20 Best Restaurants in Centro Storico, Naples

Every pizzeria along Via dei Tribunali is worth the long wait—and trust us, all the good ones will be jam-packed—but just one can claim to have served a U.S. president: Bill Clinton enjoyed a margherita here when the G8 was held in Naples in 1994. Today the superlative pizzaioli (pizza makers) turn out a wide array of pizzas, all to the utmost perfection. Skip the calorie-counting and try the frittura, and you'll be pleasantly surprised with this mix of Neapolitan-style tempura featuring zucchini, eggplant, rice balls, and more. 

Established in 1905, this Neapolitan institution on Spaccanapoli is a buzzy place to sample some of the finest pastries in town—plus it also makes classic savory dishes, ice cream, and mighty decent coffee.

Stop in for one of the best coffees in town opposite the Roman marble statue of Egyptian river god Nile and marvel at the Pop Art masterpiece homemade shrine to football giant Diego Maradona. Appropriately bearing the colors of Argentina's flag, Napoli's adopted hero is flanked by San Gennaro and Nuestra Senora de Lujan, a clipping from La Gazzetta dello Sport (Sports Gazette), and an ampoule containing tears from the fateful year (1991) when the champion left Naples and his team's winning streak promptly ended.

On a rather dark side street in the scruffier section of the Centro Storico, this place is well worth seeking out for its combination of old-style Neapolitan hospitality and attention to the quality of its food and wine. The place is run as a family affair, much like a typical Neapolitan household, and everyone who comes here seems to know each other. The pasta with chickpeas is a must, and baccalà fritto (fried salt cod) is a specialty. Backed up with a selection of wines from all over Italy, this place is a great value.

There are a few restaurants called Sorbillo along Via dei Tribunali; this is the one with the crowds waiting outside and is world-renowned. Order the same thing the locals come for: a basic Neapolitan pizza (try the unique pizza al pesto or the stunningly simple marinara—just tomatoes and oregano). They're cooked to perfection by the third generation of pie makers who run the place. The pizzas are enormous, flopping over the edge of the plate onto the white marble tabletops. Be warned though, you'll have to line up for a while, but an entrepreneuring local often entertains the crowds with Neapolitan songs from a balcony.

The premise of this innovative eatery is to weigh the delicacies diners choose from the adventurous buffet and charge by the pound. In recent times they have introduced a menu of fixed-price bowls, a Neapolitan variation of Hawaiian poke—the squisita (exquisite) includes rice, octopus, hummus, and cherry tomatoes, and there is also a vegan option. The open kitchen looks over a large communal high table with stools, and outdoor seating overlooks the throbbing Piazza Beliini.

This well-known trattoria–wine shop sees everyone from foodies to students and professors from the nearby university. The menu on the wall's blackboard changes daily, but there is always a good selection of pastas, meat, fish, and vegetable side dishes. Go for a plate of pasta e fagioli or octopus salad and fried anchovies with a carafe of a good local wine.

With a balanced array of mainly land-based cuisine, owner-manager Gaetano's unpretentious eatery attracts students and young professionals, mainly regulars from the school of medicine around the corner. It's busy and small (expect to share a table—and if your fellow diners are not shy, why should you be?), but the prices can't be beat and the daily selection of a good dozen vegetable side plates merits a detour of its own, even if you're not a vegetarian.

This restaurant's name translates roughly to "room of taste," but the tastes here are many and extend from the traditional to the gourmet and ultramodern. Start with the antipasto di pesce (seafood appetizer), experience the glory that is Naples in the gattò delle due Sicilie (cake of the two Sicilies; Sicilian eggplant with a cheese fondue and a pesto mustard), or bow to contemporary sensibilities with the menu vegetariano km zero (all local vegetables of the season). With its recycled chairs and tables and vintage-style ads outside, this place exhibits a strong but pleasing personality. The cheese-and-wine parlor downstairs has an easygoing ambience, while the room upstairs is more of a slow-food den.

As its name suggests, this gracious trattoria atop a flight of steps on a small side street near Naples's main university is popular with actors, but it manages to remain welcomingly low-key. Warmed with touches of wood, it prides itself on its fresh interpretations of Neapolitan classics: excellent salami, mozzarella, and frittura among the appetizers, cabbage soup fragrant with good beef stock, and meat and fish grilled over wood. Typical Neapolitan desserts, such as babas and the familiar crunchy almond cookies called quaresimali, are served with house-made liqueurs.

Opposite the Palazzo Croce, home to the philosopher and historian Benedetto Croce, this is one of the city's most famous pizzerias, packed night after night. The young crowd heads down into the more boisterous basement, while the atmosphere upstairs is calmer and more congenial to conversation at standard decibel levels. On the ground floor you can watch the pizzaioli working the pizza dough, manipulating each pie as if it were a live creation. If it's not too cold there are tables outside on the pedestrian zone.

Right on Piazza Gesù, this restaurant is a good place to sit outside, relax, and people-watch after a tour around Spaccanapoli. It caters to diverse palates and budgets: pizzas are served here at lunchtime. Alternatively, opt for the single dish linguine al coccio, combining pasta with locally caught fish.

Conveniently close to the archaeological museum, yet surprisingly off the tourist beat, this small eatery is patronized by professori from the nearby Academy of Fine Arts and theatergoers from the Teatro Bellini next door. A specialty here is the blend of seafood with vegetables—try the tubettoni con cozze e zucchini (tube-shape pasta with mussels and zucchini) or paccheri al baccalà (large pasta with codfish). If you prefer meat, try the brasato alla Genovese (onion and meat sauce). The service at Osteria is both swift and obliging, and they have one of the best wine lists in the city.

In a 17th-century mansion facing the grand Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, Palazzo Petrucci doesn't lack for dramatic settings for dining—under the vaulted ceiling of the former stables, near the pizzaiolo and oven action, outside in the piazza, or on the roof terrace at giuglia (obelisk) di San Domenico level. Expect classic pizze, pizze fritte, and some unusual topping combinations alongside heaped salads and antipasti.

A favorite haunt of students from the adjacent school of architecture, Giuliano has an old-style glass cabinet where the arancini are kept. These fried rice balls are the size of tennis balls, and you'll also find deep-fried pizzas, filled with mozzarella, tomato, prosciutto, or ricotta, which can fill that yawning void in your stomach—even if you have to sit down on the steps in the square afterward to recover.

Set on a proud perch on the corner of the chicly bohemian Piazza Bellini for more than 70 years, this spot is worth visiting just to observe the waiters, who all seem to have just stepped off the stage of a Neapolitan comedy. But if the neighborhood remains scruffy, this staple Neapolitan restaurant proudly retains its old-world feel. Good bets here include a fine (if rather small) pizza, and classic fish dishes such as linguine al cartoccio (baked in paper) or all'astice (a type of small lobster). Go up the narrow stairs to get to the spacious upper rooms, or squeeze in at one of the outside tables in summer.

This is the quintessential Neapolitan pastry shop. Although the coffee is top-of-the-line and the ice cream and pastries are quite good—including the specialty, the ministeriale, a pert chocolate cake with a rum-cream filling—it's the atmosphere that counts here. Nuns, punks, businesspeople, and housewives all commune in this unprepossessing yet remarkable space.

Come here to taste traditional Neapolitan ragù, a meat-based sauce generally served with pasta and prepared from cuts of beef and pork. At Tandem, local cervellatine sausages are included in the sauce. The young and enthusiastic staff keeps the mood lighthearted and fun. Enjoy your ragù with ziti spezzati (broken ziti pasta) and Parmesan cheese, and mop the sauce up with the celestial Neapolitan rustic bread. There is also a branch just off Piazza del Gesù.