Italian food has never been static, but the pace of change right now is hard to ignore. Venice is in the middle of a hotel boom that’s quietly reshaping where and how you’ll eat. The Dolomites are gearing up for the Winter Olympics, which means alpine kitchens are reaching higher than ever. And on the Amalfi Coast, the same timeless ingredients — lemons, anchovies, handmade pasta — are getting fresh attention thanks to new travel connections and a return to elemental cooking. Here’s what I think is worth knowing before you go.
Venice Is Getting a Dining Reboot — and the Timing Matters
Venice has always had a complicated relationship with its own food scene. Tourists fill the piazza restaurants, but the real cooking has stayed tucked away in neighborhoods like Cannaregio, where places like Vini da Gigio quietly reimagine lagoon cuisine without fanfare. What’s changing now is the scale of investment. By 2026, high-profile hotel brands including Orient Express, Cheval Blanc, Rosewood, and Airelles are set to open in the city, and each one brings a serious restaurant component. That kind of luxury influx tends to elevate dining standards across the board, but it also pushes prices up.
Cannaregio is the neighborhood I’d watch most closely. It has an independent spirit that’s held firm even as Venice gets more expensive. The Orient Express is opening at Palazzo Donà Giovannelli right nearby, and that kind of anchor tends to draw more interesting chefs into the area rather than just chain concepts. Over on Giudecca, the Airelles Venezia is opening near the Belmond Hotel Cipriani, which already sets a high bar. If you want to experience Venice before the full wave of openings hits, the winter months — November through February — offer a slower pace and much easier reservations at the places that matter.
The Dolomites Are Having a Moment Before the World Arrives
Cortina is hosting the Winter Olympic Games in February 2026, and the ripple effect on the region’s food scene is already visible. Hotels are refining their mountain kitchens, and chefs are pushing alpine cooking beyond the predictable. The regional identity here is built on buckwheat, speck, and mountain cheeses — ingredients that have been around for centuries — but the techniques are getting modern. Some chefs are even drawing inspiration from cuisines outside the Italian Alps, which makes for surprising menus in a landscape that already feels dramatic.
Visit before the Games if you can. February offers those electric-pink sunset views over snow-covered peaks, and the restaurants are less crowded now than they’ll be once the post-Olympics tourism bump arrives. Summer gives you longer hiking days and a wider variety of fresh produce, but winter is when the alpine kitchen really shows off.
Forestis, known for its wellness program and Michelin Keys, and De Len in Cortina, a cozy mountain retreat, are two places where the food matches the setting. If you’re traveling with my family’s kind of curiosity — wanting to understand a place through what grows and gets raised there — the Dolomites deliver something the coast can’t: a cuisine shaped by altitude, short growing seasons, and a tradition of preserving everything from speck to mountain herbs.
Amalfi Coast: What’s New, What’s Classic, and What’s Worth the Hype
The Amalfi Coast is the region where trends and tradition sit at the same table. A new Belmond train service starting in May offers a more elegant arrival, which means more visitors with higher expectations for what they eat. But the real story is simpler. Chefs here are leaning back into the ingredients that made the coast famous — fresh anchovies, Sfusato Amalfitano lemons, handmade pasta — and letting the quality speak for itself. May and late September are the sweet spots for visiting, when the produce is at its peak and the crowds haven’t hit full summer intensity.
The Dishes You’ll Actually Remember
Start with scialatielli ai frutti di mare. It’s a thick, hand-cut pasta ribbon, shorter than fettuccine, served with clams, mussels, shrimp, and squid in olive oil, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and white wine. The pasta was invented in Amalfi by a chef named Cosentino, and it’s the kind of dish that makes you wonder why all pasta isn’t made this way. You’ll find it at Ristorante Lo Smeraldino in Amalfi, where a takeaway portion runs about €18.
Then there’s delizia al limone, a dessert that sounds simple — lemon-soaked sponge cake with lemon cream and lemon glaze — but tastes like the coast distilled into a single bite. The best version I’ve heard about comes from Sal De Riso in Minori, at Via Roma, 80, where it costs around €5. Pasticceria Sal De Riso and Pasticceria Pansa in Amalfi are both worth a stop if you’re doing a pastry crawl.
Alici di Cetara deserve their own mention. These hand-caught anchovies from the fishing village of Cetara are preserved in salt or transformed into colatura di alici, a savory amber sauce that adds umami to pasta in a way that’s hard to replicate with anything else. Spaghetti or linguine with colatura is a must-order if you see it on a menu.
Ndunderi di Minori are another UNESCO-recognized pasta shape — dumplings made from fresh ricotta and flour, soft and slightly tangy, served with tomato sauce and basil or baked under mozzarella. They date back to ancient Roman times, which is a humbling thought while you’re eating them.
Street Food and Markets: Where the Real Eating Happens
The street food scene on the Amalfi Coast is better than most visitors realize. In Positano, the cuoppo di mare — a paper cone of mixed fried seafood — from Friggitoria Positano on Via del Brigantino, 7, costs around €15. Arrive before noon to avoid the line. In Amalfi town, a pizza a portafoglio (folded pizza to go) runs €3–5 and makes a perfect quick lunch near Piazza Duomo.
For something sweet, the sfogliatella riccia from Pasticceria Leone in Ravello’s Piazza Duomo, 10, costs about €3. It’s a layered shell pastry with cream and cherry topping that originated at the Santa Rosa da Lima Monastery in Conca dei Marini. Find a bench overlooking the coastline and eat it there.
Markets are worth planning around. Amalfi holds a weekly farmers market on Wednesdays from 9:00 to 11:00 AM. Maiori’s runs Tuesday mornings. The Mercato Comunale in Amalfi is open daily from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM and carries seafood, cheeses, cured meats, and pasta — ideal for picnic supplies. If you’re visiting in summer, weekend night markets in Positano and Amalfi sell street food, crafts, and souvenirs along the main beach or town centers. Cash is still king at these stalls, so carry small denominations.
Casual lunch on the Amalfi Coast runs about €15–25 per person. Dinner at a good restaurant lands closer to €30–50. Gelato runs €3–5 per scoop. Limoncello as a souvenir costs €15–30 for a decent bottle. These estimates come from local dining guides and match what I’ve seen on recent trips.
What to Bring Home from the Coast
The Amalfi Coast is one of those places where the souvenirs are edible, which is my favorite kind. Limoncello is the obvious choice, and you can find it everywhere, but the quality varies wildly. Antichi Sapori d’Amalfi is a family-run factory that offers guided tours and tastings, and their limoncello is leagues above the supermarket stuff. Colatura di alici — the anchovy sauce from Cetara — is less common as a souvenir but more rewarding if you cook pasta at home. Artisanal dried pasta, local cheeses like caciocavallo and provolone, and torrone (nougat with almonds and honey) all pack well and don’t require refrigeration.
If you want to take something home that isn’t just a bottle, half-day cooking classes in Ravello or Positano run about €150–200 per person and include ingredients and a meal. You’ll learn to make scialatielli or ndunderi by hand, and that skill travels better than any souvenir.
Eating Your Way Through Italy’s Evolving Food Scene
What I find most interesting about Italian food right now isn’t any single dish or restaurant opening. It’s how each region is responding to change in its own way — Venice by layering luxury over tradition, the Dolomites by modernizing alpine cooking without losing its identity, and the Amalfi Coast by doubling down on the elemental ingredients that made it famous in the first place. The trends worth knowing before you pack aren’t about chasing what’s new. They’re about understanding what’s shifting underneath the surface, and timing your trip to catch it at its best. If you’re planning a deeper dive into the Amalfi Coast, this road trip itinerary covers the coastal route I keep coming back to.
Sources and further reading
The Lazy Italian. “Seven Dishes to Try on the Amalfi Coast.” 🔗
Explored by Marta. “Foods on the Amalfi Coast, Italy.” 🔗
The Tour Guy. “Foods to Try in the Amalfi Coast & Where to Eat Them.” 🔗
Family Travel Path. “Amalfi Street Food & Markets Guide.” 🔗
Related reading on Emily in Italy
10 Best Things to Do on the Amalfi Coast with Kids — practical stops and beach-friendly spots that kept everyone happy on our family trip.
The Coastal Overlook Bench Above Conca dei Marini Faces West on Purpose — why this particular bench is worth finding, especially for sunset.
A Boutique Stay in Scala Watches the Whole Valley Fall Asleep — a quieter base above Amalfi town that changes how you experience the coast.