La Rucola 2.0

La Rucola 2.0 is the gastronomic restaurant of chef Gionata Bignotti, a Sirmione native, trained at Da Vittorio in Brusaporto and Cracco in Milan, and is the most innovative Michelin-starred kitchen on Lake Garda. The restaurant occupies a converted 16th-century stone-walled alleyway space on Vicolo Strentelle (one of the most photographed medieval lanes in the intra-muros village, fifty metres from the Scaligero castle gates) with stone-vaulted ceilings, a single open kitchen at the back wall, and thirty-eight covers across twelve tables.

Bignotti's cooking is contemporary Italian with a strong seafood lean and deep regional sourcing. The seven-course tasting rotates seasonally; signatures include a hand-rolled tagliolino with Lake Garda lavarello and Bardolino-wine-poached pumpkin; a slow-cooked Adriatic turbot with samphire and lemon confit; a Mazzara del Vallo red-prawn crudo with green olive and sea-fennel; a wood-fired Lake Garda pike with rosemary and Garda-lemon confit; the famous 'spaghetto all'astice della rucola', a Lake Garda lobster spaghetti that Bignotti refined for over a decade.

The wine list runs to 600 references with a serious Veronese spine, deep coverage of Amarone, Soave, Lugana, and a respectable Italian-national section. Sommelier Stefano Alpago runs the floor and the by-the-glass programme runs a generous twelve-glass Veronese flight.

The dining room is the most architecturally distinctive of the village's two Michelin-starred rooms, stone-vaulted medieval ceilings, hand-carved larch beams, and a chef's-counter for two facing directly into the open kitchen. Service is precision, Bignotti himself runs the kitchen and walks the room before the cheese course; the captains rotate from a year-round seasonal pool. La Rucola 2.0 is the most reliable client-entertaining address on the Sirmione peninsula.

La Rucola 2.0 is the impress-the-client room in Sirmione when the brief is contemporary rather than view-driven. The medieval-alleyway setting is the conversation; the Michelin star answers the credibility question; the chef's-counter format is the closest the village comes to a chef's-table experience. Book the chef's-counter two-top for a wine-led dinner; ask Stefano for the Amarone-vertical pairing, three glasses across thirty years of Quintarelli and Dal Forno.