Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Let's be honest: you really want a traditional Neapolitan dinner against the backdrop of Vesuvius with a great show of Neapolitan love songs to get you crying into your limoncello liqueur. There's no reason to feel guilty, because even the natives love to get into the spirit. But listening to someone warble "Santa Lucia" while feasting on a pizza Margherita from a table overlooking the bay is just one example of the many pleasures awaiting diners in Naples.
As the birthplace of pizza, Naples prides itself on its vast selection of pizzerias, the most famous of which—Da Michele (where Julia Roberts filmed her pizza scene in Eat Pray Love) or Sorbillo—deserve the designation of "incomparable." Many Neapolitans make lunch their big meal of the day, and then have a pizza for supper.
This café is beloved not only for its excellent coffee but also for its beautiful cakes—concoctions of cream, chocolate, and fruit whose swirls of color make them look like abstract Expressionist paintings. There's also a lunch menu.
A hidden gem in the Quartieri Spagnoli, A Pignata is a favorite with locals for its typical Neapolitan cooking. Each antipasto of land and sea is a meal in itself, but save space for the grilled calamari or involtini di cotica di maiale, rolled pork rind stuffed with garlic, parsley, pine nuts, and sultanas. Wash it all down with a bottle from the extensive wine list.
The classic address for sfogliatelle is Pintauro, which rarely disappoints. Try one of these fresh from the back-room oven.
A favorite haunt of students from the adjacent school of architecture, Giuliano has an old-style glass cabinet where it keeps the arancini (fried rice concoctions the size of tennis balls). You'll also find deep-fried pizzas, which are filled with mozzarella, tomato, prosciutto, or ricotta and can truly fill that yawning void in your stomach—though you have to sit down on the steps in the square afterward to recover.
This century-old pasticceria is famed for its fiocco di neve (snowflake), a delicious pastry ball filled with cream and ricotta cheese, created in 2015. Chocolate and pistachio are among the recommended variations.
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. Here, local cervellatine sausages are included in the sauce, and the young, 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 are outdoor tables, and also branches off Piazza del Gesù and in Vomero.
This family-run trattoria exudes a calm, relaxed atmosphere, offering traditional Neapolitan dishes without fuss or ostentation. Try the excellent fish or the pasta dishes, which are cooked with a light, modern touch, especially those with verdure (fresh leafy vegetables) or with patate con la provola (potatoes and smoked mozzarella). Close to Teatro San Carlo and aptly decorated with playbills and theatrical memorabilia, both ancient and modern, this is an excellent place to stop after a visit to the opera house. Look for the entrance almost immediately on the right as you go up Via Nardones from Piazza Trieste e Trento; ring the bell outside to be let in.
Just 50 yards from the main Capodimonte gate, this no-nonsense eatery is favored by locals as well as day-trippers to the park and museum. The friendly owners will talk you through the day's specialties, and there's an inexpensive lunchtime set menu. Fish is a favorite, with fried calamari and alici always available.
Across the street from its archrival Da Michele—but without the lines stretching outside—this is a classic pizzeria with a simple yet upscale Art Nouveau ambience expressed in soothing tile and marble. More relaxed and upscale than its competitor, Trianon does the classics (Margherita, marinara) in an exemplary manner, but you can also feast on pizza with sausage and broccoli (friarielli). The signature pizza Trianon comes with eight different toppings.
Right outside the Museo Archeologico, this handy lunch stop offers a vegan and vegetarian menu that will appeal to all tastes and dietary preferences. Arched and airy, with white walls, a stone-tiled floor and a profusion of houseplants, the restaurant offers a range of dishes including soups, salads, pizzas, and pastas and has an agreeable air of chat and low-level bustle. Watch out, though, for the elevated prices for the extras.
