The Best Seafood Near Locanda Cacciatori, by the Record
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Rank 1. Sant’Agostino
Seafood
A deconsecrated church and its cloister form the backdrop for this contemporary restaurant in Piacenza, where the terrace alone earns the reservation. The chef describes himself as a meat person, which makes it quietly amusing that the seafood is what stops conversation: a fish soup loaded with crustaceans, mussels, and cuttlefish that arrives tasting like someone meant it. Book outside when the weather cooperates.
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Rank 2. Trattoria la Colonna
Traditional Seafood
A trattoria on the main road through San Nicolò that has built its reputation almost entirely on fish, which is an unlikely move this far inland in Emilia-Romagna. The dining room was recently done up, though the cooking stays traditional. Weekday lunches lean simpler; evenings open into a longer menu if you ask. Sunday winters bring a full meat feast, from anolini in broth to boiled meats, that the regulars have clearly memorized.
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Rank 3. Meltemi
Seafood
A small seafood trattoria on a quiet piazzale, with a terrace that earns its keep on warm evenings. The kitchen leans hard into fish in every form, raw and cooked, with homemade pasta pulling its weight alongside the main plates. The sparkling wine list, mostly Italian with some Champagne threaded in, is available by the glass, which in Parma, a city that lives for its cured meats, feels like a quiet act of rebellion.
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Rank 4. Cracco Portofino
Contemporary Seafood
Carlo Cracco's fine dining outpost sits right on the harbor in one of the world's most photographed villages, in a room that once held the legendary Il Pitosforo. The kitchen leans into Ligurian ingredients, many from a mountain garden nearby, with an unusual cold-aging setup for fish. Tasting menus run seven or eleven courses. The terrace, open evenings in good weather, has the kind of view that makes you order another glass. It holds a Michelin star.
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Rank 5. San Martino
Seafood
The cheese trolley arrives like a minor ceremony, and the seafood plateau before it is the kind of thing that makes the table go quiet. San Martino is a grand, old-school fine dining restaurant holding a Michelin star, where the front of house knows every guest's name before they've sat down and the chef moves between classic house dishes and newer plates without breaking a sweat. The wine list leans heavily French, with serious bottles available by the glass.
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Rank 6. Da Felice
Ligurian Seafood
Brandacujun, the old Ligurian salt-cod-and-potato mash, is as good a reason as any to find your way to this family-run seafood trattoria on the coast road near Chiavari's waterfront. The kitchen leans into the region without apology, and in summer the tables move outside so you can eat calamari grilled on a stone slab with a sea breeze doing its thing. The Michelin Guide awards it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks.
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Rank 7. Raieü
Ligurian Seafood
A trattoria in a tight Ligurian seaside village that started life as a fishing-net warehouse, and hasn't tried very hard to forget it. The room is simple and old-school, with tables outside on a characteristically narrow street. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand for the kind of generous, unfussy seafood cooking that's been arriving from the kitchen for generations: fish soup a permanent fixture, fish tartare turning heads lately.
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Rank 8. Mamma Rosa
Mediterranean Seafood
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Rank 9. Il Salotto Atelier Gourmet
Mediterranean Seafood
Large windows that open onto the Rapallo promenade in summer set the tone at this seafood restaurant inside a small seafront hotel. The room is intimate and softly lit, the kind of place where the service is quiet and unhurried without being invisible. The kitchen lets the fish and seafood speak, keeping preparations clean enough that the ingredients do the persuading. A sensible choice when you want the Ligurian coast on a plate without a lot of theatre around it.
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Rank 10. Da ö Vittorio
Ligurian Seafood
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Rank 11. Langosteria Paraggi
Mediterranean Seafood
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Rank 12. La Filanda
Modern Seafood
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Rank 13. Antica Osteria del Mare
Mediterranean Seafood