5 Best Restaurants in The Veneto and Friuli–Venezia Giulia, Italy

The trusty Hostaria (open since 1954) has rustic fireside dining downstairs and more elegantly decorated rooms upstairs, where there's also an intimate terrace under the Duomo. It's a great place for sampling regional specialties such as orzotto (barley prepared like risotto), delicious cjalzòns (ravioli from the Carnia), and seasonal meat dishes, accompanied by a fabulous wine list. Service is pleasant and attentive.

Udine's very chic landmark restaurant is the one reserved most by locals for special occasions, and the menu features the freshest meat and fish in sophisticated dishes served with moodily lit culinary stagecraft. You might start with an antipasto of assorted raw shellfish, including the impossibly sweet Adriatic scampi, followed by the fresh fish of the day. Service is impeccable, as is the Friuli-focused wine list. Perhaps the best way to go is the multicourse tasting menu.

At this warm and sophisticated seafood place, going strong since 1966 near Piazza Unità d'Italia, you'll find exquisite dishes that honor the traditions of the Mancussi family. Although now run by the Leonardi family, Roberto Mancussi's culinary ethos remains: integrating nouvelle ingredients without overshadowing the freshness of whatever local fish he bought in the market that morning. Al Bagatto is renowned for its excellent wine cellar and a selection of distilled spirits from around the world.

This well-thought-of osteria-trattoria lands the freshest seafood and creates exquisite, beautifully presented plates; the chefs constantly delight with new things to try such as homemade spirulina grissini, unusual flavor combos, and vibrant garnishes. Dine in the rustic yet refined dining room with its exposed stone, wooden beams, and coved ceilings, or outside on the gorgeous terrace with piazza views. 

Adventurous foodies should book a table in this stylish blue-and-wood-accented dining room, located behind Treviso's Palazzo dei Trecento old meat market, for an experience that marries Trevigiano culinary traditions with contemporary elegance. The owner's parents, Alba and Ado, invented the famous dessert tiramisu in the 1960s, and the Beccherie, opened in 1939, still makes it to the original, feather-light recipe. Expect a varied seasonal menu, with lighter summer seafood and vegetable dishes such as calamarata (clams with cherry tomatoes) and scarola greens giving way to hearty risottos and meats, including lamb and game, in fall and winter.