La Terrazza at Hotel Eden in Rome
Dorchester Collection
It’s no surprise that Italian cuisine is breaking records, proudly leading as the world’s second most Michelin-starred nation after France, with an extraordinary 394 starred restaurants. This week, a fresh batch of gifted chefs joined the country’s culinary elite, earning coveted Michelin honors for their kitchens. Italy now celebrates 15 three-star icons of gastronomy, 38 two-star gems, and 341 one-star restaurants- each adding to the country’s culinary legacy.
Leading the pack is La Rei Natura by Michelangelo Mammoliti, which received the coveted three stars. Located at the The Boscareto Resort & SPA in Serralunga d’Alba, in the heart of the Langhe, the restaurant embraces a cuisine blending nature and innovation, while also offering a unique sensory experience with every course having a different settings.
La Rei Natura dining room
La rei natura by michelangelo mammoliti
Chef Michelangelo Mammoliti of La Rei Natura
La rei natura by michelangelo mammoliti
Among the new two stars, two completely different and extraordinary restaurants stand out. The Famiglia Rana restaurant, in Vallese di Oppeano, led by chef Francesco Sodano, offers a gastronomic journey that mixes Mediterranean and Asian flavors, in an elegant environment surrounded by nature and farmland.
Famiglia Rana Restaurant
Famiglia Rana
Chef Francesco Sodano of Famiglia Rana restaurant
Famiglia Rana restaurant
Also winning the second star is I Tenerumi, a Sicilian restaurant where chef Davide Guidara has created a remarkable vegetarian menu. The plant-based cuisine highlights the sustainability of its raw materials, expertly grown in their garden.
I Tenerumi Restaurant at the Therasia Resort Sea & Spa in Sicily
I Tenerumi
Chef Davide Guidara from I Tenerumi in Sicily
©vittoriosciosia / I Tenerumi
Milan settles in as the capital of good taste with Procaccini, which obtains a Michelin star. Chef Emin Haziri offers contemporary and very personal cuisine and mixes three pillars of senses: excellent raw material, contemporary technique, authentic hospitality, while enjoying a live piano every evening.
Procaccini, Restaurant in Milan
Procaccini
Chef Emin Haziri at Procaccini
Procaccini
In Rome, one of my favorite spots is La Terrazza at the Hotel Eden which has earned a new star. Shaped by the vision of chef Salvatore Bianco, the stunning restaurant is perched on the hotel’s top floor with dramatic views of the Eternal City. The cuisine is as impressive as the setting with classic Italian flavors reimagined with creativity. Imagine a cacio e pepe that arrives shrouded in a drifting cloud of aromatic fog. Its theatrical and elegant.
Antonia Klugmann Chef and owner of the restaurant L’Argine in Vencò
L’argine a Venco
Honors also went out to entrepreneur-chef Antonia Klugmann, whose Michelin-starred restaurant L’Argine in Vencò suffered severe damage in the recent floods and mudslides that struck Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Heinz Beck of Rome’s famed La Pergola, who has held three Michelin stars for more than two decades, received the Mentor Chef Award. He dedicated the honor to the many young chefs who have trained with him and gone on to remarkable careers.
Chef Mattia Pecis of Cracco Portofino
Cracco Portofino
The winner of the Young Chef award is 29-year-old Mattia Pecis of Cracco Portofino, who also won a Michelin Star with a cuisine that respects the territory in which he works. Strategically located in front of the mooring of large yachts, Chef Pecis adds “I want to enhance all the best that this land offers in my dishes, between sea, hills and mountains. I have learned that the raw material is very important. In fact, our cuisine proposal starts from the selection: we have chosen to work with local producers, farmers and fishermen, to offer even more authentic dishes.”
Founded in 1950, ristorante Cavallino has long been a landmark of Ferrari’s heritage. Its identity, deeply tied to the story of Enzo Ferrari, is today renewed through a shared vision with Massimo Bottura’s Francescana Family
Danilo Scarpati
Here are the newly honored one Michelin-starred Italy restaurants for 2026:
Badia – Porcino
Baia Sardinia – Capogiro
Cogne – Le Petit Bellevue
Firenze – Luca’s by Paulo Airaudo
Forio – Isola di Ischia – Umberto a Mare
Forte dei Marmi – Sciabola
Limone sul Garda – Senso Lake Garda Alfio Ghezzi
Maranello – Cavallino
Milano – Abba
Napoli – Il Ristorante Alain Ducasse Napoli
Origgio – Olio
Portofino – Cracco Portofino
Recanati – Casa Bertini
Rimini – Da Lucio
Roma – INEO
San Martino in Passiria – Quellenhof Gourmetstube 1897
Sant’Omero – Zunica 1880 a Villa Corallo
Sestri Levante – Rezzano Cucina e Vino
Tivoli – Al Madrigale | Nuova Cucina Rurale
Venezia – Agli Amici Dopolavoro
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