The L’Espresso Guide is Italy’s answer to Michelin, and is the most respected restaurant guide in the country. This year they’ve swapped their usual score out of twenty for a simpler rating of one to five ‘hats’, five being the best in the country and one being given to restaurants serving very good food. Overall, 2,700 establishments are listed in the Guide for 2017.
Antonia Klugmann was named as Female Chef of the Year, for her work at L'Argine a Vencó in Gorizia.
‘Italian restaurants have never been as good as they are today – the quality has grown and continued to grow in both new and established venues,’ says Enzo Vizzari, the founder of the Guide. ‘The gap is closing between haute cuisine and the trattoria, and the number of quality pizzerias means we’ve got a special section dedicated to them.’
Read on to see which restaurants received five, four, three or two hats, making them the best in Italy.