Where to Eat in Genoa, Italy: Pesto, Focaccia & Classic Ligurian Food

Birthplace of pesto sauce and focaccia bread, Genoa is a fantastic place to experience the wonders of Ligurian cuisine, with strong culinary traditions and fresh ingredients from both land and sea. Read on for a guide to the best places to eat in Genoa as well as the best dishes to try.

Trattoria delle Grazie

This popular neighborhood trattoria is nothing short of exceptional. Their menu reads like a list of must-try Ligurian dishes: gnocchi al pesto (small potato dumplings with basil-based pesto), pansoti alla salsa di noci (Ligurian ravioli with a walnut sauce), coniglio alla ligure (braised rabbit with olives and pine nuts), and cappon magro (an elaborately presented seafood salad traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve). Ideally you’ll come with a group so you can get a taste of a wide variety of these delicious dishes—everything on the menu is fabulous. Pair it all with a bottle of house wine and finish off with something sweet—they have an amazing tiramisù.

The restaurant is cozy and intimate and is quite popular as well; they usually have two rounds of seating for dinner each night, so I recommend making a reservation in advance to make sure you don’t miss out on one of the best experiences in the city.

Bella Bu Bistrot

Housed in a 16th-century stable with vaulted brick ceilings, this atmospheric small plates restaurant is a local favorite and is another good place to try a variety of different dishes. Some standouts include the acciughe impanate e fritte (fried anchovies) and the trofiette al pesto, a hand-twisted Ligurian pasta shape with pesto. For dessert, try the canestrelli, flower-shaped butter cookies typical of Liguria, paired with a glass of passito, a sweet Italian dessert wine made from dried grapes.

I Tre Merli

Located in the lovely hilltop neighborhood of Castelletto, this is a real local spot that you won’t want to miss. The menu is handwritten on a chalkboard every day, and it offers a rotating cast of traditional Ligurian comfort food, from a steaming bowl of minestrone alla genovese (a hearty soup of vegetables, beans, and pasta) or buridda di seppie (Ligurian seafood stew) to a bright trofie al pesto. After you eat, be sure to take a stroll around the neighborhood, which is arguably the most charming in the city.

Confetteria Romanengo

Founded in 1780, Romanengo is the oldest candy shop in Italy, with an illustrious history of providing sweets to royal families around Europe. They are particularly famous for their exquisite candied fruits, plucked straight from the trees and bushes of Liguria, but they have a wide variety of sweets including delectable chocolates. The shop’s interior is as impressive as the candies themselves, designed to emulate the style of the high-end Parisian confectioneries of the early 19th century.

Cambi Cafè

Located among the sumptuous palaces that line Via Garibaldi, this cafe and restaurant is the perfect spot for an afternoon drink or an early evening aperitivo. I recommend a spritz—Aperol or Campari—and some small plates to go with it. If you’re on the hungrier side, they have excellent pastas as well.

Antica Osteria Ravecca

This is another great restaurant for Ligurian fare with wonderful housemade pastas. I recommend the raviolo antica Genova al tocco (ravioli with a traditional Genoese slow-cooked meat sauce) and the mandilli al pesto, made with a pasta shape meaning ‘silk handkerchiefs’ similar to the wide, flat sheets used to make lasagna.

As an aside, you’ll notice on the menus of all of these restaurants that the pesto is called pesto con basilico di Prà. Prà is a neighborhood in the west of the city which is considered to produce the best Genovese basil, so this name on the menu means that you are enjoying the most authentic production of pesto in the world.