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Start a Top 5 for ItalianEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Isthmus and Madison Magazine. Updated September 2026.
Lombardino's Restaurant · West Side
Madison Magazine marked ten years of Patrick O'Halloran's ownership of this University Avenue room, and the writer's own memory of the place goes back further, to being a kid captivated by the miniature Trevi Fountain. The anniversary menu says what the kitchen is: panzanella built on Garden to Be tomatoes and Primrose Farm red onion, candy onion and thyme risotto under seared quail, and wood grilled bistecca fiorentina. Order the bistecca, and finish with honey panna cotta.
Bar Corallini · Schenk-Atwood
An Atwood Avenue Italian bar and dining room that Isthmus's year end dining roundup counts among the places that defined Madison's 2025. It works as a bar first and a dining room second, with a short list of pastas and a counter built for a drink and a plate rather than a long sitting. The tiramisu is the dish the city's writers keep returning to. Order it after the pasta, with an amaro from the back bar.
Osteria Novella · Near West
Amalfi Coast-inspired Italian cooking from chef Giovanni Novella, a former chef at Bar Corallini, in the space west of campus that had been Novanta, per Isthmus's year-end dining roundup naming the 2025 opening. The Cap Times year-end roundup separately supplied the University Avenue address for the restaurant.
Osteria Papavero · Downtown
Rustic Italian fare on a commuter-heavy stretch of East Wilson Street, from chef Francesco Mangano, a James Beard Best Chef Midwest semifinalist. Isthmus's review describes the restaurant as having quietly stood through changes on the block, comfortable as old leather, and the restaurant's own site shows active, current reservations.