The latest edition of the Michelin Guide for Italy will be out in a matter of days, but in the meantime, the names of the restaurants included in the Bib Gourmand category have been announced. This category presents restaurants that offer a pleasant gastronomic experience and a simple meal for less than € 32 (€ 35 in larger cities and in important tourist locations).
In the 2019 guide, there are 21 new Bib Gourmands, for a total of 257 restaurants scattered throughout Italy, in large cities as well as in small villages. The regions with the most Bib Gourmand are Emilia Romagna with 33, Piedmont with 29, Lombardy with 28, Tuscany with 27, and Veneto 24.
Here are some of the noteworthy new-entries. In Trentino, ‘Foresta’ is the restaurant of a hotel nestled in a fir forest near Moena (Trento), and it offers local traditional recipes cuisine with a good selection of wines, while in the ‘Aurora’ restaurant in Feltre (Belluno), the chef brought a modern and light cuisine in the classic rooms of the hotel. In Piedmont, ‘L’Accademia Ristorante’, in Casale Monferrato (Alessandria), is characterized by a modern cuisine in a historic palace, and in ‘La Pineta’, in Roccabruna (Cuneo), the famous Piedmontese ‘mixed fry’ is the flagship dish. In Emilia Romagna, the novelty is ‘Trattoria Ceriati’, in Salsomaggiore Terme (Parma), where the young owner proposes tasty local dishes next to recipes borrowed from the areas of Piacenza and Mantova. In Tuscany, in Montalcino (Siena), the pleasantly convivial atmosphere of the ‘Taverna del Grappolo Blu’ perfectly matches the flavors of the Tuscan tradition.
In the Marche region, ‘Burro e Alici’, in Marotta (Pesaro), offers a menu dedicated to the great tasty classics of the Adriatic cuisine. In Sicily, ‘Buatta Cucina Popolana’ located in the city center of Palermo, delights guests with octopus, sardines, and excellent desserts in an Art Nouveau style, once a historic shop.