The best restaurants Basilicata

A typical café-restaurant in the lower part of the village, where the villagers meet. The small room with exposed stone walls, decorated with old working tools from the peasant world, announces a meal in the Lucanian rural tradition. In front of a hunting trophy that is accompanied by a picture of the pope, one can enjoy an authentic and generous cuisine, where quality products are not bothered by the superfluous. Special mention for the lamb, melting and deliciously accompanied by vegetables in olive oil

Chef Gigi Sanrocco is uncompromising: all products must be fresh and purchased the same day before they reach your plate! Proud to have had Mel Gibson at his table, he dedicated a recipe to him: fettucine alla Campagnola, with broad beans, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. Other specialties of this cuisine inspired by family tradition: braciole al ragù con polpette (chops and meatballs),agnello al cutturiello (lamb), or cardoncelli della passione (a pie made from a plant that grows in the Murge).

A sure value, a typical restaurant with good traditional dishes and quality local products. The antipasti are a must in the house: copious and varied, made up of local cheeses and cold cuts, grilled vegetables and small custards, they could be self-sufficient! Good pastais also a treat for everyone. A generous and comforting cuisine. It feels like home and the welcome is charming!

It's the best pizzeria in town, in a modest setting and with ridiculously low prices! The dough is light and very digestible, filled with quality ingredients. The menu offers a wide choice of pizzas and focacce, from the classic margherita to the original pizza with baccalà and peperoni cruschi (crispy sweet peppers). Very well located, just in front of the castle, this address allows you to be bathed in the warm atmosphere of the Venosian evenings. The efficient service and the extremely welcoming and friendly staff will win you over.

Situated in a district built after the 1964 earthquake, this address is packed every noon, bringing together regulars, businessmen and workers from the surrounding area. The festivities begin with a buffet of deliciously prepared local products, followed by a pasta appetizer, and conclude with the main course of one's choice. The food is very good and copious. Beyond the quality of the products and their delicate preparation, one is really seduced by its local atmosphere, lively and warm.

The only restaurant (not trattoria) of Castelmezzano! Its creative menu and leader who participated in the 2015 Expo in Milan attracted the curious. Small advice: if you have trouble choosing, order cavatelli with sausage on a bean cream, or the black pig cooked at low temperature with lemon scented potatoes and chicory, and dessert, cold cream cream with wild fennel seeds and ficotto di Pisticci (juice obtained from an endemic variety of figs in the Metaponto region).

Maratea's famous and chic restaurant, especially for its beautiful terrace overlooking the tourist port (it is quite small: plan to book a table there in the summer!). It is in this romantic setting that you can enjoy excellent seafood-based cuisine. The tartars are very good, as well as the antipasti which allow you to pick among various specialities. In addition, the staff is charming! A sure value as far as the quality of the food and the atmosphere are concerned, a little less as far as the wallet is concerned ..

A simple restaurant-pizzeria, very popular with locals and with a warm family atmosphere. Varied and typical cuisine of pasta, fish and meat, but also a menu dedicated to vegetarians. The menu is very extensive; to get a glimpse of the local culinary traditions, one should preferably turn to the suggestions of primi and secondi lucani: pasta with chickpeas, cime di rapa, lamb and pork meats, baccalà with crushed peperoni (fried and crispy sweet peppers). The establishment also has a pizzeria.

Here, the clientele is popular and the address is recommended by the locals. One is welcomed in a good mood, either in the informal room or on the flowered terrace from where one can admire the sunset at dinner time. The cuisine is mainly based on fresh seafood. Everything is tasty and served in generous portions, from antipasti to fried fish, spaghetti with vongole and linguine with cuttlefish ink. The white wine of the house, a falanghina, is very pleasant.

For many, the pizzas in this osteria, prepared the old-fashioned way without yeast, are the best in town. Here, it's a family affair: daddy with the pizza and Graziano, the son, back from France, in the dining room. The restaurant's policy is to satisfy its customers by offering quality food at reasonable prices. A success, the products are good, the antipasti and pasta dishes are copious and the note is not very salty. The terrace is always full, but we advise you to go and see if the table at the back of the restaurant is free.

Huge variety of piadina, crescioni and piadapizza! The team is nice and prepares the order before you. Good concept and a successful break!

This restaurant, carved in the stone of the sassi, is located in the historical center and is accessible from the central square (Piazza Vittorio Veneto), or directly from the sassi. At the stove, Iolanda Cellani offers typical Basilicata cuisine and also pizzas. Don't hesitate to try the homemade pasta dishes, such as orecchiette al tegamino (cooked in a clay dish with tomatoes, mozzarella and sausage meat) or the cavatelli integrali. The great plus of this restaurant is its terrace overlooking the Sasso Barisano.

Upstream of the Sasso Barisano, an ideally located restaurant with a large and pleasant terrace, surrounded by the sassi. The welcome is really warm. A la carte, traditional dishes of Lucanian and peasant cuisine, such as cavatelli with tomato and cacioricotta and bean purée with chicory, but also various suggestions of fresh seafood. To try: the great sea antipasto to share and the crudo di mare. An address that reveals with surprise tasty dishes recommended by the locals.

A perfect stopover for a quick lunch while strolling through the Sasso Caveoso. This small artisan bakery offers excellent focacce with tomato, olives, potatoes or zucchini, the famous IGP Matera bread, calzone and puff pastry, as well as some specialities, such as a good onion tart. Almond biscuits and sweet and savoury taralli are also tasty. Four tables in front to enjoy the sun.

Located on the outskirts of Venosa, this is the restaurant of the hotel of the same name. It is frequented by a local clientele of regulars. The place is lively and renowned, and the staff who welcome you are very professional. It offers a refined traditional cuisine, made with local and seasonal products. In the evening, the restaurant also serves pizzas cooked over a wood fire. Large covered terrace in good weather. You can also take advantage of the hotel bar and its small lounge for an aperitif before a meal or a coffee to digest.

Two passionate brothers, Pietro and Domenico, welcome you in a friendly setting with a typical Lucanian cuisine, presented with research and gourmet delicacy. The surprise is there, the associations sometimes surprising, but always in the respect of the product, rigorously at mile zero. Orecchiette, potato ravioli, mashed beans and chicory, everything is tasty! Nice selection of wines. Don't miss the tasty panna cotta with caramelized peppers: an unexpected combination!

This is one of the best places to eat in Melfi. It looks like a private home, but it is a restaurant. In a sober and refined setting, you will discover a local cuisine revisited by the chef Michele Sonnessa. Beautifully balanced plates, both visually and in terms of flavor combinations. The lamb chops (local) are succulent, as are the pork cheeks, the salmon filet, the mushroom cavatelli and the desserts! Nice wine selection and friendly staff.

Near the main street, this discreet address in Aliano offers simple and unpretentious traditional cuisine concocted by the smiling hostess. On the menu are plates of local cold cuts, pasta dishes such as cavatelli with breadcrumbs and peperoni cruschi and meat secondi . A welcoming room with exposed stone walls decorated with reproductions of works by Carlo Levi. In the cantina at the back there are some good Basilicata wines to accompany the meal. Good value for money.

In the heart of the Sasso Barisano, this restaurant-pizzeria is committed to keeping Lucanian culinary traditions alive. The dishes of the peasant culture are cooked with generosity and simplicity, using local raw materials. The pizzas are also very good. To try: the coccio La Cola Cola, made of lamb and sausages simmered with tomatoes and mushrooms. In the summer, you can enjoy the terrace with a view of the sassi; for cooler evenings, you can sit in the troglodytic rooms of the establishment.

A reference on the local culinary scene. In this gourmet restaurant, local products are carefully selected and cooked to perfection. The selection of antipasti offers a panorama of Lucanian specialties. The tagliata of vitello podolico (a local cattle breed) will be one of the best culinary memories of your stay. Next door, the café-bistro L'Abbondanza Lucana offers a more modest price and a smaller menu, but it is the same cuisine and the same quality.