11 Best Restaurants in Verona, Italy

Furrowed by the Adige River, Verona is a city with an ancient history, the scene of various dominations, starting with the Romans up to the Habsburg domination. Identifying Verona as the city of Romeo and Juliet is limiting: its beauty, which goes far beyond the famous balcony, captivates and conquers the visitor’s gaze thanks to the immense historical and artistic heritage, which has become a UNESCO heritage site since 2000.

The tradition of Verona is closely linked to the art of eating: its cuisine is rich and tasty, also thanks to the many products that this area offers. In addition to the famous red radicchio of Verona, a very famous ingredient is the “vialone nano” rice, one of the varieties most used in the cuisine, but typical of this area are also crops, such as cabbage, asparagus, pumpkin, melons, the red potato of Guà, strawberries, kiwis, cherries and pears. Mountain truffles and Veronese chestnuts also come from the innermost areas.

Among the typical appetizers of the city, local cheeses and cured meats have a prominent place. Among these is the Berico Euganeo ham, a raw ham typical of the area on the southern border of the provinces of Padua, Vicenza and Verona; the “soppressa”, a sausage produced with the prized cuts of pork and flavored with garlic, red wine, salt and pepper; the “stortina”, a typical salami from Verona; “tastasàl”, a sausage made from minced pork and flavored with salt and crushed coarse black pepper. Among the most renowned cheeses of this area there is Monte Veronese, a cow’s cheese that reaches different levels of maturation, and “Montegrola”, a mature cheese with mixed milk (goat and cow); Provolone Valpadana and Grana Padano cheeses are also produced in this area.
Now let’s see which are the best restaurants in Verona and its province.

Amistà

Via Cedrare, 78 – Corrubbio di Negarine (Verona) – Website

Amistà, the fine dining restaurant of the Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amistà in Verona, led since March 2019 by the young chef Mattia Bianchi, enters the starry panorama of haute cuisine. A decidedly particular location, that of the Byblos Art Hotel. In this restaurant you will be completely overwhelmed by contemporary works of art. Here ancient and contemporary coexist happily. Amistà’s cuisine is led by chef Mattia Bianchi, one of the newly starred young chefs of the 2021 Michelin Guide. The chef prepares traditional recipes on which he grafted creative solutions and variations, with three tasting menus in which meat and fish alternate, but which can, in fact, be crossed at will giving the guest more freedom. Mattia Bianchi’s cuisine combines typical Italian products with Veneto delicacies, particularly rich in raw materials, based on true, genuine flavors. Part of the vegetables and aromatic herbs used in the cuisine come from the vegetable garden created in a part of the park surrounding the Villa. The wine list is also interesting, with a special offer of prestigious labels. The dishes are always presented with a touch of art. Moreover, the artistic fil rouge is a peculiarity of the Amistà Restaurant also thanks to the extraordinary collection of contemporary art, permanently exhibited in the Villa, which represents a unicum on the international scene. Art is therefore the distinctive feature and the leitmotif of the concept of the Byblos Art Hotel, awarded in 2019 in London at the “World Boutique Hotel Awards” as the Best Design Hotel in Europe and in the world. And in this general tribute to art, the Amistà Restaurant was designed to blend harmoniously with the hotel: soft and warm lights, pastel tones and a selection of works by contemporary artists to underline the uniqueness of the location. The Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amistà is part of the prestigious Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection.

Il Desco

Via Dietro San Sebastiano, 5/7 – Verona – Website

In the historic center of Verona, between the Arena and Juliet’s house, a magnificent Renaissance palace houses the Il Desco restaurant, one of the symbolic restaurants of the city and of Italian fine dining since 1981. A high-quality cuisine inspired by regional tradition and national gastronomic heritage, excellent raw materials are found with a careful and strict selection. The wine list is highly appreciated and allows you to enhance each dish on the menu. Starred restaurant in the center of Verona, Il Desco is a restaurant that offers haute cuisine and combines two generations: Elia (father) and Matteo (son) Rizzo. Il Desco was born as a tavern and soon became a research restaurant offering many vegetarian dishes. Chef Elia Rizzo and his son Matteo guide with great commitment and attention to the customer, a restaurant of regional Venetian inspiration and a broader national breadth that has been able to be characterized by balanced, linear and refined cuisine, a cuisine that certainly does not betray the expectations of the Michelin recognition. The menu offers harmonious, delicate and precise dishes; perfect preparations in cooking and in defining flavors. The ingredients used that come from tradition or are the result of contemporary contaminations, stand out for their goodness and quality. The search for the best raw material is the obligatory starting point of this cuisine which represents a journey, a real exploration of the possibilities of taste. The wine list allows you to combine each dish with the wine that best enhances its flavor and properties, a fine selection of the best wines from Verona, Italy and France. The tasting opens with red prawns, coconut milk and herbs, large cypress soup, chickpeas, crunchy quinoa and aniseed oil. To follow, cold noodles with almond cream, grapes and yellowtail tartar; cod with porcini mushrooms, red fruit and lemon emulsion; thyme glazed sweetbreads with seared chard, sea snails and bottarga. The foie gras “gianduiotto” anticipates peanut ice cream, salted caramel, yogurt and red fruits.

L’Artigliere

Via Boschi, 5 – Isola della Scala (Verona) – Website

A little outside Verona, in Isola della Scala, the restaurant L’Artigliere, by chef Davide Botta is located in a mill dating back to the 1600s. Located in the heart of the rice fields of Isola della Scala, this restaurant serves creative traditional dishes and heavenly desserts that attract visitors. You can enjoy the chef’s culinary delights in the traditional dining room, intimately furnished with eight tables, or on the terrace. In addition to its restaurant, this building also offers five comfortable guest rooms and a heated hydromassage pool in the garden, where you can completely relax in the tranquility of the countryside. Isola della Scala is a place renowned for the production of rice, which chef Davide Botta celebrates with a “risotto menu”, to complete the menu based on modern cuisine, both sea and land. All inside a 1600 mill for the processing of the aforementioned cereal, with a small adjacent museum. Menus change seasonally at L’Artigliere restaurant and always aim to delight the palate with Italian aromas and flavors. Chef Davide Botta creates his haute cuisine dishes with high quality, healthy and genuine ingredients, combining flavors with care and elegance, but without destroying their characteristics. It is not difficult to see why an ever-increasing number of loyal customers appreciate his famous traditional dishes. Among the dishes of the restaurant we have the tortello with roast veal, raw lobster, celery and green apple; rabbit in fricassee with grappa, walnuts and sweet onion mousse; roast veal shank with potato cream and chickpea polenta; crispy turbot, tomato, courgette and pumpkin. Among the desserts we have: hazelnut millefeuille with cream and strawberries; caramel, mango and almond “sbrisolona”; cinnamon rose cake, vermouth zabaglione and rose pepper ice cream.

Locanda Le 4 ciacole

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, 10 – Roverchiara (Verona) – Website

Another absolutely noteworthy stop if you are near Verona is the Locanda Le 4 ciacole in Roverchiara. Overlooking the town square, the restaurant serves a cuisine that embodies the essence of tradition but reinterpreted with a contemporary spirit by chef Francesco Baldissarutti. The kitchen offers creative, sometimes sophisticated, and top-notch dishes. The chef’s passions are two: cooking on the spit and aromatic herbs. Next to the Locanda, there is the “Dispensa”, a shop with a kitchen specializing in cured meats and cheeses. Locanda Le 4 ciacole is an Italian gastronomic fable: its story is that of the Scandogliero family, shopkeepers for 3 generations who have handed down the cult of culinary art with love and passion. It all started in 1904 from the historic “Bar dalla Linda” which is enriched more and more with good and genuine things to the point of becoming the reference point of the town. In 2008 the Locanda opened, today one of the most renowned restaurants in Italy and a Michelin star. One hundred and twenty years of history, many changes, but always with the same philosophy: high quality meats, cured meats and cheeses and an obsessive search for the product. Today it is Tiziano and his son Marco who continue the tradition. Their restaurant is the realm of raw materials: such as “Malenca”, raw salted meat from Valtellina, fatty ox from Carrù, Attilio Fontana di Montagnana ham or stortine from Bassa Veronese, a cured meat based on a recipe from the Scandogliero family. with fresh pork that is not bagged but placed in terracotta cases with melted lard to give life to a soft and very sweet product. You will also be spoiled for choice for cheeses: from Monte Veronese from Lessinia to Bitto from Valtellina with 20 years of maturation that the Consortium of the same name produces with a special marking for the Locanda. All breads and pastas are handmade with organic flours. The decor is warm and welcoming, with that intimate atmosphere, made up of relics of good drinking and antiques unearthed thanks to the taste of mother Gabriella who had an antique art shop in Verona.

Osteria all’Organetto

Piazza Corrubbio, 10/A – Verona – Website

The Osteria all’Organetto is a stone’s throw from the square that takes its name from the city’s patron saint, Saint Zeno. It masterfully interprets the concept of comfort food. Thanks to the warm atmosphere, of course, but above all, thanks to the chef Alessio Bonetti. Alessio Bonetti’s cuisine is simple, spontaneous, immediately understandable and greedy. Then there is a selection of labels from small local and national producers as well as with some gems from abroad. And the combination is successful mixed with the jovial atmosphere that combines the atmosphere of a yesteryear tavern with the most contemporary sensibility. A nice terrace and an intimate setting inside are the prologue to the inviting dishes of this tavern, which deserves a stop. The traditional menu moves between land and sea and is accompanied by an extensive wine list. Its cuisine is made of timeless Italian flavors, which start from the territory, such as Cruda di Garronese and cheeses from Lessinia, to arrive at Luciana-style Octopus. The pumpkin tortelli are excellent, as are the meat dishes cooked with great skill. In the menu of the Organetto we also find: tartare with onion “in saor” and hazelnuts; “grisa” chicken salad, dried fruit and Verona celery mayonnaise; pasta at Genova style; pasta rigatoni alla matriciana; horse diaphragm and turnip greens and barbecue sauce; cod in cooking oil served with broccoli, black garlic and capers; shoulder cooked with sauce and grilled asparagus; risotto with peas, with chicken ragù and dark ribs with balsamic vinegar with pepper and black sesame: careful preparations that denote great research into ingredients, often drawn from the territory. Among the unmissable dishes: raw meat of Venetian Garronese, beetroot, hazelnuts, smoked black tea; figs, mozzarella, blackberry vinegar; square spaghetti, cuttlefish in black sauce, cream of mussels and lime.

Antica Bottega del Vino

Via Scudo di Francia, 3 – Verona – Website

Antica Bottega del Vino, in the center of Verona, is one of the Italian restaurants with the longest history and deeply linked to the city. Once a meeting place for writers and poets, journalists and painters, it still retains a welcoming atmosphere today. A connoisseur’s address for wine, but the cuisine also deserves a special mention. Under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the shop changed its name to Osteria La Biedermeier. After World War II, the transformation from a tavern into a real restaurant arrives, whose fame soon goes beyond national borders. Since 2011, the Bottega del Vino has been taken over by the Amarone della Valpolicella families, which have always been active in promoting the food and wine heritage of the Verona area. The furnishings, in medieval and Tyrolean colors and styles, date back to the early twentieth century. The seats, the boiserie, the dividers and the wooden tables are of great value, in particular the octagonal ones. The chandeliers made up of bottle flasks surrounded by bands of wrought iron are also original. The Bottega offers 120 wine labels every day and a refined cuisine inspired by the Veronese tradition. The cellar also contains a treasure: it presents a selection of bottles from 5 continents. There are 19 thousand bottles for a total of 4,500 labels, which represent the best of Veronese, Italian and world production. Since 2004 the Bottega del Vino has been awarded the prestigious “Wine Spectator Grand Award” for the Wine List. Excellently prepared, the most typical dishes of the Veronese culinary tradition come out of its kitchen. Those with the authentic and genuine flavor of this area: the appetizer with gorgonzola, lard, salami, and polenta; risotto with Amarone wine; lasagne with livers; Tortellini di Valeggio with capon broth; mixed boiled meat with sauces; tripe; braised meat in Amarone wine and Vicenza-style cod with polenta. The ancient Bottega del Vino is not just a restaurant. It is also a place to meet with friends for an aperitif, trying the delicious glass of wine at the counter, or to buy an important bottle.

Arche

Via Arche Scaligere, 6 – Verona

The Arche restaurant is located in the historic center of Verona, in front of the ancient Scaligeri arches, the monumental tombs of the medieval lords of Verona with equestrian sculptures that rise towards the sky. It is a restaurant opened in 1879, whose origins date back to the fifteenth century. Today the Arche is an extremely elegant and reserved place, whose cuisine offers refined and exclusive fish-based specialties, a destination for writers, poets, Nobel Prizes and famous people. A corner of Verona out of time, where the ancient recipes of fishermen are “rehabilitated” in the light of modern recipes. Today one of the main products of the Arche restaurant is undoubtedly the always fresh fish. Here ancient recipes of fishermen are cooked in the light of modern intuitions. In fact, seafood products find here a Veronese version, which enhances them with new life: raw swordfish with parmesan; scallop with black truffle and scampi; scallops au gratin with Soave wine and black truffle; raviolone with sea bass, spinach and egg yolk in foie gras and truffle sauce; spaghetti in foil; cuttlefish in “tecia” with Venetian black and yellow polenta; seafood prawns with carrot sauce and almond puree; steamed turbot, capers, black olives and tomato. Also worth trying: old-fashioned sardines “in saor”, lightly smoked potato gnocchi on chestnut shavings, prawns, asparagus and noisette butter; fillet of sea bass poached with wild poppy sprouts, with sweet pepper sauce and the Plateau Royal “Great Italian fry” of shellfish, vegetables and fruit. Excellent wine list, where the best of Veronese, Italian and world production is present. An excellent dinner without too many frills, but in an environment of absolute elegance. In this restaurant there are about 40 places available.

Casa Perbellini

Piazza San Zeno, 16 – Verona – Website

The two Michelin stars have proclaimed Giancarlo Perbellini as one of the most popular chefs in Italy, and his restaurant, Casa Perbellini, a place with a cuisine that is worth a visit. In the heart of Verona, among alleys and squares, the chef receives his guests in a restaurant with an open kitchen and a few tables where innovation and tradition accompany each dish. The culinary project is based on the principle of preserving, updating, enhancing the Made in Italy with simplicity, respecting the taste of the raw material. The menu includes the classic dishes that made Giancarlo Perbellini famous and various tasting menus. An artisan cook, as Giancarlo Perbellini likes to define himself, grew up cultivating a passion for cooking, heir to a family engaged in catering and pastry. In 1996 he won his first Michelin star and in 2002, his second one. For years he has been busy spreading great Italian cuisine between New York and Hong Kong. In 2014 the concept restaurant “Casa Perbellini” opens in Verona. Essential and modern, the restaurant wants to establish a real relationship with the guest, eliminating unnecessary pomp and rigidity. The real star of Casa Perbellini is the open kitchen that allows guests to enter the secrets of fine cuisine and to understand its ultimate meaning, to innovate tradition. You can taste the ancient and authentic flavors of Veronese cuisine. The tasting opens with sesame wafers and sea bass tartare, goat cheese with chives and a sensation of licorice. To follow, lightly smoked spaghetti, vinaigrette with clams and red prawn tartare. The menu also offers braised veal on mashed potatoes and fried leeks and for dessert the “divertimenti di Casa Perbellini”, morsels of various homemade desserts including mandarin soufflé and Saronno amaretto ice cream, almond gratin, apple and meringue with verbena. There is also a rich selection of fine wines.

Antica Trattoria Tipica Al Bersagliere

Via Dietro Pallone, 1 – Verona

Leopoldo Ramponi, together with his wife Marina, opened the Al Bersagliere restaurant in the early nineties, indissolubly cementing their bond with the Filippini district, the center of their restaurant business. Marina takes care of the kitchen to which she has given a typically Veronese style, or rather Veneto imprint since one of their flagships is the cod in Vicenza style. The “pastissada de caval” with polenta or the lamb chops stand out in a menu full of first courses, among which we mention the “bigoli” with duck; pasta and beans in Venice style. Desserts are Marina’s workhorse, for which she entered the kitchen twenty-two years ago. Her reinterpretation of the English soup with pandoro and ladyfingers deserves a mention, together with the flambé fruit or the diplomat who never fails. A good cellar could not be missing from a good table. The good fortune of being able to stow more than two hundred labels, many of which from Verona, in the thirteenth century cellar, makes the wine list even more prestigious, more than what makes it famous labels of absolute international level. The reminiscences of a barman have brought a remarkable collection of spirits to the restaurant, including three hundred whiskey labels. If Marina dominates the kitchen, Leopoldo and his son Alessandro control the four rooms which have up to eighty seats including the outdoor area, available from Tuesday to Saturday evening included. Curiosity: the walls are decorated with many photos of famous guests and personalized with memorabilia, various collectibles including some fossils. In the rooms on the ground floor there are some modern elements from the 1950s, in particular the espresso coffee machine and the slicer, which are still functioning and used today.

Tre Marchetti

Vicolo Tre Marchetti,19/B – Verona – Website

Three Marchetti, that is, three coins: this is what was needed in 1521, when the Republic of Venice dominated in Verona, to eat, sleep and give refreshment to one’s horse. It is therefore immediately clear to everyone what tradition means at the Tre Marchetti restaurant. Roberto Barca, his son Matteo and the whole family, over the years, have made hospitality the cornerstone of their way of doing catering. Elegance, refinement, but not ostentation: this is the recipe that makes this ancient Veronese restaurant special, both in the setting and in the choice of the menu offered to guests. The golden touches that embellish the entrance jambs and the edges of the elegantly crafted colored glasses, the precious mise en place, the art deco lamps, but above all the Barca’s style, able to welcome and put at ease personalities of the caliber of Placido Domingo or Franco Zeffirelli as well as the guest who for the first time enters this restaurant of yesteryear. Already in 1909 the place appeared in a tourist guide of Verona, as a trattoria and accommodation where it was possible to taste “home cooking and selected Valpolicella wines”. The rooms present some original elements such as the wooden coatings; wall paintings with floral motifs; pleasant shades of blue and teal, complete the walls up to the ceiling. Within the walls of a fourteenth-century building, in an alley in the shadow of the Arena, it is a welcoming restaurant that is proud of major renovations. After the purchase of the adjacent house, new rooms and an outdoor area were added. The cuisine remains traditional and ensures a good choice of Veronese dishes. Among the first courses, “pappardelle al Recioto” with hare ragù, as a second course with braised meat in Amarone wine and at the end a traditional Venetian cream. Wide and thoughtful choice of wines and spirits. In summer, the restaurant remains open until 4 in the morning.

La Greppia

Vicolo Samaritana, 3 – Verona – Website

In the historic center of Verona, La Greppia restaurant is an institution as it is not only one of the oldest Veronese restaurants but also one of the best, which offers a combination that can transform a simple dinner into an unforgettable occasion. Once you enter La Greppia restaurant, this impression is immediately reinforced by the elegant but not excessively opulent setting. Accompanying us at the table is the owner Dialma Guizzardi, who, together with Giovanna since 1975 has been carrying on an activity that immediately gained a prominent place in the crowded gastronomic context of the city. The courses of the appetizers are very rich in quality and assortment. Among others, the frayed horse with rocket and parmesan and the Veronese “soppressa” (famous local cured meat) served with fresh polenta certainly stand out. There is also a wide range of first courses: fettuccine with truffles; gnocchi with red Veronese radicchio and mascarpone and pumpkin tortelli in Mantua style. The pasta sheets are all handmade and the result is truly exceptional. The main dish cannot be separated from the real house specialty: the boiled meat cart served with many delicious sauces, among which obviously the “pearà”, an ancient local specialty based on ox marrow, stands out. The choice of meats takes place directly at the table. The “pastissada”, a horse stew stewed in red wine for 7/8 hours, with tasty and very soft meats, also deserves a special mention. At the end of the meal, the famous La Greppia apple pie, prepared according to a recipe whose secret has been handed down and jealously guarded by the owners for almost eighty years. The wine list is rich and well-assorted, with many leading national labels and an obvious attention to local vines, among the richest in Italy in terms of quality and type. The restaurant has 150 seats and is open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Sunday.