The 10 Most Beautiful Panoramic Restaurants in Italy

immagine-copertina(1).jpg Breathtaking panoramas and delicious gourmet works. When the unparalleled beauty of Mother Nature is combined with culinary masterpieces by great chefs, an excellent and spectacular combination is born. An alchemy that will ignite your senses and make you enjoy a meal like few in the world. There are many in Italy, but we present the 10 most beautiful panoramic restaurants in the country.

10 - Spazio Capofaro, Salina - Aeolian Islands (Messina, Sicily)

A small temple of Sicilian culinary traditions. A gourmet terrace overlooking the silhouettes of Stromboli and Panarea. Spazio Capofaro is a gastronomic laboratory in the heart of our Mediterranean Sea. Its chef Niko Romito, three Michelin stars, has brought a simple but versatile type of cuisine to Salina. His young collaborators, from Niko Romito Formazione in Castel di Sangro (L'Aquila), create dishes based on the ancient flavours of Sicilian culture, but give them a new culinary twist. A menu centred on products from the Aeolian Islands and producers participating in the Natura in Tasca project. Spazio Capofaro is only open for the summer season at the Capofaro Malvasia & Resort in Salina. An excellent wine, Tasca d'Almerita, is also produced here, thanks to the seven hectares of vineyards overlooking the sea. Spazio Capofaro is a place for lovers of taste and for those in search of a new concept of luxury, in harmony with nature.

Average price per person: à la carte on request
Telephone: 090 984 4330
Address: Island of Salina, Municipality of Malfa, Via Faro, 3, 98050 ME

9 - Monte Turri, Tortolì - hamlet of Arbatax (Ogliastra, Sardinia)

Monte Turri Table with a view of that corner of Sardinia between the Mediterranean and the beginning of Barbagia: a primitive, untouched and wild landscape. Rocky outcrops plunge into emerald waters, while postcard-perfect caves, fjords and inlets creep between the green Mediterranean maquis and the pink granite of the stacks. A sublime spectacle served by this restaurant inside the Arbatax Park Resort: eight hotels scattered among olive trees, mastic trees and myrtles. A 40-hectare park populated by wild boar, fallow deer, donkeys, sheep, Sardinian cows and Giara horses. On this enchanting terrace, your palate can enjoy a full immersion of local flavours, including: malloreddus (typical Sardinian gnocchi) and culurgiones (a symbol of the area's cuisine; stuffed with Sardinian pecorino cheese or potatoes and mint, topped with tomato and grated pecorino cheese), seadas with cheese and honey (the famous Sardinian sweet-noodle).

Average price per person: à la carte on request.
Telephone:0782 667500
Address: Via Faro Bellavista, 08048 Arbatax, Tortolì OG

8 - La Pergola, Positano (Salerno, Campania)

40 kilometres of the Amalfi Coast will appear before your eyes like a picturesque vision. La Pergola dominates that strip of coastline that encapsulates all the splendid peculiarities of the area: that rugged purity skilfully blended with hanging gardens and vegetable plots, pergolas and cascades of bougainvillea cascading down to the sea. A restaurant that leaves one astonished even on the inside. A former home of Franco Zeffirelli (and before that of the Russian writer Mikhail Semenov), it is now a charming hotel with 16 suites named after the great director's closest friends. On the walls are scene photos, an incredible collection of Baroque religious paintings and colourful Vietri ceramics. La Pergola serves land and sea dishes. The wines come from local wine cellars, the vegetables and aromatic plants from the house gardens, and the fish, obviously fresh from the day, from the waters of the tiny Li Galli archipelago (three islets, historically owned by Rudolf Nureyev and, before him, by another Russian dance star, Leonide Massine). The silhouette of Li Galli, home according to legend to Ulysses' Sirens, forms the backdrop to the terrace. Under a pergola, the restaurant welcomes its guests in the summer months; in winter, in the great hall, in front of the fireplace.

Average price per person: à la carte on request
Telephone: 089 812076
Address: Via del Brigantino, 84017 Positano SA

7 - Verbano, Isola dei Pescatori - Stresa (Verbania, Piedmont)

Verbano The romantic Hotel Verbano on Isola dei Pescatori, the smallest of the Borromean Islands, welcomes you with its few rooms that can only be reached by boat. A small restaurant with a terrace with an enchanting view: Isola Bella, Isola Madre ('paradise on earth' for Gustave Flaubert) and the frame of the mountains that cuddle the shores of the lake in which gardens and villas are set. An oasis of peace that has enchanted artists, writers and musicians, such as Toscanini, Simenon and the aforementioned Flaubert. Chef Diego Pioletti offers a menu with delicate fresh fish from the lake and full-bodied, bold flavours from the Ossola valleys, as well as rice dishes from the nearby Novara plain.

Average price per person: from 65 Euro upwards
Address: Via Ugo Ara, 2, 28838 Isola dei Pescatori, Stresa VB
Telephone: 0323 30408

6 - Timeo, Taormina (Messina, Sicily)

Timeo Mount Etna remains in the background in this picture-postcard view. The Timeo boasts an unrivalled position on Cape Taormina and the stretch of coastline that meanders towards the Riviera dei Ciclopi. It was on this balcony that David Herbert Lawrence found inspiration to write his then scandalous novel'Lady Chatterley's Lover', Truman Capote loved sipping cocktails here, and Guy de Maupassant adored the landscape. In front of this panorama, which has remained practically unchanged, you can enjoy lobsters from Acitrezza, swordfish rolls alla palermitana, wild asparagus agnolotti, maccheroni al ferretto norm, escalope of sea bass alla eoliana, stockfish salad alla messinese and other tasty creations by chef Roberto Toro.

Average price per person: from 80 Euro upwards
Address: Via Teatro Greco, 59, 98039 Taormina ME
Telephone: 0942 627 0200

5 - La Sponda, Positano (Salerno, Campania)

At nightfall, La Sponda restaurant is lit by four hundred candles, a mandolin and guitar whisper past melodies and large windows frame the sunset that slowly fades behind the yellow and green majolica dome of the Church of the Assunta. La Sponda is the jewel in the crown of the Le Sirenuse hotel, an old manor house converted into a high-class hotel. A terrace in the blue and a room inlaid with climbing plants are the perfect setting for the masterpieces of chef Matteo Temperini, a Michelin star and great lover of Neapolitan and Campanian traditions and flavours. Linguine di Gragnano with veracious clams and lemon courgette pesto; small rock octopuses poached with Ponza lentils, endives and provola di Termini mousse; seared imperial prawns with langoustine crouton, broad beans, baby artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes; aniseed and pistachio pears, coffee and liquorice sauce; creamy milk and dark chocolate, pine nuts and crunchy ice cream...and other classy reinterpretations with excellent products await you at La Sponda.

Average price per person: from 100 Euro upwards
Address: Via Cristoforo Colombo, 30, 84017 Positano SA
Telephone: 089 875066

4 - Grotta Palazzese, Polignano a Mare (Bari, Apulia)

Grotta Palazzese In the picturesque setting of narrow streets and overhanging white houses, this curious restaurant insinuates itself, housed inside the fascinating GrottaPalazzese, the largest and best known in the area. It is accessed from the road via a narrow staircase, carved directly into the rock. Inside, a large semicircular 'room', about 30 metres in diameter, awaits you. In the past it was a ballroom commissioned in 1730 by Duke Leto of Naples, lord of Polignano. The grotto thus became a haunt for great occasions and a meeting place for high society. Abandoned after the French Revolution, it is currently very popular during the summer months. The room inside the limestone-vaulted grotto overlooks the sea, offering breathtaking dinners in a dimly lit, surreal atmosphere.
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Tasting and à la carte gourmet menus based on fish await you. A few examples: bluefin tuna and almond tartare, green tomato and purple cabbage mayonnaise; salt cod, cucumber sauce, cucunci crumble and carrot chiffonade; pacchero rigato with prawns, yellow dates, aubergine crisp and lemongrass powder; soft yoghurt with mango and peaches, salted cocoa crumble and coconut dacquoise. A very special place, of undoubted scenic impact and linked to an equally impressive hotel.

Average price per person: from 150 Euro upwards
Address: Via Narciso, 59, 70044 Polignano A Mare BA
Telephone: 080 424 0677

3 - Olimpo, Sestri Levante (Genoa, Liguria)

Olimpo Last year, at the World Travel Market in London, it won silver for the most beautiful panorama in the world. A sort of Oscar for the hotel Vis à Vis, on top of which stands the restaurant Olimpo. The name has never been more apt, given the divine view it offers: on one side, the Baia del Silenzio (among the ten most beautiful beaches in Italy) and on the other, the Baia delle Favole, as Hans Christian Andersen christened it during a stay in 1833. In between, a narrow strip of land with the characteristic Ligurian caruggi. Huge glass windows frame portions of the landscape, creating veritable pictures. A luxurious atmosphere, almost of yesteryear. Chef Vladimiro Ghio proposes delicious dishes such as: marinated fish with exotic fruit and raspberry citronette; angler fish and tuna with velvety clam sauce; tarragon-grilled prawns in a garden of spiced vegetables; fillet of suckling pig in a black sesame and cinnamon crust with plum sauce; loin of lamb on tapinanbur cream and basket of sweet garlic vegetables; hazelnut parfait with caramel sauce. A place that enchants the eyes, the heart, the soul and the palate.

Average price per person: from 120 Euro upwards
Address: Via della Chiusa, 28, Sestri Levante GE
Telephone: 0185 42661

2 - Belvedere, Ravello (Salerno, Campania)

The vertiginousoverlook of the Belvedere restaurant, flagship of the Hotel Caruso (a building full of Norman arches, 18th-century frescoes, wisteria and oleanders), defies the laws of nature. Perched on the cliff 350 metres above the sea, this restaurant is located exactly where the eye loses itself in the blue, skimming over olive groves and lemon gardens. Chef Mimmo Di Raffaele gratifies guests' palates with zero-kilometre flavours: tonnarelli with buffalo ragout and Coastal lemon pesto; pezzogna with Corbara cherry tomatoes; Neapolitan pasticciotto with almond milk ice cream and other delicious dishes. A challenge to the law of gravity that will give you the illusion of dining suspended between sky and water in front of the profile of the Lattari Mountains. And if that is not enough for you, the restaurant also has a surprise in store: a floating table on the infinity pool when, at sunset, the boundary between sea and sky dissolves into a magical and evocative fairytale setting.

Average price per person: from 140 Euro upwards
Address: Piazza S. Giovanni del Toro, 2, 84010 Ravello SA
Telephone:089 858801

1 - La Terrazza, Portofino (Genoa, Liguria)

La Terrazza In the 1950s and 1960s it was, together with the legendary Piazzetta, the symbol of the Riviera's Dolce Vita. The Splendido di Portofino, one of the most exclusive hotels in the world, in a privileged position on the tiny bay made famous and romantic by Fred Buscaglione with his 'I found my love in Portofino', welcomes guests to its La Terrazza restaurant. The scenery is breathtaking: the iridescent, iridescent Promontory, the Dolphin Coast and the entire Gulf of Tigullio fading into the distance towards the Cinque Terre. Amidst creepers and flowering pergolas, Chef Corrado Corti and his 22 collaborators delight guests with classics of Ligurian cuisine and refined combinations of flavours such as: artichoke salad with thyme-scented scampi from the Gulf; mullet guazzetto with olive oil croutons; cuttlefish and chickpea zimino Ligurian style with rosemary scent. A place beloved of VIPs of the past and crowned heads, still popular today. Among the most loyal customers is Elizabeth Taylor, whom the menu pays homage to with her favourite dish: spaghetti with a trio of fresh San Marzano, Sorrento and Pachino tomatoes. Yesterday as today, a best seller not to be missed.