Best Italian
Barcelona's Italian restaurant scene has raised its standard quietly over the past decade, with a wave of Italian-born chefs who arrived for the produce and the pace of the city and built kitchens serious enough to justify the trip. The best places in this collection are not Italian-adjacent — they source from specific Italian regions, make their pasta by hand, and treat the difference between a Neapolitan and a Roman style as a distinction worth making. At the top end, the wood-fired pizza holds up against the best in Naples; the pasta at the serious trattorias holds up against Rome. That is a higher bar than most cities can claim.
- Agreste Mar — Italian-Catalan, Barri Gòtic, €€€
- Bacaro — Venetian Italian, El Raval, €€
- Xemei — Authentic Venetian, Poble Sec, €€€
- Bar El Pepino — Italian-Catalan Wine Bar, Gràcia, €€
- Tercero Primera — Catalan-Italian, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, €€€
- Grosso Napolitano — Neapolitan Pizza, Eixample, €€
- Benzina — Italian Pasta, Sant Antoni, €€
- Algrano Bistró — Italian Bistro, Eixample, €€
- NAP Neapolitan Authentic Pizza — Certified Neapolitan Pizza, El Born, €€
- Mina — Modern Italian, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, €€€
- Via Veneto — Classic Italian Fine Dining, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, €€€€
- Le Cucine Mandarosso — Italian Home Cooking, El Born, €