10337 Your Favourite Italian Restaurants Inside Italy.

Fair idea for a thread, but when making restaurant reccomendations, I'd say a word is probably worth a thousand pictures?

Impossible to give you one favourite restaurant. It depends on the particular town or city.
In Lucca: La Buca di Sant'Antonio
[url=http://www.bucadisantantonio.com/homeing.html]Bucadisantantonio[/url]
In Bagni di Lucca, the Circolo dei Forestieri
[url=http://www.circolodeiforestieri.it]Circolo dei forestieri Bagni di Lucca (Lucca) Tel. 0583 86038[/url]

my vote is for a small trattoria in the Colli Berici hills of the Veneto. Info:
Vecchia Ostaria Toni Cuco (S.R.L.)
Via Arcisi, 6
36040 Grancona (VI), Italy
+39 0444 889548‎

It is a bit hard to find but worth the while. The chef (and Toni does not object to that appellation) was trained in France and strives to blend the best of Italian and French cuisines into his menus. A bit unusual for the Veneto but he pulls it off well.

[URL="http://villacasale.net"]Senza Bidet[/URL]

I think it depends on [I]what[/I] you want to eat as to which restaurant, trattoria, agriturismo or crotto etc. you would nominate as your favourite.

There are a lot of places that I like, but many don't cater for fish dishes up here. Now I like fish, especially 'lake' fish and this restaurant is my favourite for that. [URL="http://www.ristorantedeipescatori.com/en/rist.html"][B]>Ristorante Dei Pescatori<[/B][/URL]
As you can see, you can dine literally at the lakeside. The restaurant is on the other side of the 'Regina' (the lakeside road), and they cross the road with your meals. Of course they do serve a wide variety of meals and 'local' dishes too. Service is always friendly and the owner (Daniela) does speak several languages which is a real advantage in this mainly tourist area...

Domaso is at the top end of Lake Como just above Gravedona...

Apart from the obvious response of "every single restaurant in Italy is my favourite restaurant" at that particular moment, I would recommend the following should you ever be in Milano and feeling peckish...

1. [URL="http://www.molo13.it/"]Molo 13[/URL] - in via Rubens. It is a truly excellent Sardinian restaurant on the west side of the city. The closest Metro is Gambara. If you enjoy fish and have something to celebrate, this is the place to head to.

2. [URL="http://www.boccondivino.com/"]Boccondivino[/URL] - in via Carducci (give Luigi a kiss from us). If you like meat, cheese and wine this is a "must visit" place. There is no menu, so no embarrassing choices to make - you just have to eat, drink and enjoy the evening.

3. [URL="http://www.calafuriaunione.it/nuova_pagina_2.htm"]Calafuria Unione[/URL] - in via Unione - A much more reasonably priced venue, but with really excellent food on offer. Try the Risotto Milanese - cooked in the traditional way - and then an Escalope Milanese, washed down with a half litre of the fizzy house white wine. Excellent.

5 - 550.000 - any restaurant without an English language menu, followed by:

550,001 - 700,000 - any restaurant with a poorly translated English menu.

Personally, I'd give the rest of them a miss - but it is a personal thing really, isn't it.

[quote=Nielo;96090]I'm sure it is just a typo and I certainly make enough of them myself, so please don’t take umbrage, but should it not be ristorant[B]e[/B]?
Anyway what do you want, our [B]d[/B]ingle favourite restaurant in Italy or a list of them? Also do you just want the name of the place/s or a description of the reason why they reach the status?[/quote]

I'm sure it is just a typo and I certainly make enough of them myself, so please don’t take umbrage, but should it not be [B]s[/B]ingle?

Sorry Nielo, I just couldn't resist. :bigergrin:

[quote] Last edited by Sally Donaldson; Yesterday at 07:47 PM. Reason: Listened to the maestro.[/quote]
I didn't mean that the pictures were bad (they were very nice). My point was that sometimes the best food comes from the most unprepossessing of establishments when viewed from outside. So, posting photo's of the restaurant facade - wthout any explanation of why you rate it so highly, what it's quirks/specialities are, what you'd reccomend from the menu, its ambence, when to visit etc. etc. - seems a bit of a shame.

The old maestro
(like me, that car was an unreliable bit of old Brit-crap from the decade that style forgot)

I included the photos originally as the actual location was so exquisite that it enhanced the pleasure.

[IMG]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z294/sallydonaldson/pettorano_no-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z294/sallydonaldson/pettorano-1.jpg[/IMG]

I realise too that I should have pluralised restaurant in the title given the abundance of wonderful ones throughout Italy. So everyone take it as read.

Sally, am I missing something here? Have you actually been to the restaurants and eaten? What sort of food do they serve? What ambience is there inside the restaurants? Are there any particularly good reasons why we should stop at them, rather than just driving past and enjoying the scenery? In fact, what reasons are there for driving for an hour or two (or more) to find the restaurants you illustrate so nicely?

The pictures are lovely, I agree - but you only need to put "Italy" and "Restaurant" into Google to get the same sort of images. I hope you won't take offence, Sally, but a bit more information would make all the difference to the taster of information you have offered.

What is this??? Do you want me to scan and forward the receipts to you Nardini??? Yes I have been there, twice in fact, Apart from the amazing village/ and intimate ambiance, the food I had was just excellent antipasti, tortelloni, insalata mista and Montepulciano D'Abruzzo.

The photos are not mine as I was there at night time.

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96126]What is this??? Do you want me to scan and forward the receipts to you Nardini??? Yes I have been there, twice in fact, Apart from the amazing village/ and intimate ambiance, the food I had was just excellent antipasti, tortelloni, an excellent insalata mista and Montepulciano D'Abruzzo.

The photos are not mine as I was there at night time.[/quote]
Don't be silly Sally. I have no interest in any proof of your visit, merely your opinion of your visit. Have you been to any more restaurants in Italy that you would actually recommend to people that might live an hour or two away? I appreciate that you have a love of Italian things and that is rather lovely. You do rather open yourself up to easy criticism, sometimes. Quite unnecessarily at times, in my opinion. Smile, Sally and share your ACTUAL experiences here, in Italy.

ETA: I note that you have downgraded the mixed salad from excellent to just a salad. Is that because it was not very good then, Sally?

ETA-A: Sally, your following (deleted) post was not very nice, was it. If you wish to be rude and unpleasant, I suggest you do exactly what you told me to do in your deleted post, eh?

[quote=Nielo;96175]Haha, Julian you caught me out yet again! Of course I could always lie and say it was a deliberate mistake and if you hadn't been so clever and quoted my post, I could have gone back and edited or deleted it. Chiz!:laughs::laughs:[/quote]

Haha, you're fun! I doubt any sensible person would edit or delete posts for such reasons Nielo and who would be bothered enough to quote anyone who did it anyway? :smile:

[quote=juliancoll;96176]Haha, you're fun! I doubt any sensible person would edit or delete posts for such reasons Nielo and who would be bothered enough to quote anyone who did it anyway? :smile:[/quote]

I can never understand the amount of deletions that go on in various forums (this one included). What's wrong with making a mistake - you only have to apologise or stick to your guns. Is that [I]really[/I] so hard to do? But sometimes whole posts are removed and that ruins the thread as it can be so difficult to follow.

If something is wrong why can't people just put an addendum to explain...but continual (or habitual) deletions breed suspicion and that is 'maybe' half the problem!

Please can we return to the main topic???

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96186]Please can we return to the main topic???[/quote]

I am unclear as to the main topic of this thread now, Sally. Is it a thread in which to post pretty photos of Italian scenery that we come across on the internet, reviews of restaurants we have visited that have fabulous food, or what?

Please Sally, engage in a conversation about a topic. I'm sure you can if you try. Otherwise the topic is just another thread about you really, isn't it. Neither you nor I (nor many others) really want that to happen again, do we?

Hey, I am always happy to read/see the info Sally has posted, so dont include me, in that rather sweeping statement, but then I enjoy most posts over the years, ever since Pigro told me how to edit I also delete at times, but usually just because my spelling can be iffy, not because I have any wish to hide anything, now I am off topic!
A

[quote=Nardini;96188]I am unclear as to the main topic of this thread now, Sally. Is it a thread in which to post pretty photos of Italian scenery that we come across on the internet, reviews of restaurants we have visited that have fabulous food, or what?

Please Sally, engage in a conversation about a topic. I'm sure you can if you try. Otherwise the topic is just another thread about you really, isn't it. Neither you nor I (nor many others) really want that to happen again, do we?[/quote]

The thread I last deleted was asking you just to put me on your Ignore List from now on. Thank you.

[quote=Nardini;96127]

[B]ETA[/B]: I note that you have downgraded the mixed salad from excellent to just a salad. Is that because it was not very good then, Sally?

[B]ETA-A[/B]: Sally, your following (deleted) post was not very nice, was it. If you wish to be rude and unpleasant, I suggest you do exactly what you told me to do in your deleted post, eh?[/quote]

Now I'm terribly confused - what on earth does ETA and ETA-A mean? :veryconfused:

PS Whatever it was that Sally told you to do Nardini - she probably didn't mean it, otherwise she wouldn't have deleted the post. I certainly wouldn't take offence as I find Sallys posts to be a source of welcome entertainment and appreciate the knowledge she shares. :smile:

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96186]Please can we return to the main topic???[/quote]

You're quite right Sally... let's just refresh our memory on what topic was sought at the outset of the thread.....

[quote]BY Sally:".....We've had 'Your Favourite Italian Restaurants Outside Italy." thread. [I][COLOR="red"]Now to savour past or indeed recent [I][U]memories[/U][/I] of your favourite Italian ristoranta inside Italy.[/COLOR][/I] Spoilt for choice I should imagine."[/quote]

I certianly tried to keep to the original question posed by you - explaining about the fish (and other) dishes offered at the place I nominated. Adding about the lakeside dining and the general warmth of the owner and staff. I [U]did [/U] use the link to their website to enhance the [I]descriptions I gave[/I] of the ambience and the cuisine. I could just as easily have just posted the link and left viewers to their make up their own minds - but that was NOT what your original post sought is it? [I]You asked for recent memories!!! [/I]

So, now we're back on track, here's another pretty good restaurant that I would reccommend. This time an Indian one (in Italy you say....???). Yes, this one is in Lecco
[B]Masala S.R.L. Ristorante Indiano Asiatico[/B]
[IMG]http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7749/rismasalaxbrxcucinaindiom0.jpg[/IMG]
5, CORSO CARLO ALBERTO
23900 Lecco (LC)
tel: 0341 252978.

It's not 'quite' the Indian fayre that we are used to back in the UK, but they do serve some pretty good dishes as you can see from one of my photos... These are 'their' version of Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Biryani!

Just a question....
Wasn't the topic of the thread [B][U]Italian[/U][/B] restaurants in Italy?
For my reply, I chose what can be translated as "ristorante", because I thought that other types were not supposed to be in the thread.
I must admit that after all these discussions, etc. I really lost track of what it is all about :wideeyed:
Well, it is getting very funny, indeed :laughs:

Yes indeed Gala, ristorante offering Italian cuisine, Avanti Tutti.

[quote]Wasn't the topic of the thread Italian restaurants in Italy?[/quote]

Oh dear - you're [I]sooooo[/I] right - I am wrong :reallyembarrassed:.... just goes to show that:
a. I have dificulty reading at my advanced age :yes:
b. I do not have any racist tendencies - Indian, Italian - as long as it tastes good who cares... :laughs:
c. I don't 'delete' posts! :nah:

well the best place iv been to eat must be Franco's Pizzaria in Vico Equense about a 15 min drive from Napoli, everything was fresh produce the bread,the pizza's,the meats, they even had dried cured meat hanging from the ceiling it was magical, everything came on a metal tray covered in Greaseprof paper the knifes and forks were plastic and so were the glasses the reason for this upon asking him was it keeps the cost down so he can give us good food at a cheaper price and boy he didnt dissapoint. they also made there own Biscotti everything from pastry baskets filled with chocolate spread to little biscuit horns filled with marmalades, everyday the carabinieri went for lunch. well i could go on but i could be typing all day about it.

Oh,hadn't seen this thread before.
I can highly recommend "L'Atana" in Barga, Via Di Mezzo 1, 0583 723192
Family run (aren't they all) with a not to large freshly prepared menu that changes almost daily. About €40-50 for two including wine.
My favourite for flavour and value in the area is "Il Totto", Via Centrale 42, in the village of Sassi just above Molazzano.
Typical wonderful dinner which includes a large selection of antipasti, home made pasta, main dish, dessert, wine and water at a cost of around €40-45 for two.
[SIZE=2]0583 760 061 or 338 5854243 [/SIZE]Only open Fri-Sun though. [SIZE=2] [/SIZE]

La Commedia della Pentola, [url=http://www.lacommediadellapentola.it]La Commedia della Pentola - [Ristorante a Lu Monferrato - Alessandria][/url] and Cave di Moleto [url=http://www.moleto.it/]Cave di Moleto - Hotel - Ristorante - Vini - website by BG[/url]

excellent!

I thought the photo bit was a good idea,after all impressions and settings do all add to the experience,and indeed the mood of the occasion as well.
One can indeed remember a certain restaurant with serving great food, if the whole setting also fits the bill.