One evening almost 20 years ago, I left Rome to make the roughly two-hour drive north to Hotel Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole, the legendary seaside resort in Tuscany . It was a long journey just for a dinner reservation, but I was eager to try the cuisine of Antonio Guida, a chef generating quite a lot of buzz at the time. I was mesmerized — the food was deep in flavor, comforting, and technically impeccable. I remember thinking: “Wow, you can eat this well in a hotel restaurant!” Back then, that was far from guaranteed.
In 2014, Guida moved to the newly opened Mandarin Oriental in Milan. Its restaurant, Seta, was strategically designed and positioned to express a unique identity and ambition rather than simply existing as an efficient yet predictable hotel amenity. Mission accomplished: Today, with its two Michelin stars, Seta is a destination within a destination, drawing mostly outside diners (Milanese in particular) alongside hotel guests. And it’s hardly an isolated case — Italian hotels currently rank as some of the best in the world when it comes to their culinary offerings. As a local, that makes me quite proud, though not particularly surprised.
Related: The Top 10 Global Hotels for Food and Drink, According to the Experts
Why do our hotels excel in this space? The short answer: They don’t imitate international standards — they do what Italy does best, which is to remain authentically itself. But of course, there’s more to it. Many high-end properties hire chefs with strong identities and give them space, resources, and creative autonomy. These hotels become cultural laboratories where fine dining, nostalgia, craftsmanship, and a sense of place intersect. Italy’s obsession with provenance — a defining trait of its cuisine — now lives inside hotel walls, too, and in recent years, attention to the supply chain has intensified. Kitchen gardens and collaborations with small producers, fishmongers, and independent winemakers have become common among many properties.
The best Italian hotel restaurants have nothing in common with the anonymous, airport terminal–esque places found in many parts of the world. They embody what the ancient Romans called genius loci — the spirit of the place. They offer experiences that can’t be replicated, shaped by the authenticity and taste of a place that increasingly drives high-end culinary travel.
Take Casa Maria Luigia , the boutique hotel founded by Lara Gilmore and Massimo Bottura in the Modenese countryside. Here, breakfast is a genuinely unique experience, even by Italian standards. Where else can you start your morning with cotechino (a slow-cooked pork sausage), zabaglione , and sbrisolona (a rustic Lombard cornmeal-almond crumb cake)? The property is what the Germans call a Gesamtkunstwerk — a total work of art — blending culinary ambition, contemporary art, and cultivated hospitality. Guests are not simply fed; they’re initiated into the chef’s avant-garde universe, where Parmigiano-Reggiano and traditional balsamic vinegar are treated with almost liturgical reverence.
Winning over Italians — notoriously discerning diners — becomes a fast track to credibility. When a hotel restaurant attracts locals rather than just travelers, it becomes a genuine “place to be.” The hotel stops feeling like a tourist bubble and becomes a social and identity-driven space. That’s certainly the case at Orient Express La Minerva and its restaurant concept, Gigi Rigolatto Roma, a refined Roman salon that honors tradition through a contemporary lens and on any given night is packed with chic locals and guests alike.
Today’s travelers want to understand where they are, know the origin of ingredients, and recognize cultural references that haven’t been diluted. In Italian hotel restaurants, culinary storytelling isn’t a marketing gimmick: It’s the natural outcome of the country’s cultural biodiversity. Chef Vania Ghedini of Oro at Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel , Venice demonstrates this beautifully with a deeply personal menu that leans into the produce of Venice and the surrounding region, as well as its historic position as a city of traders. It speaks to the real pride in bringing to life the country’s diverse and layered regional cuisines.
Italian culinary hotels are among the best because they have something that can’t be bought: a culture of hospitality, a strong supply chain centering local makers and produce, and a warm human connection. Qualities that can be imitated, but never truly replicated.
To uncover the best food and drink experiences for travelers, Food & Wine polled over 400 chefs, travel experts, food and travel writers, and wine pros from across the globe for their top culinary travel experiences. We then turned the results over to our Global Advisory Board, who ranked the top nominees in each category. For the full list of winners, visit foodandwine.com/globaltastemakers2026 .
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