In this column, we highlight the month’s new restaurant and wine bar openings throughout Italy. These aren’t reviews, but previews of venues that have recently opened or are about to open. It’s a snapshot of the sector’s vibrancy, featuring culinary innovations and new spots to enjoy a drink. Here are October’s new openings.
Despite the difficulties the restaurant industry continues to face, especially on the staffing front, the Italian scene remains vibrant, with numerous new openings ranging from gourmet restaurants to trattorias, from pizzerias to ethnic eateries.
The price range is also wide: it ranges from more affordable options featuring traditional cuisine and pizza to high-end restaurants, often located within luxury hotels. A restaurant’s success depends on many factors: from the experience of its management to the quality of the cuisine and the chef’s professionalism; from its location to the wine list (the latter being, for us, always a key factor). Only the public will decide which ones have hit the mark.
To you the pleasure of discovering new addresses: article is updated regularly with openings we learn about.
Column edited by Iolanda Maggio.
Rome: Palazzo Ripetta Unveils the New San Baylon
Starting October 15, the restaurant will move to the fourth floor of the hotel and open its doors to a completely redesigned space. Giving shape to the culinary evolution that began in 2024 with the arrival of the Executive Chef Christian Spalvieri. The intimate space and the now fully personalized cuisine define the project’s identity. Centered around the chef’s vision, the architecture, dining room, wine cellar, and bar all come together to create a refined dining experience. Precise, accessible, and free from unnecessary formality—where guests can choose from the à la carte menu or two tasting menus. Take a seat at the bar, or let their dinner unfold in the intimate setting of the dining tables.
Alongside the à la carte menu are the “Cinque Quarti” and “Sette Quarti” tasting menus. Whose names combine the number of courses. The fourth floor where the restaurant is located, and a reference to musical rhythms. The first menu captures the pleasure of recognizing a familiar flavor and being surprised by its new form. The second leads to a deeper exploration of the chef’s cuisine, following its shifts in rhythm and unexpected nuances.
SAN BAYLON RESTAURANT
Via di Ripetta, 232
00186 Rome
Tel. +39 06 3222381 sanbaylon@palazzoripetta.com
Open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
www.sanbaylon.com
Zeffirino Restaurant Opens at the Nolinski Venezia Hotel
In the heart of Venice, just a short walk from St. Mark’s Square, the Nolinski Venezia—a five-star hotel in the Evok collection—welcomes a new culinary icon. Zeffirino, the historic restaurant founded in Genoa in 1939. With this opening, the iconic Ligurian institution returns to its Italian roots while continuing its international expansion, bringing nearly a century of culinary heritage to one of the world’s most fascinating cities.
The arrival of Zeffirino at the Nolinski Venezia marks the coming together of two brands that share the same vision of hospitality: a celebration of excellence, elegance, and the art of living. Housed in the refined setting of the Nolinski Venezia—a five-star hotel in the Evok collection located in the former Venice Stock Exchange building, just a short walk from St. Mark’s Square and La Fenice Theater—Zeffirino unveils a new destination where Italian cuisine meets the sophisticated, timeless elegance of Venice.
Zeffirino Restaurant
Nolinski Venice
Calle Larga XXII Marzo, 2032
30124 Venice
Instagram
@zeffirino_venezia
www.zeffirino-restaurant.com
www.nolinskihotels.com
Villa Lenzi Comes Back to Life Through Luigi Salomone’s Cuisine
Luigi Salomone is opening his first restaurant in a 16th-century monastery. On October 8 in Cimitile (NA), the chef will inaugurate his personal project at Villa Lenzi. Three tasting menus, a custom-designed grill. And a 16th-century wood-fired oven Starting Thursday, October 8, the historic 16th-century monastery of San Francesco di Paola in Cimitile (NA), now known as Villa Lenzi, comes back to life through the cuisine of Luigi Salomone, who has chosen one of the region’s historic sites to launch his first business venture. And so, Luigi Salomone Restaurant, the new culinary venture by the chef from Campania who, after a career in fine dining, is bringing his own vision of cuisine and hospitality to life, alongside his partner and restaurant manager, Silvana Di Domenico.
The monastery’s old stables and cellar will be transformed into the gourmet restaurant, while the former refectory will be dedicated to events. The project, designed by architect Fabio Cioffi, gives the spaces of the 16th-century complex a new purpose through a careful restoration effort that preserves their architectural identity and historical legacy.
A place created for the community thus opens its doors to a new experience in hospitality, where Salomone’s cuisine serves as the meeting point between the region’s historical heritage and a new culinary destination in Campania.
Luigi Salomone Restaurant
Via San Francesco, 1 80030 Cimitile (NA)
Tel. +39 0815716707
https://www.instagram.com/luigi_salomone_chef/
Aalis, in Milan. A new neighborhood all-day bakery opens
There’s a place we all had as children: the one we went to in the morning for breakfast, returned to in the afternoon for a snack, and which was the last stop of the day before heading home. A ritual
Everyday moments that become memories—yet which, as adults, we continue to seek out. It is from this quest that AALIS was born: Milan’s new all-day bakery with a French flair, opening on September 26 at Via Nirone 19, between the Magenta neighborhood and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. The concept combines the spirit of a neighborhood café—serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, and brunch from opening until closing at 5:00 p.m.—with the distinctive identity of contemporary bakeries.
With 45 seats, AALIS is open every day from morning through afternoon, and its menu is organized around the different times of day: bread and pastries in the morning—croissants, pain au chocolat, pain suisse, babka, plus rotating seasonal creations—a brunch served continuously from opening to closing, hot and cold dishes for lunch, and baked goods and single-serving treats for an afternoon snack.
Aalis Bakery Milan
Via Nirone, 19
20123 Milan (MI)
Monday through Sunday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
@aalisbakery
