With an exceptional number of 385 stars, the Michelin Guide 2023 shows a new record of quality for the Italian culinary scene, one of the fields in which the Bel Paese unabashedly excels every year.
This year’s guide more than ever, honored many young chefs with stars with 20 under the age of 35, and in total an exceptional number of new stars, 40, even in small provincial locations.
Michelin Guide 2023 Awards Villa Crespi its Third Star
Villa Crespi restaurant earns its third star, becoming the 12th Italian restaurant to receive this highest award. The concept of chef owner Antonino Cannavacciuolo has convinced the Michelin guide team for its ability to create an experience of traveling in Italy, where the diners will find the flavors of the chef’s beloved Campania, of the Mediterranean, and of the whole of Italy, immersing the guest into a dimension of total cuisine, with culinary creations that reflect respect for the ingredients and the purity of taste. It is a cuisine that, without frills, wants to reach the heart, the palate, and remain in the memories of its guests. Orta San Giulio is also now a location worth the trip.
From North to South: Italy a Diner’s Paradise
As every year there are more “virtuous” regions among the inspectors’ choices than others.
The greatest number of new entries are located in Lombardy, with seven starred establishments, including the return to the guide of Andrea Aprea in Milan and the city of Pavia, with the restaurant Lino, a novelty with an international character that reawakens the provincial capital after several years.
Tuscany, with no less than five starred newcomers including Vito Mollica’s Chic Nonna, practically a museum, and the stellar Cannavacciuolo Vineyard, a splendid resort on a wine estate in the Tuscan countryside led by the well-known chef from Campania and a young talent.
In Sicily, five locations earned honours, with the awarding of two stars at Heinz Beck’s St. George’s, where the young chef, Iuliano, at the helm of the kitchen since summer 2022, executes recipes of great taste, great simplicity and remarkable precision, with all the lightness familiar of his mentor. Also worth noting is the return of Chef Mantarro at Principe Cerami in Taormina and a new vegetarian star, Tenerumi, on the beautiful island of Vulcano, which also holds a green star for its commitment to sustainability.
Four new additions in Liguria, where on the border of France, gourmet seafood cuisine returns at Balzi Rossi, already one of Italy’s best restaurants in the past, and Casa Buono, a small atelier of passion led by a young couple.
Lazio excels thanks to new entries in Rome, with two restaurants celebrating the achievement of two stars: Enoteca La Torre with chef Domenico Stile and Acquolina with the young Daniele Lippi – two top quality locations where precision reigns and where seafood is the star of the show with an explosion of delicious flavors always at the forefront.
If the star is also awarded, annually, to the best restaurants on the peninsula, here is that in some cases the change of chef confirms the quality of entrepreneurs and new talents in the kitchen. This is the case of San Giorgio and Nove in Liguria, the Venetian restaurants Oro Restaurant, Local, and Wistèria, Castello di Fighine in Tuscany (again under the wing of Heinz Beck), Il Refettorio and Il Faro di Capo d’Orso Andrea Aprea in Campania, Gusto by Claudio Sadler in Sardinia, and finally, in Turin, Carignano and Spazio 7.
This year’s guide highlights the importance of new entries and those that showed experience, technique and a knowledge of the purest ingredients at the same level as their predecessors, ensuring Italy’s love for food and sharing that cultural treasure with the world will continue a long way into the future.