The culinary experts at 50 Top Italy must have full bellies as the end of 2023 approaches. After releasing rankings of the best pizzerias in the world and the best pizzerias in the United States earlier this year, they’ve come through with another list: the world’s 50 best Italian restaurants.
Two of the top 10 are located in the United States: Fiola, owned by Fabio Trabocchi in Washington, D.C., was ranked at No. 6, while Rezdôra, a New York restaurant owned by Stefano Secchi, took seventh place. Leading the kitchen at Fiola is Chef Antonio Mermolia, who was also named the 2022 Chef of the Year by international food and travel guide Gambero Rosso. Rezdôra showcases the cuisine of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, including a pasta dish called Grandma Walking Through Forest in Emilia (cappalletti verdi with roasted, sautéed leeks and a black mushroom puree) and a sirloin steak called Cow Grazing in Emilia Romagna.
But the No. 1 honor went to Il Carpaccio, a Michelin-starred outpost for Italian cuisine in Paris, under the direction of Alessandra Del Favero and Oliver Piras. As 50 Top Italy’s website explains, “She is from Belluno, discreet and introverted like almost all people who live in mountainous areas, and he is from Cagliari Sardinia, a man of the sea, extroverted and lively. It’s a perfect couple who have been working in harmony for eleven years and who manage to relive the legend of Carpaccio.”
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The restaurant “marks a new chapter of Italian cuisine abroad,” 50 Top Italy notes. “This is no longer emigrants who open trattorias with red wines and checkered tablecloths, nor presumptuous people who blissfully transfer traditional dishes ‘tout court’ regardless of the context, but professionals who know the techniques well [and] have ideas….Based on freshness and the still essentially unexpressed potential of the vegetal element, the cuisine you find at Il Carpaccio is lively and the result of combinations which, at times, and with no exaggeration, it’s easy to define as brilliant…the gift of being able to see things that escape the eye of the majority of observers.”
50 Top Italy presented the award to Piras and Del Favero at its Gran Gala della Cucina Italiana on December 12 and recognized an additional 49 top-quality Italian eateries around the globe.
In second position is Gucci Osteria Tokyo, owned by chef Antonio Iacoviello, who specializes in contemporary Italian cuisine. In third place in the ranking is a restaurant owned and operated by the Iaccarino family: Don Alfonso in Toronto, Canada, under chef Davide Ciavattella.
Taking fourth place is Da Vittorio Shanghai in China, the first restaurant opened by the Cerea family outside of Europe and guided by executive chef Stefano Bacchelli. Following them in fifth position is Il Ristorante—Luca Fantin in Tokyo, owned by Luca Fantin.

Jimmy Fallon clowned around with the kitchen staff in a visit to Rezdôra in November 2021. (Rezdôra / Instagram)
After U.S. contenders Fiola at No. 6 and Rezdôra at No. 7 comes Sesamo in Marrakech, Morocco, the No. 8 restaurant owned by the Alajmo family and led by Vania Ghedini. Closing out the top 10 are Il Lago in Geneva, under the direction of Massimiliano Sena, at No. 9 and Buona Terra in Singapore, owned Denis Lucchi, at No. 10.
At Fiola, Trabocchi spoils D.C. residents with dishes like tuna, capers and olives—a tribute to the island of Pantelleria—and a pasta dish with seafood and potatoes “that leaves its mark for the perfect balance between flavor and sweetness,” according to 50 Top Italy.
Rezdôra, meanwhile, fills the air of Manhattan’s Flatiron District with the aroma of fried gnocchi, cured meats and homemade pasta. “The result,” 50 Top Italy reports, “is a cheerful and rich cuisine, a gastronomic and cultural bridge that the chef embodies firsthand….Among the dishes, you can find Ravioli and Tortellini, Gramigna with sausage, Mezze Maniche with pesto, and Tagliolini with ragù.”
Click here for more information on all 50 restaurants that made the list.