Best restaurants in Italy 2024 by Gambero Rosso: Bottura and Romito at the top, Cannavacciuolo remains behind, Vissani downgraded to two forks

2.485 places reviewed, the Tre Forchette and Tre gamberi which reward the trattorias increase. The novelty: green shrimps reserved for brands committed to sustainability. The ten restaurants awarded for the best quality/price ratio

Forty-seven restaurants represent the absolute excellence of the Italian restaurant industry in Gambero Rosso's 2024 Italian Restaurant Guide but they dominate over all equal merit is Massimo Bottura from Osteria Francescana in Modena and Niko Romito from Reale in Castel di Sangro (AQ) who already last year had conquered the top positions in the Three Forks ranking with Niko Romito in first place and Massimo Bottura in second. Heinz Beck, owner of the legendary La Pergola restaurant in the Rome hotel Cavalieri, who sat next to Massimo Bottura the other year, had to settle for the 2024 edition of the Guide third position joined by Enrico Crippa from Piazza Duomo in Alba. Other sacred monsters of Italian cuisine appear considerably further away, such as the three-starred Mauro Uliassi and Massimiliano Aliamo, who come in third place, not to mention Antonino Cannavacciuolo of Villa Crespi in Orta San Giulio, of the Cerea brothers from Da Vittorio in Brusaporto who were placed one step below the podium in fourth position. Another downgrading causes a stir in this year's edition of the Guide: Gianfranco Vissani who, having lost a fork, leaves the empyrean of top restaurants with three forks

2.485 venues reviewed, Tre Forchette increases

There is therefore no shortage of surprises in the new Gambero Rosso Guide that he reviewed 2.485 restaurant signs throughout the country, with 324 new ones. Meanwhile the three forks increased to 47 against 44 last year, of which seven new and almost all in the north such as Guido of Serralunga d'Alba, the Antica Corona Reale of Cervere, Del Cambio of Turin (which raise the Piedmontese palmares to the highest levels), the Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico, Harry's Piccolo in Trieste, with the two exceptions of Kresios in Telese Terme in Campania and Pashà in Conversano in Puglia.

As is tradition, the Guide does not only deal with great cuisine but extends its varied panorama of opinions, a kaleidoscope of proposals for all budgets and all tastes, with different interpretations, to high-end restaurants, trattorias, bistros to wine bars.

In the Three Forks, Lombardy leads in terms of number and quality of brands, while in Piedmont the differences between North and South increase and narrow, as do Puglia.

Ma even the Tre Gamberi, intended to reward the best trattorias, do not lose their luster, on the contrary. There are three new features compared to the previous edition that bring the total of 36 exercises: Trattoria Visconti dal 1932 in Ambivere (BG); Agra Mater of Colmurano (MC) and Buatta Cucina Popolare of Palermo.

The novelty: green shrimps reserved for brands committed to sustainability

Among the notable innovations, i Green shrimp reserved for those brands most committed to sustainability, in all its aspects.

Arriving at the Wine Bars with the Tre Bottiglie, Innocenti Wines of Poggibonsi (SI) is added to the ten brands present at the top of the ranking, bringing the total to 11, while the Tre Cocotte of the bistros remains firm on the 7 brands from Brescia's Lanzani to CucinaEAT of Cagliari .

But cuisine is increasingly contaminated: 7 are the establishments awarded by the Tre Mappamondi, which stop in central Italy, without - yet - touching the south: with two new entries, Ba restaurant in Milan and Kohaku in Rome. There are two excellent breweries, Baladin Open Garden in Piozzo (CN) and Nidaba in Montebelluna. (TV).

“In the aftermath of the candidacy of Italian cuisine for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and after a scorching summer between oversized receipts and debates on the crisis in the sector, despite the sold out” says Laura Mantovano, Editorial Director of the Guide, “the task of the guide is to take stock, grasp trends, without forgetting to enhance solid realities. The difficulties, starting from economic sustainability, exist, new models must be studied, it is no longer the time for formalisms but it is certain that fine dining with a strong identity, in Italy, still has a lot to say".