9 Best Restaurants in Sicily, Italy

This intimate Michelin-starred restaurant is a fantastic option if you are staying in Modica overnight. Forget the usual starchy tablecloths and formal service, this place is all about the food, with the chef cooking his own personal takes on classic Sicilian dishes, including options like trucioli pasta with cheese fondue, lemon, capers, and coffee; grilled lettuce with pork cheek, caviar, and walnuts; and cannoli with ricotta cheese and cotton candy for dessert. The €120 tasting menu comes very highly recommended, but for something more affordable, stop in for lunch to have a similar experience for €50, or consider Accursio Radici (which means Accursio Roots, the cheaper sister restaurant) a few doors down.

One of the most famous restaurants in Sicily, and one of only two on the island to have been awarded a second Michelin star, La Madia is a must-visit when you're here. Chef Pino Cuttaio is a legend within Sicily and beyond thanks to his incredible talent for creating unique dishes that fuse tradition and innovation, without ever losing sight of the kind of simplicity that allows the brilliance and flavors of first-rate Sicilian produce to shine. There are three tasting menus, as well as an à la carte menu.

The philosophy of this contemporary restaurant is to combine modern culinary techniques with the best seasonal products, and chef Salvo Campagna creates plates that are just that: modern, elegant, and fresh. The menu is strictly seasonal and includes a fascinating percorso, a seven-course tasting menu created by the chef from the best ingredients for €60.

Though this Michelin-starred restaurant is part of the Zash Country Boutique Hotel, it's worth a visit all on its own. Chef Giuseppe Raciti highlights the traditions and flavors of the area with a repertoire of elegant riffs that delight and surprise without overwhelming you with gimmicks. Located in a restored wine palmento, the traditional winemaking structure of Etna, the stone dining room looks over the surrounding citrus orchards whose scent wafts through the open windows. The owners, the Maugeri family, are winemakers, and naturally, you'll find their bottles on the wine list. But they are also wine lovers, and the roughly 70-page tome reflects that.  

For fine dining in Mondello, you can't go wrong with Charleston, a local institution where the dishes are of the highest quality and the white-gloved waiters offer impeccable service. Partly hidden behind a low white wall directly opposite the beach, the restaurant is an odd combination of the traditional and the contemporary, as the setting is stately and refined while the menu has the minimalist yet adventurous quality of cutting-edge cuisine. Despite the elegant setting, the mood is relaxed and authentic. The dishes, which use the finest ingredients to give a modern twist to Sicilian culinary traditions, are best sampled on one of the set-price menus, which include a multi-course tasting menu (€75). The involtini di pesce spada (swordfish wrapped with cheese, sultanas, and pine nuts) is a stand-out.

A native of Naples, Ciro Aragione has called Stromboli home since the 1990s. From his home, he cooks lunch for visitors to the island, usually a set menu of pasta and fish he's bought straight off the boats that morning. In addition to the home restaurant, really a long table on his terrace flanked by lemon and mandarin trees, he can arrange catered picnics for your boat excursions or beach days, and will deliver to you.

Open since 1979, this family-owned restaurant is now helmed by son Gaetano Nani whose cooking relies on the offerings of the sea. There is no regular menu—instead, he works with area fishermen to select the freshest fish and frutti di mare from the waters of the Panarea coast, which then informs that night's dishes. Expect fine dining tasting portions that showcase maximum territoriality. Oenophiles will revel in the wine list, which has over 1,000 different labels.

This Castelbuono institution has been preparing dishes with the finest local ingredients for over 30 years. Chef Giuseppe Carollo is dedicated to the products found in and around Castelbuono, including wild mushrooms, vegetables, and the sweet manna from the local ash trees.