Barcelona is becoming more and more of an Italian hideaway. It’s pointless to hide it, Barcelona is becoming an Italian colony (and maybe Argentinean and South American too). It’s easily noticeable; walking through the Ramblas or the different squares of the centre there are numerous Italian restaurants to be found. The number of Italians who moved recently into the Catalan capital has really grown fast in the last few years, thanks to closer relations with the ‘Mother Country’ and the increasing ease of finding a good job. Moreover, part of this is thanks to the great life and cultural beauty of the city. Barcelona reminds me a little bit the London of some years ago, when, if you wanted to feel a little bit international, a job in the English capital was a must. And so, walking through the city, it’s easy to find some (many) Italian restaurants or Pizzerias, with some undoubtedly Italian names.
Here’s a short list of some Italian places you can find:
Els Napolitans: As the name would suggest, here they serve a traditional Napolitano menu. Real Italian pizzas, traditional regional specialities and a variety of different desserts are all some of the things you can expect to find in ‘Els Napolitans’. One of the very few restaurants in the city to make half meter and one meter pizzas. The lunch menu costs 7 euros.
C/ Diputaci?n 93, +34 93 539 3058
Pizza Roma: Close to Sants Estaci?, ‘Pizza Roma’ offers different home-made dishes with pizza, pasta and meat all being on offer. The restaurant offers a good selection of Italian and Spanish wines and is very recommendable for groups.
C/ Mallorca 12, phone number 93 325 1041
Un posto al sole: This restaurant offers pasta and pizza in a very familiar atmosphere, and weather permitting, you can take advantage of its open air dining option.
C/ Comte d’urgell 188, phone number 93 451 1101
Gusto: Offers different options: pizzeria, a la carte and coffe shop and you can eat anything that you ever thought that came from Italy. Pizza, pasta, b?falo mozzarella, cure metas, provola, lasagna, etc. It’s a real Italian place, decorated with many black & white of images of Sofia Loren.
C/ Rossell? 108, phone number 93 323 6575
Cuore di Mamma: This restaurant offers different typical dishes from Italy and some regional specialities. You can for example taste the Friulan “frico”, the Montasio cheese, the “Caprese” salad with buffalo mozzarella, Sardegne recipes, cod with Panzanella, and polenta.
C/ Bailen 74, phone number 93 232 9601
Murivecchi: A southern Italian restaurant found in the Borne district, Murivecchi offers such dishes as “spaghetti alle vongole”, Linguine with delicious sea food, “Paccheri with 3 shellfish”, as well as “Carpaccio” and tasty salads. All the dishes are made with imported Italian products. Liquors, wines and grapes all 100% Italian.
Princesa 59, phone number 93 451 7756
Tramonti: One of the first, Tramonti opened in the 80’s. The restaurant prepares original recipes with rocket salad, pears and parmesan, “roman stracciatella”, spaghetti with oil, garlic and pepper, oven bakes lasagne, “risotto” with lemon, etc..
This list is just an initiative and of course not an exhaustive resource of all the Italian restaurants in the city. It’s up to you find them and find out how the Italians do it. If you don’t know where to stay, you can always choose one of the beautiful and cheap apartments (appartamenti economici Barcellona) or from the wide choice of hotel (alberghi Barcellona) in the capital of Catalonia
