Local guide
Eat & drink
Photo © Stella, CC BY-SA 4.0
Curated picks coming soon.
28 placesNearest first
See them all on the map4min walk
Pizzeria€€
Meditè
The closest pizza to the house — four minutes on foot along the Riviera Dionisio il Grande, for the evening that needs no car and no plan.
7min walk
Bar€€
Àreus
Seven minutes from the house, right on the Sbarcadero quay: you go down for a drink facing the boats and often end up eating there and going no further.
10min walk
Street food€
Il Panino di Notte
A late-night panini kiosk on Viale Regina Margherita: the stop for walking home from Ortigia still hungry — you find it by the knot of people around it.
11min walk
Restaurant€
Caseificio Borderi
The market counter where the sandwiches are built by hand in front of you, one layer at a time, while someone passes you a piece of cheese to try. There is a queue, and it is worth it.
Order the il panino del BorderiCash is safer
11min walk
Restaurant€€
Fratelli Burgio
A shop with a few tables at the end of the market: Sicilian salumi, cheeses and preserves, and a board to share outside with a glass of white. The other side of the market — the one with a chair.
Order the il tagliere di formaggi e salumi
11min walk
Street food€
Paninoteca da Antonio e Daniele
Properly built panini on the harbour side, in Via Senatore Moscuzza: order at the counter, wait through a bit of chat, then eat walking down towards the water.
12min walk
Pizzeria€
L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele
The historic Naples pizzeria landed in Ortigia, on the harbour front: high, blistered dough, tomato and mozzarella and nothing else. It is not Sicilian pizza, and that is exactly the point.
Order the la marinara o la margherita
12min walk
Pasticceria€
Nuova Dolceria
A pasticceria on Corso Umberto, right on the way to the Ortigia bridge: cannoli filled to order, almond pastries and cassatelle to carry home.
13min walk
Bar€
Bar Milk and Coffee
A café-bar on Corso Gelone, the shopping street: espresso at the counter and a quick breakfast if you are heading down into town anyway.
13min walk
Restaurant€
Cappuccio Pesce Fresco
A fishmonger that cooks its own fish: order at the counter, sit wherever there is room, and it arrives fried or grilled and very fresh. No service and no toilet — you come for the fish.
Order the la frittura del giorno
14min walk
Pasticceria€
Bar Drago
Rosticceria, pastries and granita a quarter of an hour from the house: you go in for a mid-morning arancino and come out with lemon granita and a tray of sweets.
Order the arancino, granita al limone
15min walk
Pizzeria€€
Era Ora Ortigia
Guide-listed pizza — 50 Top Pizza and Gambero Rosso — on Riva Garibaldi where Ortigia begins: long-fermented dough, Sicilian toppings and the harbour basin in front of you.
Order the pizza a lunga lievitazione
15min walk
Pizzeria€€
Fly City
Neighbourhood pizza in the Via Baranzini area, behind Viale Teocrito: more a takeaway address than an evening out, for nights you would rather eat at home.
17min walk
Pizzeria€€
Siculish
A pizzeria on Viale Teocrito, on the modern side of town: handy after an afternoon at Neapolis or the museum, and roomy enough for a whole family table.
18min walk
Restaurant€€
Onda Blu
The original Onda Blu, on the mainland side in Via Elorina: raw seafood, fried fish and proper sea pasta in a plain room where the plate does the talking — its sister sits out on the Maddalena peninsula.
Order the crudo di mare, frittura, pasta di mare
20min walk
Bar€€
Cortile Verga
A hidden courtyard behind a doorway on Via della Maestranza: drinks under the greenery, away from the street noise — you have to know it is there or you walk straight past.
21min walk
Restaurant€€
Chiodo
On Via Roma, it calls itself a “show-room with a kitchen”: contemporary plates in a relaxed, design-minded room — right when you want Ortigia without a solemn dinner.
21min walk
Restaurant€€€
Don Camillo
A Siracusa institution in the vaulted rooms of Via della Maestranza, with a serious wine list and old-school service — book, sit down and let them lead.
Worth booking
22min walk
Pasticceria€
Pasticceria Rizzo
A neighbourhood pasticceria going since 1975, well off the tourist circuit: a long counter of pastries and hot savouries, and next door a separate gluten-free laboratory — rare to find cornetti and arancini this good for coeliacs.
Order the cornetto sfogliato senza glutine, arancini, cannoli
24min walk
Restaurant€€€
Regina Lucia
Refined, Michelin-listed cooking looking straight onto Piazza Duomo — the one to keep for the big dinner of the trip, with tables out on the white stone and the cathedral façade lit up.
Worth booking
25min walk
Pasticceria€
Bar Tunisi
A rosticceria-and-granita institution: arancini, cartocciate and hot savoury pastries eaten standing at the counter — and in summer almond granita with a brioche col tuppo.
Order the arancini, cartocciate, granita di mandorla con brioche col tuppo
28min walk
Restaurant€€
Sorelle a Mare
On the Lungomare Alfeo, the sunset side of Ortigia: tables facing the water and sea-led cooking — come a little early and ask for a table outside.
Worth booking
12min drive
Restaurant€€
Onda Blu Isola
The second Onda Blu, out on the Maddalena peninsula: the same seafood cooking as the Via Elorina original, but with the water in front of you — worth the short drive on a clear evening.
35min drive
Pasticceria€€
Caffè Costanzo
A few steps off the corso, Noto’s other great pasticceria: quieter, with tables in the side street, and a reputation built on granite and almond torrone. Worth trying both in the same afternoon.
Order the granita, torrone di mandorla
35min drive
Pasticceria€€
Caffè Sicilia
On Noto’s corso, Corrado Assenza’s pasticceria: granite made from local fruit and almonds, and the candied fruit that made this counter famous far beyond Sicily. Stand at the bar or take a table out on the corso.
Order the granita di mandorla, cassata, frutta candita
90min drive
Pasticceria€
Antica Dolceria Bonajuto
Modica’s oldest chocolate house, a narrow shop on the corso: the chocolate is worked cold, so the sugar stays grainy and you feel it between your teeth. They give you tastes at the counter before you choose — and yes, the ’mpanatigghi really are filled with meat.
Order the cioccolato di Modica, ’mpanatigghi
90min drive
Restaurant€€€
Locanda Don Serafino
Approximate location
You eat inside the rock here: the room is an old stable cut into Ibla’s stone, cool even in August, with a very long wine list. Ragusa’s other great table — book it the way you would book a theatre.
Worth booking
90min drive
Restaurant€€€
Ristorante Duomo
In a lane behind Ibla’s duomo, Ciccio Sultano’s dining room: small wood-lined spaces and Sicilian cooking taken to its most precise. This is the long lunch you plan ahead, not a stop you fall into on the way past.
Worth booking