9 Italian restaurants in Melbourne guaranteed to fuel your fire

With slick new openings, classic cucinas and masterful high-end dining, there’s a lot to love in Melbourne’s Italian restaurant world.

Melbourne has long loved its Italian restaurants. But times change. The city seemed to fall a little out of love. That’s life. It can happen. Sure, the top-end classics continued, and endless old-school pizza joints and ristorantes peppered the inner city to the outer burbs, but the buzz wasn’t there.

Then – suddenly – there was a flicker, a change. Was it the White Lotus effect? Perhaps all those Aussies roaming Rome, or wintering on the Amalfi Coast noticed what they’d been missing?

Whatever it was, new Italian restaurants have started opening and others are upping their game. Cacio e pepe is popping up everywhere, regional cuisine is having a moment and negroni sbagliato is on repeat order. Italian is back baby.

1. Studio Amaro

On a strip of Windsor’s Chapel Street heaving with bars and restaurants Studio Amaro’s cool Dean Martin vibe is all its own.

Studio Amaro has an intimate vibe. (Image: Julia Sansone)

Sunny by day, moody by night, its sleek design shines in retro shades of olive, burgundy and mustard, with a wall of Amaro bottles shimmering in the light. Amaro? That’s the bittersweet Italian herbal aperitivo or digestivo (post-dinner) liqueur. You’ll find around 50 varieties to sip solo or in a cocktail.

Dig into specialty Italian pasta at Studio Amaro. (Image: Julia Sansone)

Chef Daniel Migliaccio’s open kitchen is fired up. Scoop up the whipped ricotta with addictive house-made focaccia or indulge in a chunky curve of grilled pork and fennel sausage. Rigatoni arrabiata comes tomato-infused, chilli-laced and dotted with stracciatella. Mains are generous – saltimbocca, veal coteletta (cutlet), fish – with Italian flourishes.

Post-dinner, head downstairs where a DJ is spinning vinyl in a disco lounge. Cool indeed.

Indulge in decadent food at Studio Amaro. (Image: Julia Sansone)

2. Puttanesca Osteria

Famed chef and restaurateur Guy Grossi’s new osteria in Kew’s Clifton Hotel evokes a regional Italian eatery to a T. It sprawls across multiple rooms, with dark timbers, terrazzo floors, arched doorways and iconic film posters.

Pull up a stool at Puttanesca Osteria. (Image: Mark Chew)

Culinary classics stud the menu. If you’re just after spuntini (snacks), the crunchy mini arancini with melting saffron and mozzarella centres are a winner. Spaghetti puttanesca is richly coated with tomato, anchovies, capers and olives. Pillowy gnocchi floats in a simple Napoli sauce or order Mama’s beef meatballs. Pizzas are a standout with thin, crisp, charred bases.

Got pizza cravings? Puttanesca Osteria has you covered. (Image: Mark Chew)

For secondi Papa’s slow-cooked lamb with herbs and polenta is old-school home cooking. For dolce, can you go past the tiramisu? I don’t think so.

The menu at Puttanesca Osteria stands out. (Image: Mark Chew)

3. Luci

A fabulous space in the CBD – the Grand Hall of the former 1930s Equity Chambers Building – is home to Luci’s, where the polished marble, sculptural light fittings and clubby table settings are sleekly modern.

Luci is within the confines of the Grand Hall of the former 1930s Equity Chambers Building. (Image: Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street)

The menu is strongly Italian-inflected. For a simple lunch, consider upmarket focaccia (such as crispy pork cotoletta with burnt apple purée) and a glass of vino. For dinner, perhaps ribbons of pappardelle with a rich ragù, or fish with bagna cauda, a potent garlic and anchovy sauce.

The lemon myrtle panna cotta is subtle and luscious. Produce-driven, with discreet style and service, Luci has the polish of a Milanese restaurant.

Eat your way around the stellar menu at Luci’s. (Image: Kristoffer Paulsen)

4. Officina Gastronomica Italiana

In a ritzy pocket of Hawksburn, surrounded by designer fashion and breathtakingly expensive baby boutiques, Officina Gastronomica Italiana (OGI) is the full-on Italian cafe/enoteca – more Roman than the Romans.

Step into the rustic Italian cafe at Officina Gastronomica Italiana. (Image: @HiSylvia)

Low-key and laid-back but lively all at once. Rustic interior – stripped-back brick, hard-edge timber stools – and a little bit of theatre from the Italian waiters. Start with a full breakfast or just caffé e biscotti.

Dine al fresco for a change of scenery. (Image: @HiSylvia)

Fresh panini, house-made pasta and salads are for lunch. Red spaghetti with rock lobster, Nonna’s meatballs, or pumpkin ravioli with truffled ricotta are dinner stars. It seems modest, but it’s super fresh and confidently cooked.

Officina Gastronomica Italiana has perfected its pasta dishes. (Image: @HiSylvia)

The wine focus is Emilia-Romagna–focused and artisanal. The courtyard (even more rustic) is fun. Book – the locals love it, as well they might.

Choose from an array of wines on display. (Image: @HiSylvia)

5. Al Dente Enoteca

Al Dente is an elegant and stylishly modern space with generously spaced tables, though the second dining room is for those who like to be a little more cheek-to-jowl. Pasta is definitely a thing here. Hard to go past the saffron pasta, while tortelloni cacio e pepe is a signature dish, but Al Dente is so much more besides.

Devour elegant dishes at Al Dente Enoteca.

Chef/owners Andrea Vignali and Davide Bonadiman focus on fresh, seasonal and local but then riff on regional Italian dishes before peppering the menu with dishes from left field (kangaroo tartare with mustard, capers and applewood smoke, anyone?).

The exquisitely fresh burrata is teamed with heirloom beetroot, cashews and merlot vinegar. Victorian aged duck comes with Kakadu plum. It’s clever and cleverly done. Interesting wines and lovely staff.

The dishes are out of left field, but worth going back for.

6. Di Stasio

Take your pick – the original in St Kilda, the cool Carlton iteration or the modish Spring Street version. Di Stasio restaurants set the bar high (and they’re costly).

Wherever you are, you’ll be hoping Ronnie (Di Stasio) drops in to add a little star power.  Di Stasio St Kilda is the old school original, having burnished its food and service credentials over decades. Its menu is classic, high-end Italian. This is the big night out. Start the evening with a martini in the long narrow bar.

Di Stasio Pizzeria in Carlton is younger, even a little hip, with its pasta/pizza menu (the pizzas are brilliant by the way). The leafy, sculpture-studded courtyard is a hidden gem.

Di Stasio Città is the arty, Milan-channelling, hard-edge city outpost in Spring Street. It’s über-chic. No surprises in the menu but it’s all faultlessly executed.

7. Alta Trattoria

If you’re not familiar with Piedmont food from the north-west region of Italy, this is your moment. Alta Trattoria is resolutely understated with white tablecloths, simple chairs and quality glassware – just as it might be in Italy.

Piedmontese favourites feature on the menu… anchovies, vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce, originally from this region) and rabbit, all expertly prepared and precision plated. The pasta here is exceptional. You must try the tajarin – a thin ribbon, egg-rich pasta, perfectly done. The Piedmont region is famed for its wines, and they shine on the well-chosen list.

8. Figlia

A new offshoot of Melbourne’s famed pizza royalty Tipo 00 (almost impossible to get a booking there), Figlia has plenty of knockout sourdough pizzas on the list. They really are bubbly and charred, light and loaded with excellent, though sometimes unexpected, toppings. Think wild boar sausage or cavolo nero with stracciatella and fermented cabbage.

Dine on unexpected pizzas at Figlia. (Image: Kristoffer Paulsen)

Don’t underestimate the rest of the menu though. You could make a meal of the stuzzichini (snacks) and antipasti. Crispy little cacio e pepe arancini, roasted carrots with mascarpone, octopus skewers, fresh oysters, polenta focaccia… why not order everything?

Nab a spot at Figlia.

If you’re feeling ravenous, secondi might include a whole fish or hearty wagyu steak. The fit-out treads between wine bar, bentwood-chair bistro and low-key industrial, but is definitely welcoming. It also has an Italian-leaning wine list, including carafes.

Figlia offers an overwhelming choice of pizzas. (Image: Kristoffer Paulsen)

9. Bar Idda

Well before White Lotus alerted many to the charms of Sicily, Bar Idda was flying the flag in its cute corner store in Brunswick. This cosy, family-style trattoria continues to nail its Sicilian menu with food that feels genuinely cucina casalinga.

Bar Idda is a family-style trattoria in Melbourne.

From the juicy green Sicilian olives and crunchy arancini to twirly pasta with a slow-cooked beef and pork ragù, you feel in safe hands. There’s fresh fish, of course, and meatballs with that particular Arab influence of pine nuts, currants and cinnamon that weaves through Sicilian cuisine.

The salad with chicory, celery and sultana is a must. Nonna would never let you leave without dolce, so order up. A tiramisu-flavoured cannolo (or two) is possibly the way to go. Sicilian wines are on the list.

Don’t forget to try their slow-cooked lamb called Agneddu.