138 Best Restaurants in Sicily, Italy

A light nautical theme permeates this stone-walled restaurant, where the open kitchen provides theater and owner Peppe Giamboi takes the stage as a gustatory storyteller, roaming from table to table. The menu is constantly changing, but you'll find excellent work with vegetables (a rarity in Sicily) and really lovely preparations of local cod. In addition to a sublime rendition of stocco in ghiotto (cod in a Messinese sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers, and celery), it also might show up prepared under tender sheets of lardo in a light orange-lemon sauce with fried leeks. 

This intimate Michelin-starred restaurant is a fantastic option if you are staying in Modica overnight. Forget the usual starchy tablecloths and formal service, this place is all about the food, with the chef cooking his own personal takes on classic Sicilian dishes, including options like trucioli pasta with cheese fondue, lemon, capers, and coffee; grilled lettuce with pork cheek, caviar, and walnuts; and cannoli with ricotta cheese and cotton candy for dessert. The €120 tasting menu comes very highly recommended, but for something more affordable, stop in for lunch to have a similar experience for €50, or consider Accursio Radici (which means Accursio Roots, the cheaper sister restaurant) a few doors down.

This culinary beacon in Sicily's interior features ambitious—and successful—dishes with the creative flair of chef Angelo Treno, whose unforgettable pastas topped with truffles or caviar, for example, offer a decidedly different expression of traditional regional ingredients. The unassuming and elegant dining room is inside an old railway house and is the perfect place to enjoy a bottle from the 500-label wine list; in cold weather, you can cozy up to a fireplace, but the terrace is the place to be in summer.

Simply one of the finest restaurants in Sicily, Capitolo Primo offers an utterly unique dining experience in the graceful winter garden of Relais Briuccia's Art Nouveau town house. Chef-owner Damiano Ferraro is an endlessly creative chef, spinning his magic daily with the freshest of local Sicilian produce. Ferraro is a local who dreamed big and worked all over the world (including at the Dorchester in London and with the Roux Brothers at La Gavroche) then returned home and created this gastronomic paradise in the shabby little town of Montallegro. There are both tasting- and à la carte menus.

This local pizza and BBQ grill offers the usual selection of local cuisine, but with an interesting location in the old grain stores of the Castello di Caccamo. The extensive menu includes antipasti, pasta, mains, and desserts all with a focus on the preparation of local meats and grills.

One of Palermo's best modern pizzerias serves delicious Neapolitan pies from a big oven in the open kitchen—the genius is in the crust, which is seared in a matter of seconds. The owners make their money on a quick turnover (so don't expect a long, leisurely meal), but the pizza is delicious and the place often serves until midnight—later than almost any other restaurant in the neighborhood.

Feisty Concetta serves a set menu for lunch and dinner from her long terrace, located near the Chiesa San Bartolo. You can expect a large selection of antipasti (such as wild fennel, sautéed shrimp, and roasted eggplant), a pasta course, and some variety of roasted fish. It's true island home-cooking, done in abundance and served with incredible hospitality. 

Located right on the beach at Porto Palo, Da Vittorio is something of a local legend, highly regarded and much loved by everyone from wine and olive oil makers to celebrating families. The focus is on fresh fish and seafood, with pasta for the first course, and grilled fish for a second, all enhanced with traditional Sicilian flavors such as capers, almonds, and wild fennel. The spot dates back to the 1960s when Vittorio, a young cook from Bergamo, fell in love with a Sicilian girl and opened a small restaurant in a beach shack. These days, there’s a smart glass conservatory and cream damask table linens, along with a terrace for alfresco dining, and—a real mark of Vittorio’s success—a local following strong enough to keep the restaurant open all year, a real rarity in these parts.

A gracious series of delicately arched rooms at this beloved local eatery are lined with wine bottles and sepia-tone images of the old town. À la carte preparations bring together fresh seafood and inspired creativity: sample, for instance, the sublime spaghetti delle Sirene (with sea urchin and shrimp in butter) or cod with saffron from the Ibleian hills with a courgette puree. If you want, you can put yourself in the hands of the chef and opt for one of the exquisite tasting menus, which start at €75 excluding wine. The wine list is, in a word, extraordinary, and allows you to choose from the best wines in Italy and beyond.

Pizza is something Sicilians eat at least weekly, and Frumento has been the area standard-bearer of excellence since it opened in 2015. Choose from five different dough options (from a classic Neapolitan-style to rye to ancient Sicilian grains) as your base, and then pick one of the 65 different topping combos. Ingredients range from the classics (tomato, buffalo mozzarella, salami) to things like capers from Salina, bottarga, 'nduja, and wild fennel pesto. The young owner is especially passionate about natural wine, and the list reflects that. They also have a second location in Catania (Via Raffineria; 095/8037564).

This eatery has minimalist decor and young owners who are committed to local produce—right down to listing all producers on their website—without being scared to experiment. The wine list is really interesting, focusing mainly on small Sicilian bottles, and there is also a good selection of artisan beer.

What Americans know as Sicilian pizza quite frankly doesn't exist in Sicily, but at this historic café and pizzeria that's been around since the 1800s, you'll find the real pizza siciliana. Though you can find the dish throughout the area, especially in Viagrande and Zaefferana, Urna is said to be its inventor: they stuff tender calzone pastry with Tuma cheese, anchovies, and black peppercorns, and then deep fry the half-moon delicacy. The result is a gooey, savory, flaky delight. Eat it in the outside garden or get it to go.

Top-quality local ingredients are used in this modern, brightly lit pizzeria, where a vast range of pizzas are served, including seasonal, gourmet, and gluten-free varieties. The eclectic menu also takes in delicious antipasti, meat and seafood burgers, pastas, and seafood dishes. Order from a range of bottled or draught artisan beers (including American pale ales) to accompany your meal. Service is rapid and the patient staff answers all queries.

You might not expect to find an ultramodern—even hip—place to dine within a few minutes' drive of Agrigento's ancient temples, yet Il Re di Girgenti offers up pleasing versions of Sicilian classics in a trendy, country-chic atmosphere (think funky black-and-white tile floors mixed with shelves lined with old-fashioned crockery) popular with young locals. The thoughtful wine list offers good prices on both local wines and those from throughout Sicily. Weather permitting, be sure to dine on the terrace for outstanding temple views.

Centrally located on the main piazza in Ustica town, this trattoria's outdoor terrace is a marvelous spot for feeling like you're in the thick of local life while enjoying first-class food. Seafood is the main feature, of course, on a menu that combines traditional dishes, such as prawn ravioli, with more adventurous juxtapositions, like the antipasto of grilled octopus with lentil purée. Service is warm and willing, and there's a good wine list.

In the back of a butcher shop that's been operating since 1968, the Pennisi family opened this meat-focused 30-seat restaurant in December 2017. In the front, you'll find cases full of dry-aged beef; house-made sausages, guanciale, lardo, pancetta, and headcheese; whole chickens; beef liver and veal tongue; and skewers of hand-rolled involtini. You choose your meat from the cases, and they prepare it over a live-fire grill in the back, which you can watch through the plate-glass wall.    

Walking through the gate of this little spot feels like entering a pizza speakeasy—it's located at the end of a cul-de-sac in the garden and ground floor of the owners' home (the name means "in a corner of the world"), and you'd be forgiven for thinking you've gotten the directions wrong. They use a slow, cold fermentation process to create crusts with deep flavors that they ply to turn out calzones and about 15 different pizzas each night. The menu is scrawled on a chalkboard (take a photo when you arrive for easy reference) and features beautiful combos, such as chicory with toasted breadcrumbs and black olives or pear and walnut with gorgonzola. 

For the best of what's locally in season, look to chef Marco Cannizzaro and his 25-seat fine-dining restaurant. Harvested from Etna to the Ionian Sea, the primary ingredients of the area simply shine in his hands: Nerello mascelese grapes show up as rich sauces, wild greens harvested from the slopes of Etna make their way into risottos or stuffed into tender calamari meatballs, and donkey, an economical protein staple of the area, is transformed into flavorful and refined tartare. The commitment here to the area's materia prima informs the soul of the restaurant.

With its dining room set in a cave above the harbor of Santa Maria La Scala, this rustic trattoria specializes in seafood. Try the insalata di mare (a selection of delicately boiled fish served with lemon and olive oil), pasta with clams or cuttlefish ink, or fish grilled over charcoal. The menu is small and simple, but expertly prepared.

One of the most famous restaurants in Sicily, and one of only two on the island to have been awarded a second Michelin star, La Madia is a must-visit when you're here. Chef Pino Cuttaio is a legend within Sicily and beyond thanks to his incredible talent for creating unique dishes that fuse tradition and innovation, without ever losing sight of the kind of simplicity that allows the brilliance and flavors of first-rate Sicilian produce to shine. There are three tasting menus, as well as an à la carte menu.

This wholesaler specializes in oysters, mollusks, and crustaceans, and offers a tasting room that has become an obligatory stop for seafood aficionados in town. There are 24 kinds of oysters, all manner of clams (including Galician percebes), local red prawns in several sizes, and a tank of lobsters and crabs as well as fresh seasonal tuna. Choose between having your fish raw, steamed, grilled, or a la gratin, and dine in the simple blue and white conservatory while enjoying a glass or two of local white wine. They also make a fine fish couscous (one portion is ample for two people).

Here's a novelty for Palermo in the form of a superb modern restaurant located within a museum dedicated to Steve Jobs and Apple products, a surprisingly successful combination; you not only have the ability to revisit ancient IT devices and learn about the history of the tech company, but the food is pretty excellent. Each of the dishes is a revelation, from the pumpkin with miso and fermented black garlic to the ravioli with stewed veal cheek and pigeon with red-wine scented quince. Vegetarian options are as good as any that Palermo has to offer—best sampled in a set tasting menu. The elevated prices are commensurate with the sophisticated cuisine . The venue is also extraordinary as the restaurant is housed within the Palazzo Castrone, one of the city's finest old palaces, just steps away from the Cathedral and entered through a beautiful courtyard.

In a fantastic spot by the now-drained river in Scicli, you'll need to book ahead here to enjoy a meal since it's quite popular with locals. That's thanks to the menu and the fact that you can enjoy a variety of dining options, from a simple aperitivo to a full-blown meal from the ever-changing seasonal menu. Choose a wine from the exceptional wine list to accompany your meal and listen to the owner or his staff tell you with pride how everything is produced locally or organically. If you want a reminder of your meal, you can buy some ingredients from the small display at the back of the restaurant.

Located in the Ognina port, the little Nitto empire has exploded: what began as a mobile market in the 1960s (from the back of a Piaggio Ape) is now a standing fresh fish market and series of restaurants. Locals line up outside the little market to get their daily catch, while next door the fast-casual restaurant serves some of the best-prepared seafood in the area, including squid ink pastas, skewers of grilled fish, and raw seafood platters.

There's no better (or easier) place on the island to watch its fiery explosions than from the terrace of Osservatorio. The diverse menu offers everything from pizza (dinner only) and locally caught fish to pastas and roasted meats. It's a lovely 45-minute passeggiata from the port (about 3 miles), winding up a flora-rich path, to this look-out point with prime views of the area's volcanic activity (in total, about 20 minutes from Piscità). Alternatively, if you call ahead, they can arrange a shuttle service for you. During the day, you'll see the plume of smoke emitting from the crater and get spectacular sea views. At night, it's all about the fireworks show.

This welcoming osteria near the train station makes a perfect lunch stop. With friendly staff and an appealing modern interior—red-tiled floor, chic basket lampshades, and rows of hanging wine bottles—it serves up inexpensive but expertly prepared dishes of local specialties such as risotto with prawns and artichoke cream, and baccalà su macco de fave (salted cod on a bean and fennel stew). The house wine is delicious, and the desserts are also worth sampling.

Chef Danilo Conti started with a passion for wine and subsequently grew deeper respect for the soil of his home territory. The dishes at his osteria just steps from the port in Lipari are clean and balanced—the opposite of fussy—but primarily celebrate the fishing and agricultural traditions of the island; think lime-scented carpaccio of swordfish and pasta with anchovies, wild fennel, and orange zest. The dedication to his producer partners goes so deep that they are called out by name on the menu (a rarity in Italy). In addition to the osteria, Danilo operates a wine shop (San Bartolo Vineria e Dispensa) just a few doors down. There you'll find expressions of his own wines, plus a robust selection from natural wine producers around Sicily and a small (but excellent) selection of salumi and cheeses. 

Inside this rustic osteria, where there's not an inch of wall space spared from decor, the larger-than-life Grasso Rosario holds court as he bounces from table to table offering opinions and insight on his Slow Food--focused menu. Drawing upon the abundance of the region, the menu highlights the black hog from the Nebrodi mountains, a local cultivar of kohlrabi (in arancini and as a pasta), porcini mushrooms, and perfectly grilled and roasted meats (think pork knuckle, ribs, veal, and lamb). The Sicily-heavy wine list is a sommelier's dream.

Palazzolo Acreide has become a bit of a food town in recent years, and this blink-and-you-miss-it spot, housed in an ancient grotto off the main street, is a big part of that. The family-run restaurant offers house antipasti big enough to share (like the unique Mortadella mousse) and a short menu of high-quality entrées including a black lentil risotto. For dessert, don't miss the grape granita: two frozen berries and a lemon semifreddo.