The Best Seafood Near Prato Gaio, by the Record
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Rank 1. 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 2. 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 3. Antica Osteria del Mare
Mediterranean Seafood
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Rank 4. Langosteria
Seafood
Soft lighting, a soundtrack turned up just enough, and a crowd that dressed for it: Langosteria is a sleek seafood restaurant on via Savona that Milan has made very much its own. The menu leans classic without being predictable, and the raw fish selection shifts daily with the market. The wine list runs deep into serious labels, which fits the room. Bring someone you're trying to impress, or at least someone who won't flinch at the bill.
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Rank 5. Food Writers
Seafood
The oyster plateau arrives in three sizes and reads like a passport, with Italian, French, and Irish varieties arranged by origin. This is a seafood restaurant near San Siro, elegant enough to dress for, where the menu moves from raw shellfish to fire, the chef notably skilled on the grill. The tuna belly saltimbocca gives you a sense of how tradition gets handled here: with a light hand and a clear point of view.
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Rank 6. La Rosa dei Venti
Italian Seafood
A seafood trattoria where the menu is mostly a suggestion and the real action is whatever came off the truck that morning. The cooking pulls from Sardinia and broader Italian tradition, clean and unadorned. Regulars let the owner steer, which is the correct move. The roasted turbot with porcini and potatoes is about as fussy as it gets, and that tells you everything about the kitchen's general philosophy.
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Rank 7. Il Marin
Contemporary Seafood
The glazed walls open straight onto Genoa's Old Port, which makes the deliberately spare dining room feel like a sensible choice rather than an oversight. Il Marin is a Michelin-starred contemporary seafood restaurant where the kitchen leans hard into Ligurian waters, then complicates things with modern technique. Chef Marco Visciola finishes a spaghetti dish tableside like a bartender. Tasting menus run the show, though à la carte exists for the commitment-averse.
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Rank 8. 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 9. Olio
Italian Seafood
Olio sits inside The Box, a space that somehow combines vintage cars and contemporary art without feeling like a dare, surrounded by olive trees that make the setting look implausibly serene. The restaurant holds a Michelin star for seafood cooking that keeps its ambitions in check: traditional foundations, restrained creativity, and ingredients that do the heavy lifting. Lunch runs as a bistro; evenings shift into something more considered.
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Rank 10. 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 11. 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 12. Da ö Vittorio
Ligurian Seafood
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Rank 13. Voltalacarta
Modern Seafood
A tiny doorway on via Assarotti opens into a handful of tables, just enough to fill with regulars who called ahead. This intimate seafood restaurant in Genoa runs on the chef's instinct for pairing classic technique with unexpected combinations, with the focus almost entirely on whatever came off the boat. The cappon magro, a layered Ligurian seafood salad, has its own following. Book before you leave the house.
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Rank 14. Soho
Contemporary Seafood
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Rank 15. Santa Teresa
Seafood
Sitting near the alleged birthplace of Christopher Columbus, this seafood-forward trattoria is run by the Scala family, who also operate the well-regarded San Giorgio nearby. The menu leans on the market and the region, with cappon magro appearing often, though meat dishes get a careful, lightly modern treatment too. A covered outdoor terrace opens onto a pedestrian street, and the wine list handles itself well by the glass.
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Rank 16. Le Cicale in Città
Italian Seafood
Mirrors and silverware set the tone at this classic Genoese seafood restaurant, where the menu leans heavily on raw fish and whatever came off the boat. The mupa, a deep-water Mediterranean species most menus have never heard of, shows up here alongside prawns in season and handmade pasta with sauces that suggest someone's grandmother is involved. The table near the arte povera dresser at the back is the one to ask for.
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Rank 17. 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 18. Ippogrifo
Seafood
A seafood-forward restaurant near the Expo Fiera area with the kind of pressed-tablecloth formality that tells you the fish will be serious. The kitchen leans on classic Ligurian technique, so expect grilled whole fish, warm seafood salad, and fish braised with potatoes and Taggiasche olives rather than anything trying to surprise you. Meat exists on the menu, quietly, for the one person at the table who always orders it.
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Rank 19. Santamonica
Modern Seafood
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Rank 20. Teresa dal 1968
Modern Seafood
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Rank 21. Langosteria Paraggi
Mediterranean Seafood