Top 5 Restaurants in the Abruzzo, Italy (updated for 2026)
Editor's note: This article was originally published in 2017 and has been fully reviewed and updated in September 2026. This is not necessarily about the best restaurants but about a collection of eclectic restaurants, each chosen for something a bit more unique, a bit special in their own way, not always for the excellence of the cooking, although all are good and each in their own way demonstrate what Abruzzo has to offer and are worth the journey.
Eating out in the Abruzzo is a pleasure that I will never tire of enjoying. Simple food that relies, like most Italian cooking, upon the freshness and quality of local seasonal ingredients - and never a chain restaurant, let alone a Starbucks, in sight. The fact that so many restaurants don’t bother to have a menu or a price list speaks volumes for the trust that exists with their local customers.
There are so many excellent local restaurants that choosing the best is a difficult task. What follows is a list of my favourite 5 restaurants near the newly renovated Olive House in this largely undiscovered part of the Abruzzo.
5
La Bandiera
Address: C. da Pastini, 4 Civitella Casanova (PE)
Phone: +39 0858 45210
Price: £££
One Michelin star – do I need to say too much more. A quality meal that you would expect with such an accolade. The food is fabulous and so very much more affordable that a Michelin starred restaurant would be in the UK.
You eat so well that I have to include this in my top five. But I don’t need, or even want, the fussiness, the overly servile waiters, the long wordy introductions to ingredients of every course. I want good food, served by warm friendly people, not the sterility and overly attentive atmosphere generated too often in fancy establishments. It is shame that so much of this is a requirement of the inspectors for the Michelin guide.
If you want to impress or for a special occasion this is a great choice.
4
Da Mario
Address: SP34, 64033 Bisenti TE, Italy
Phone: +39 328 322 0279
Price: £
This is in stark contrast to all the other restaurants on the list and the absolute polar absolute to La Bandiera, and all the better for it! A working persons restaurant, bustling at lunchtimes, variable in the evening but Mario is a constant, always there, jovial, friendly, a real character. I have known him on more than one occasion ignore what you have ordered and give you what he thinks you should want. The stage is set when his wife appears to take your order. Sparks will invariably fly between Mario, full of bonhomie and his wife (I have never dared asked her name) who is sullen and unresponsive. I am never quite sure what about, but it will often carry over into the kitchen. Sit back and enjoy.
No formal menu, Mario’s wife will list your choices, ones that never vary, reflecting a very traditional menu. Food is simple, fresh and well cooked. It is unbelievable value: invariably 20 euros a head regardless of what you have. Take cash – you will always be told that the card machine is broken.
All meals follow the same routine: antipasti (small plates that can at times be almost a meal); primi (pasta, mainly) and secondi (meat or fish). The menus all have striking similarities, but this is not really a surprise as Italians are conservative eaters. They are fussy about quality and seasonality but are not adventurous. They don’t mix up dishes like Brits; carbs are eaten separately from protein. Feel completely free to choose any combination (anti-pasta, primi and secondi) and in any order, but all three will be a lot of food – probably too much. If you want a salad with your meal, ask them specifically, as a salad is generally eaten after the meat to cleanse the palate.
3
Ristorante Albergo La Bilancia
Address: Strada Provinciale 4, 65014 Passo Cordone PE, Italy
Phone: +39 085 828 9321
Price: £££
In the middle of nowhere, this is a rustic trattoria attached to a large hotel. I love this place for sticking to traditions, not just in its food but as soon as I arrive, I feel I am being transported back in time, with a certainty that this place has remained unchanged for 30 years or more. The somewhat gruff owner adds spice to the occasion, always bemoaning something, mellowed when I last wrote about this place by two cheerful and caring waiters that have since retired. This is quality traditional food.
Try the Mugnaia, a traditional, course, thick, pasta that reminds my children of the Pici that they loved when we visited their grandfather in Tuscany. Common in Abruzzo, but made special at La Bilancia, cooked with the traditional sauce of garlic, olive oil and sweet dried peppers, fried to be just crisp. Delicious and unique.
Lastly most restaurants are closed on Mondays, and most (post Covid) are also closed on Tuesday. As I am sure you know, but a reminder, Italians eat late: restaurants may just be open by 7.30 but it will only get busy a few hours later – although don’t let that stop you eating early, just bear in mind that the place may be a little empty.
2
Font D'Artana
Address: Piazza Duca Abruzzi, 8, 65010 Picciano PE, Italy
Phone: +39 085 828 5451
Price: ££
Picciano is a surprisingly elegant little town with some grand palazzi that belie the towns size. Worth a stroll. Almost invisible from the street, you might pass the restaurant if you didn’t already know it was there. It has style: dine under the vaulted ceilings with an open fire in the winter and on the terrace in the summer with views over the nearby hills.
The food is some of the best that Abruzzo can offer with a traditional menu with a very obvious focus on the best local and very seasonal ingredients. A quiet and elegant atmosphere. You will be well looked after by Antonio and Cristina
Italians eat out regularly – a social occasion that invariable involves the family, complete with children being kept up to what seems to us ridiculously hours. Italians will also eat out much more frequently than we do in the UK: a couple of time a week is not unusual. It is part of their social life and of course at the prices that are charged it is a lot more feasible to do so. It is also interesting to see how many will mix social with a bit of business. They don’t have the same hard division between work and family as we do.
When you book in rural Italy you are unlikely to be asked for your arrival time. Whether they do or don’t the table is yours for the evening. So very unlike Britain where you will be given a time slot and reminded by email that you have to vacate the table a short time thereafter. I know the hospitality industry is having a crisis of sustainability but how can Italy manage all this so much better than we do.
1
Altro Canto
Address: Via San Rocco, 65010 Farindola (PE)
Phone:+393423633138
Price: £££
If I have to choose a favourite this would be it. Not just great cooking but a twist on traditional regional cooking that makes the food interesting and refreshing.
A small intimate restaurant with style and some quirkiness but done with taste. Mid-range in price with the food punching above its weight in cost. Unfortunately, it is going up for sale later in 2026 so go whilst you can. Selfishly I hope they take some time to sell.
There is also an excellent BnB above where I have eaten what might be the best breakfast in Italy, admittedly in a country that is not renown for catering to a Northern European desire for savoury food first thing in the morning. Here you can have both: sweet and simple for the Italians and savoury and more plentiful for me!
In rural Italy no one tips. I love that. The price is the price. Indeed, when you have finished a meal you don’t ask for the bill but walk up to counter to pay, where you will more often than not be offered a digestivo by the owner.
Why do we put up with a custom that supposedly rewards a good experience when the ‘optional tip’ is paid and expected; regardless of your experience? Few Brits would dare contest a service charge and if you did have the temerity to do so (or God forbid, complain) your table companions would like the earth to open and swallow them whole to avoid their embarrassment.
So that is my 5...but I want to finish with a special mention for the Ritrovo D'Abruzzo.
You will not be disappointed although expect to pay closer to 40 euros plus a head. If you go consider the tasting menu consisting of a range of courses all (dessert excepted) using bacalla – salt cod, another local delicacy. Simply divine.
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Stephen
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