RFK Cuisine · Italian · Bologna
Best Italian Restaurants in Bologna 2026
Italian · Bologna · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
The tortellini are folded by hand here, by women the Bolognese call sfogline, and in this city that is a job description rather than nostalgia. Bologna earned its nickname — La Grassa, the fat one — by inventing the dishes the rest of the world flattened into "Italian food": tagliatelle al ragù, lasagne verdi, mortadella, tortellini in capon broth. Eat it at the source and the difference is immediate. The city carries exactly one Michelin star, and the rooms that matter most are trattorias that have rolled the same pasta for fifty years, plus a single frescoed grand hotel for the special night. Ranked on the cooking, the room, and what the bill buys, with the dish to order at each.
1.I Portici
Bologna's only star, set in a frescoed former music hall; book for a modern tasting menu in the historic centre.
I Portici is the only Michelin-starred restaurant in Bologna's historic centre, its star reconfirmed in the 2026 Italy guide, and it sits inside the Eden — a late-19th-century musical café on Via Indipendenza whose Liberty-style frescoes still arc over the room. Chef Nicola Annunziata cooks contemporary, Mediterranean-leaning tasting menus of five, seven or nine courses, a deliberate counterpoint to the trattoria canon a few streets away. This is the room for a special occasion in Bologna, the night you want technique and a wine pairing rather than a bowl of tortellini. Book several days ahead and take the longer tasting.
Reserve direct or by phone; the seven-course tasting with the wine pairing.
2.All'Osteria Bottega
The critics' consensus pick for traditional Bologna; book ahead for the city's most respected tortellini in brodo.
Daniele Minarelli — "Il Dandy" — earned a Michelin star in nearby Minerbio before moving to this small room at Via Santa Caterina 51, where he and his wife Valeria now run the single most consistently recommended kitchen in Bologna. The tortellini in brodo is the dish, floated in a deep capon broth, with a cotoletta petroniana and a board of mortadella, culatello and lardo around it. It holds a Slow Food Snail and a Michelin Guide listing without a star, which undersells it. The room is tiny and the regulars guard it, so book several days out and let the salumi and the brodo lead.
Reserve by phone; the salumi board, then tortellini in brodo and the cotoletta.
3.Ristorante I Carracci
Dinner under 16th-century frescoes at the Grand Hotel Majestic; book for the grandest room in the city.
Ristorante I Carracci occupies a vaulted 16th-century hall at the Grand Hotel Majestic "già Baglioni" on Via Manzoni 2, its ceiling entirely frescoed by the school of the Carracci brothers — easily the most beautiful dining room in Bologna. Executive chef Agostino Schettino cooks a contemporary version of the Emilian canon, refined tributes to tagliatelle al ragù and the regional classics, and the restaurant carries a 2026 Michelin Guide listing. This is the address for an anniversary, a proposal, or a night that needs to feel like an event. Book ahead, dress up, and let the frescoes do half the work.
Reserve through the hotel; tagliatelle al ragù and whatever the kitchen is doing seasonally.
4.Drogheria della Rosa
Oversized tortelloni in a converted pharmacy; book for the most charming dining room in the old town.
Drogheria della Rosa keeps the wooden cabinets and apothecary bottles of the pharmacy it used to be, near Via Cartoleria, and owner Emanuele Addone works the small room himself, reciting the day's menu table to table. The signature is the tortellone — enormous, stuffed with zucchini flowers or ricotta — alongside a meaty tagliatelle al ragù that ranks with the city's best. There is no printed menu and no pretense; you eat what is good that day and trust the host. It is a fixture of every serious Bologna guide and one of the most-loved rooms in town. Reserve a few days ahead.
Book direct; the tortelloni with zucchini flowers, then tagliatelle al ragù.
5.Trattoria Anna Maria
Hand-folded tortellini in brodo near San Petronio; book for the warmest, most photo-lined trattoria in the centre.
Anna Maria has rolled pasta near San Petronio for more than three decades, and her ragù simmers some eight hours before it ever reaches a plate of tagliatelle. The tortellini in brodo di cappone is the order, with the lasagne close behind, and the walls are papered with decades of signed photographs that make the room feel like a family kitchen. First and second courses run roughly €11 to €15, putting a full dinner with house wine around €30 to €40 a head — a benchmark of value for cooking this good. It fills fast, especially at lunch, so reserve a few days out.
Book ahead; tortellini in brodo, the tagliatelle al ragù, and a carafe of Sangiovese.
6.Trattoria di Via Serra
The Slow Food trattoria worth the walk out of the centre; book for ragù made the long way, at honest prices.
Trattoria di Via Serra sits at Via Luigi Serra 9B in the working Navile district north of the centre, far enough off the tourist track that the room stays mostly Bolognese. It is a card-carrying Slow Food trattoria, the walls hung with the movement's posters, and the kitchen cooks the canon with real care — tortellini in brodo, tagliatelle with a slow ragù, gramigna with pumpkin and sausage in season. The room is small enough that locals queue at opening for a table, which tells you what you need to know. Reserve ahead, walk the fifteen minutes from the centre, and order across the pastas.
Book a few days out; tortellini in brodo, then the tagliatelle al ragù.
7.Da Cesari
A family trattoria steps from Piazza Maggiore since 1955; book for gramigna with sausage ragù and a bottle of Bonarda.
The Cesari family has run this trattoria at Via de' Carbonesi 8, a short walk from Piazza Maggiore, since 1955, and the cooking has barely moved in seventy years — which here is the highest compliment. The gramigna with sausage ragù is the dish to order, a short curled pasta in a rich pork sauce, with the house tagliatelle al ragù and a roster of Emilian salumi to start. It is a proper neighbourhood room rather than a tourist set piece, with a sound list of local reds, and prices that stay reasonable for the centre. Reserve a couple of days ahead and ask the family what is best that night.
Book by phone; the gramigna with sausage ragù and a Colli Bolognesi red.
How Bologna eats Italian
In Bologna, "Italian" means Emilian, and the cooking is built on a short canon everyone defends fiercely: tortellini in brodo, tagliatelle al ragù, lasagne verdi, tortelloni and the mortadella that the rest of the world calls baloney and gets wrong. The pasta is rolled by hand — the sheet is sfoglia, the women who roll it sfogline — and a kitchen that uses a machine is judged for it. Order pasta as the centre of the meal, start with a board of salumi, and never, ever ask for "spaghetti bolognese," which is not a dish here.
The map is small and walkable. I Portici, All'Osteria Bottega, Drogheria della Rosa, Da Cesari and Anna Maria all sit within the medieval centre under the porticoes; Trattoria di Via Serra is the one worth the fifteen-minute walk out to Navile; and I Carracci anchors the grand-hotel end on Via Manzoni. Lunch is taken seriously and the trattorias fill by 1pm; dinner starts around 8. For the rest of the city beyond pasta, the Bologna dining guide maps every neighbourhood by occasion.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for real cucina bolognese
The Piazza Maggiore terrace menus. The cafés ringing the main square sell laminated "spaghetti bolognese" to people who do not know it is not a Bologna dish. Walk two minutes under the porticoes to Da Cesari or All'Osteria Bottega instead, where the pasta is hand-rolled and the ragù dresses tagliatelle, as it should.
I Portici for a casual lunch. The starred tasting-menu room is a slow, special-occasion dinner, not a quick plate of pasta. For that, point yourself at Trattoria Anna Maria or Da Cesari, where a full lunch costs a fraction and takes an hour.
Frequently asked
What is the best Italian restaurant in Bologna?
For modern fine dining, I Portici is Bologna's only Michelin-starred restaurant in the historic centre, where chef Nicola Annunziata cooks tasting menus inside a frescoed former music hall. For traditional cucina bolognese, All'Osteria Bottega under Daniele Minarelli is the critics' consensus pick, with the city's most respected tortellini in brodo. Choose by whether you want a tasting menu or hand-folded pasta in a trattoria.
Where do you eat the best tortellini in brodo in Bologna?
All'Osteria Bottega and Trattoria Anna Maria are the two benchmark rooms for tortellini in brodo — tiny meat-filled pasta floated in capon broth, the defining dish of Bologna. Trattoria di Via Serra in the Navile district is the third, a Slow Food trattoria worth the walk. All three fill their small rooms fast, especially at lunch, so reserve a few days ahead and arrive on time.
How many Michelin stars does Bologna have?
Bologna's historic centre has one Michelin star, held by I Portici and reconfirmed in the 2026 Italy guide under chef Nicola Annunziata. Several other rooms — All'Osteria Bottega, Ristorante I Carracci and Drogheria della Rosa among them — carry Michelin Guide listings or Slow Food recognition without a star. The wider Emilia-Romagna region holds more stars nearby, but in the city itself I Portici stands alone.
What should I order at a Bologna trattoria?
Start with a plate of mortadella and other Emilian salumi, then order one of the three pasta classics: tortellini in brodo, tagliatelle al ragù — the real Bolognese, never called spaghetti bolognese here — or lasagne verdi layered with green spinach pasta. Drogheria della Rosa is known for oversized tortelloni stuffed with zucchini flowers. Finish with a sweet wine or a shot of espresso; Bologna keeps dessert simple.
How far ahead should I book restaurants in Bologna?
Book I Portici and Ristorante I Carracci several days to a week out, and earlier for a weekend. The trattorias — Anna Maria, Da Cesari, Trattoria di Via Serra and All'Osteria Bottega — hold few tables and fill most lunches and evenings, so reserve a few days ahead and take an early or late seating if that is what is offered. Walk-ins at peak hours rarely succeed.
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