serious end of Brunello di Montalcino production.
Montalcino, Italy
Tastings are guided with the kind of direct, knowledgeable hospitality that positions this address firmly within Montalcino's upper tier of estate experiences rather than its tourist-facing wine shops.
Alba, Italy
One of Piedmont's most established wine estates, the Ceretto family has shaped Langhe viticulture since the 1930s. The combination of multi-generational continuity and documented terroir work puts Ceretto in a distinct tier among Alba's winery visits.
Montalcino, Italy
Under winemaker Bernardo Bossi Bonilla, the property produces Brunello di Montalcino from the Sant'Angelo in Colle hill, a subzone known for warmer soils and structured, age-worthy expression. For visitors seeking historical depth alongside serious contemporary winemaking, Argiano occupies a distinct place in the appellation.
Gaiole in Chianti, Italy
Castello di Ama has produced estate Chianti Classico from the hamlet of Ama since 1978, under the long stewardship of winemaker Marco Pallanti. The estate also integrates a contemporary art programme across its grounds.
Greve in Chianti, Italy
Fontodi has shaped the identity of Chianti Classico's Panzano in Chianti zone since its first vintage in 1979, with Giovanni Manetti steering a program built on Sangiovese grown in some of the appellation's most discussed soils.
Florence, Italy
On the Oltrarno side of the Arno, Marchesi de' Frescobaldi brings one of Tuscany's most consequential wine dynasties directly to a Florence address. For anyone tracing Tuscan terroir from vineyard to glass, it warrants serious attention.
Radda in Chianti, Italy
Montevertine is a small estate in Radda in Chianti that has shaped the identity of Sangiovese-dominant winemaking in Tuscany since its first vintage in 1971.
Montalcino, Italy
Cult-status Poggio di Sotto crafts Montalcino's most coveted Brunello from 50-year-old Sangiovese vines, where Pier Paolo Pagiusco's traditional methods create allocation-only wines commanding devotion from collectors worldwide.
Suvereto, Italy
Tua Rita occupies a specific position in the Suvereto story: a winery that helped put the Tuscan coastal hills on the international fine wine map when its first vintage appeared in 1992.
Bolgheri, Italy
Tenuta Guado al Tasso is Antinori's flagship Bolgheri estate, responsible for one of the Tuscan coast's most closely followed Cabernet-led blends since its first vintage in 1990.
Neive, Italy
Bruno Giacosa in Neive sits among the more closely watched addresses in Piedmont wine. For collectors tracing the arc of Barolo and Barbaresco, this is a foundational reference point.
Montalcino, Italy
Cerbaiona is a small Montalcino estate with roots going back to 1981, now stewarded by winemaker Matthew Fioretti and. It sits within the upper tier of artisan Brunello producers, where low yields, traditional winemaking, and a specific hillside position define the wine's character rather than commercial scale.
San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Italy
Solaia is Marchesi Antinori's flagship single-vineyard Cabernet-dominant blend, produced from a hillside plot on the Tignanello estate in San Casciano. Planning a visit to the estate requires advance coordination through Antinori's hospitality programme.
San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Italy
Tenuta Tignanello sits in the Chianti Classico hills south of Florence, carrying the 1971 first vintage that made its name synonymous with the Super Tuscan category.
Barolo, Italy
The estate traces its origins to the early nineteenth century and the Marchesa Giulia Falletti Colbert, whose five original oak casks have been restored and returned to active use, a rare continuity of material culture in a region where heritage is currency.
