Eating out less often, but choosing where to go more carefully, looking for an experience that has something to tell and not just a good dish. This is probably one of the most interesting keys that emerges from the new edition of TheFork Awardsreturned in 2026 to photograph the openings and new managements that are redesigning Italian catering, at a time in which the public seems to have become simultaneously more selective, more curious and also less willing to spend without perceiving a true identity behind what they find on their plate.
I am 48 restaurants selected this yearindicated by a jury composed of 74 internationally renowned chefs and distributed along the entire Peninsula: 27 signs are located in the North, 9 in the Center and 12 between the South and the Islands. Lombardy leads the ranking with ten addresses, followed by Trentino-Alto Adige with five and Puglia, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Lazio with four each, while Tuscany has three.
But more than the geographical ranking, it is the composition of the selection itself that tells what is happening in Italian catering.
Fine dining remains, but the way we eat out is changing
Haute cuisine is not disappearing, indeed it continues to represent an important part of the new openings considered most interesting by chefs, but alongside the restaurants traditionally associated with fine dining they are multiplying contemporary taverns, advanced bistros, venues that mix cuisine and cocktail bars, formats dedicated to meat or pizza and establishments capable of working on tradition without necessarily transforming it into a multi-course gastronomic journey.
It is a restaurant that is less easy to divide into the old categories, because the boundary between signature restaurant and informal venue has become much thinner. The same photograph proposed by TheFork Awards identifies one of the most evident phenomena of the moment in the growth of contemporary taverns and hybrid formats, linking it to a change in customer habits: perhaps people go out less frequently, but when they do they look for quality, research, territory and an experience that is really worth spending money on.
The result is a map in which very different projects coexist and in which even the idea of gastronomic luxury seems to be progressively moving away from the obligation of formality.
Lombardy ahead of everyone, Milan continues to produce new addresses
With ten restaurantsLombardy is the most represented region and Milan inevitably occupies a central role.
Among the newly selected names appear Denis Lovatelindicated by Carlo Cracco, 142 Restaurantwith Federico Zappalà in the kitchen and Sandra Ciciriello in the dining room, Nino – Osteria with kitchen, Sasa Martucci And Langosteria Montenapoleonewhile it also enters the Milan area Thelema by Simone Tricarico in Gaggiano, nominated from a shortlist that includes Andrea Berton, Simone Cantafio, Alessandro Negrini, Fabio Pisani, Giancarlo Perbellini and Sara Scarsella.
Outside Milan there are Rebis in Desenzano del Garda, MoS table in Lonato del Garda, LOVRE – contemporary pizza in Lovere e The Gesture in Busto Arsizio.
It is perhaps precisely the contemporary presence of gastronomic restaurants, advanced pizzerias and taverns that best illustrates the change: prestige no longer necessarily passes through a single restaurant model.
Rome between Italian cuisine and contaminations
In Lazio there are four brands entered into the selection.
They appear in Rome Cuewith Franco Franciosi and Flavio de Maio, Nomos Ante by Giulio Zoli e Koji Sakaba of chef Koji Nakai, the latter nominated by Cristina Bowerman, while he enters Frascati Pasqualinaled by Emanuele Fusco and Lorenzo Brunotti and indicated by Enrico and Roberto “Bobo” Cerea.
Here too the interesting fact is the variety: the very idea of contemporary catering no longer automatically coincides with reinterpreted Italian cuisine, but includes international languages and increasingly specific formats.
From Piedmont to Puglia, the new cuisine does not only live in the big cities
Turin leads on the list Fiammetta Brace Bar, AL And Spirit Osteriawhile in Cureggio, in the Novara area, it appears Capuccina. In Emilia-Romagna they are reported Zivieri in Bologna, Fuba in Rimini, the Sant’Agostino restaurant in Piacenza and ALTO – Restaurant and Cocktail Bar in Cervia.
Puglia responds with four addresses distributed between Bisceglie, Bari, Monopoli and Diso: Intrecci restaurant, See Kitchen, The Farm And Carèm al Mohala.
And this is precisely one of the most interesting aspects of the entire selection: many of the restaurants considered most promising are not found in metropolises, but in smaller territories, where the possibility of building a story strongly linked to raw materials, local memory and a clientele willing to travel specifically to eat is creating new gastronomic destinations.
The insignia from Abruzzo, the South and the Islands
They enter Abruzzo Sextantioin Santo Stefano di Sessanio, with chef Dino Como, and Albura Bistrot in Avezzano. Sextantio is among the projects that have collected the greatest number of reports, with names such as Donato Ascani, Gennaro Esposito, Michele Lazzarini, Claudio Mengoni, Franco Pepe, Niko Romito and Arcangelo Tinari. In Basilicata it is indicated Bacchae of Matera, while Calabria brings to the list Manubuns in Cosenza e Il Deposito – Meat & Wine in Ricadi.
In Campania the selected name is Somnium by Pasquale Trotta in Eboli, while they arrive in Sicily Casamichele Trattoria And Foundryboth in Palermo. Sardinia is represented by Domu at Grandfather’s House to Serdiana and from Aurea Contemporary Osteria in Cagliari.
Also in this case, rather than a single trend, plurality emerges: trattoria, tavern, bistro and gastronomic restaurant coexist on the same map, signaling a market in which the label matters less and less and the recognisability of the project more and more.
Tuscany, Liguria, Friuli and the new gastronomic destinations
In Tuscany the three addresses chosen are Dandelion Restaurant in Bientina, Antesi at Belmond Villa San Michele in Florence e Beyond in Castellina in Chianti.
They enter Liguria Synthetic cuisine in Genoa e Small restaurant in Sarzana, while Friuli-Venezia Giulia leads in the selection Spajs in Opicina e To the Dachshund in Codroipo.
Among the addresses indicated in the section dedicated to Trentino-Alto Adige are included Pramol Alto in Appiano, Off-piste in Madonna di Campiglio, Yera in Bressanone, 1224 at the Grand Hotel Savoia in Cortina d’Ampezzo e Kallmunz in Merano.
The public will also choose the winner
However, the selection of chefs does not close the TheFork Awards, because an important part of the project now passes to the users.
Until September 20th the public can vote for their favorite restaurant and take part in the draw to attend the gala evening of 27 October at the Giorgio Gaber Lyric Theater in Milanconducted by Cristina Parodi. The dinner will be signed by the Cerea Brothers, Giancarlo Perbellini and Riccardo Monco, while during the evening the People’s Choice Award and the will also return Creators’ Choice Awardnow in its fifth edition.
There will also be a recognition dedicated to the new generations, the New Generationthrough which the Ambassadors of Taste will offer the young chefs awarded the opportunity to join the association for two years, while APCI will provide one year of free membership.
The real prize is understanding where catering is going
In the end, though, the most interesting part of TheFork Awards isn’t necessarily knowing which restaurant will take the stage in October.
Looking at these 48 addresses together, in fact, an Italian restaurant industry emerges that seems to have stopped chasing a single winning model: fine dining continues to exist, but alongside it is growing a universe made up of taverns, bistros, contemporary pizzerias, hybrid venues and restaurants rooted in the territories, united above all by the desire to build a precise identity.
And this is probably the most important change. At a time when customers have more choice, pay more attention to prices and tend to concentrate spending on fewer occasions, it is no longer enough to simply be “good”. You have to have a reason to be chosen.
The 48 restaurants indicated by TheFork Awards 2026, very different from each other in terms of cuisine, price, format and geography, all seem to start from the same principle: today we go to restaurants not just to eat, but to find something that isn’t available elsewhere.
