A rich,'full-bodied' cuisine, dense with flavours from the best food and wine traditions of Lombardy, but with a touch of modernity that will not leave even the most 'traditionalist' palates indifferent. The cuisine of Mantua is to be considered a veritable forge of colours, textures, perfectly successful mixes, where cured meats and vegetables play a very important role.
Where to eat in Mantua: cheap restaurants, typical places and street food
1 - Trattoria due cavallini
A family-run restaurant consisting of 3 soberly furnished rooms with a small garden offering traditional cuisine.
Address: via Salnitro, 5 - Get directions
Contact: Tel 0376 322084
Specialities of the house: stracotto d'asino, maccheroni allo stracotto, pumpkin tortelli
Average price per person: from €18.00
2 - Restaurant Il Trovatore
Warm and cosy restaurant a stone's throw from Palazzo Ducale serves Mantuan cuisine and traditional dishes.
Address: piazza Sordello, 49 - Get directions
Contact: Tel 0376 196 0178
House specialities: pumpkin and gorgonzola risotto, pumpkin tortelli
Average price per person: from €16.00
3 - Il Cigno dei Martini Restaurant
Elegant restaurant with wooden furnishings and design, serving Mantuan dishes inspired by the Gonzaga recipe books.
Address: Piazza Carlo D'Arco, 1 - Get directions
Contact details: Tel 0376 327101
House specialities: agnoli, capon, pike in sauce
Average price per person: from €30.00
4 - Osteria dell'Oca
Wooden tables, copper pots and various knick-knacks are the backdrop to this rustic osteria that serves exquisite dishes.
Address: via Trieste, 10 - Get directions
Contact details: Tel 0376 327171
Specialities of the house: tagliatelle del baffo, tortelli di zucca, taglieri di salumi
Average price per person: from €20.00
5 - Osteria la Bottega
Cosy and warm place offering a traditional menu with typical products.
Address: via Filippo Corridoni, 44 - Get directions
Contact: Tel 0376 223568
Specialities of the house: stracotto d'asino, capunsei
Average price per person: from €27.00
6 - Viva Cafe Hamburgheria
If you think that once you enter the hamburgheria Viva Ca fe you will find yourself in front of yet another American-style fast food chain, then you are making an unforgivable mistake. From the most emblazoned fast food chains in the stars and stripes, this friendly eatery draws only the philosophy of offering its customers lunch and dinner of super burgers and the inevitable side dish of Chips; but the Viva Cafe also offers other dishes, all made with fresh, very Italian products.
Address: Piazzale Cesare Beccaria 5. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 0376 245705
House speciality: Chianina burger with a side dish of potatoes
Average price per person: €5.00 - €10.00
7 - Birreria Enoteca Alla Buca della Gabbia
Don't call it a simple beer garden. Alla Buca della G abbia is a real institution when it comes to pubs and wine bars in Mantua. Situated in an excellent location, the place offers a varied menu that draws on Mantuan tradition and a wide and detailed selection of wines and beers (among them, the pumpkin beer, which is truly unique, is worth trying).
Address: Via Camillo Benso Cavour 98. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 345 633 6101, facebook page
House speciality: mixed platter of cold meats and cheeses
Average price per person: €20.00
8 - Osteria delle Quattro Tette
The name of the restaurant and the mood considered rather rustic for a restaurant serving typical Mantuan specialities should not mislead. At Quattro Tette you eat well and spend relatively little. Recommended for young people and those who love - or want to experience for the first time - the typical flavours of the city.
Address: Vicolo Nazione 4. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 0376 329478
Speciality of the house: pumpkin crepes with vin cotto
Average price per person: €20.00
9 - Bigoleria Al Torchio
The restaurant's speciality is fairly obvious, but the flavour will not cease to amaze you. If you are a bigoli connoisseur, you can't fail to drop by Al Torchio to try all the specialities of this extraordinary egg pasta, served as tradition demands: al dente.
Address: Via Solferino E San Martino 31. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 348 046 6563, Facebook page
Speciality of the house: bigoli with donkey and rabbit ragout
Average price per person: €7.00
10 - Contadinostrano Ciapa e Porta a Cà
Zero-kilometre produce, a wide range of vegetarian and vegan dishes, fresh meat and vegetable main courses and a pizza worthy of praise. The Contadinostrano Ciapa e porta a cà is ideal for a quick (and hearty!) meal with an eye to your health (all the products used in the recipes have been grown and maintained in an absolutely healthy way) and, a detail not to be overlooked, your wallet.
Address:Via Orefici 9. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 0376 196 1484, Facebook page
House speciality: Venus rice with courgettes, chickpeas and scamorza cheese
Average price per person: €7.00 - €20.00
11 - Osteria dell'Oca
Let's start with an obligatory premise: theOsteria dell'Oca, a restaurant serving typical Mantuan specialities, is accessible mainly by reservation (unfortunately the tables are rather small, which is probably the only drawback of this restaurant). The effort of finding a place, however, will be amply repaid with a menu to leave you speechless with its mouth-watering selection of typical dishes from the Lombard city, from appetisers to desserts.
Address: Via Trieste 10. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 0376 327171, Facebook page
Speciality of the house: torta sbrisolona
Average price per person: €20.00
12 - Agriturismo Corte Bersaglio
Noisy place but excellent quality food in the suggestive location offered byAgriturismo Corte Bersaglio, the ideal place to celebrate a special event in cheerful company.
Address: Viale Learco Guerra 15 | Localita Migliaretto. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 346 726 0961
Speciality of the house: risotto with porcini mushrooms and truffle cream
Average price per person: €20.00
13 - Pizzeria La Botte
Granted, Mantua is not Naples and the best pizza in Lombardy cannot be even remotely comparable to its Neapolitan counterpart. However, La Botte, a characteristic pizzeria in the Lombard town, offers an excellent product, with perfect rising times, a wide selection of flavours, all surrounded by friendly staff and at a more than affordable price.
Address: Via della Conciliazione 96. Get directions
House speciality: white pizza with artichokes and artichoke cream
Average price per person: €8.00
14 - Tortelli & Friends
It won't be difficult at all to guess the must-eat dish at Tortelli & Friends, an osteria where lunch and dinner become, rather than obligatory stops, true sensory experiences.
Address: Via Domenico Fernelli 28/A. Get directions
Contact: Tel: +39 0376 196 2190
House speciality: pumpkin tortelli with butter and sage
Average price per person: €13.00
Specialities and typical dishes
Source: wikipedia. A self-respecting meal can only begin with a wide selection of 100 per cent Mantuan cold cuts and sliced meats as an antipasto accompanied by chiscela, the local focaccia salata. First courses include risotto, agnolini in broth and the famous tortelli alla zucca, a must in Mantua restaurants. Second courses are mainly meat-based (braised beef, stracotto d'asino and bollito misto), but the lake fauna is not disdained (stewed or fried catfish is a real delicacy); inevitable, alongside every self-respecting Lombard main course, is the evergreen polenta. Every self-respecting meal always ends on a sweet note: the torta delle rose made with butter and sugar, the torta Elvezia made with almond paste and garnished with zabaglione, and finally the extravagant and exquisite torta sbrisolona.
1 - Pumpkin Tortelli
This isa typical dish for the Christmas festivities but one that can be found every day on tables in Mantua.
These tortelli, strictly handmade with fresh egg pasta, have a filling of pumpkin mixed with amaretti biscuits, Mantuan mostarda, nutmeg, grana cheese and spices.
They are mainly seasoned with melted butter and grana cheese, but some prefer tomato sauce.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €8.00
Main ingredients: fresh egg pasta, pumpkin, amaretto, mostarda, grana cheese, spices
2 - Agnoli in broth
Similar to Bolognese tortellini, they differ slightly in their non-circular shape and filling.
The egg pasta is stuffed with beef stew in white wine, pork sausage, bacon, eggs and spices.
In the Mantuan tradition agnoli were served on Christmas Eve in meat broth, today they can be eaten anytime, either brothy or dry seasoned with butter and sage.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €8.00
Main ingredients: egg pasta, beef stew, sausage, bacon, eggs, meat broth
3 - Pilot rice
Photo by Pezzomn91. A must-try dish of traditional Mantuan cuisine is this risotto, which was also served at the time of the Gonzaga family court.
The'piloti' were the workers in charge of the pila, a mortar that was used to husk and clean the rice.
This rice is made with pork pistume (salamelle) and whipped with grana cheese, but the secret to making it perfect is the right amount of water and rice because the end result should not be creamy but dry and grainy.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €8.00
Main ingredients: vialone nano semi-fine rice, salamella, grana cheese
4 - Donkey stew
Photo by Pezzomn91. A savoury and tasty dish that is prepared by marinating donkey meat for 12/24 hours in Lambrusco wine and then'stracotta' it for 3-4 hours over low heat until it is tender.
The dish is served with soft or grilled polenta, which goes perfectly with the sauce.
Since donkey meat is difficult to find in recent times, it can be replaced with beef.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €14.00
Main ingredients: donkey meat, lambrusco wine, spices, celery and carrot
5 - Pike in sauce
An ancient dish that has always been popular in Mantuan kitchens, which brings out the flavour of pike: a typical fish from Mantua's freshwater streams, with a strong flavour and intense taste.
The pike is boiled and flavoured with a sauce made from wine, capers and vegetables and served warm accompanied by toasted polenta.
Unfortunately, it is a speciality that is disappearing as pike is not a breedable fish and its growth in running water is very slow.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €13.00
Main ingredients: pike, white wine, capers, vegetables, corn polenta
6 - Sbrisolona
Photo by ho visto nina volare. This is a typical Mantuan cake, whose name derives from'brisà' which means crumb; in fact, the cake is coarsely kneaded to give it a grainy and particularly crumbly texture!
Made with maize flour, butter and almonds, it is excellent enjoyed as a dessert soaked in a good sweet wine such as Malvasia or Moscato.
Recommended for: breakfast, snack, dessert
Average cost: €7.50 a medium cake
Main ingredients: corn flour, butter, almonds
7 - Noodle cake
Photo by Massimo Telò. This traditional cake was once prepared on the night of Santa Lucia, 13 December, to be eaten at Christmas.
The preparation is twofold: first you make a sheet of egg and flour-based dough (like that for tagliatelle) cut into thin strips that will enrich the cake tin in layers, then the mixture that will be placed inside made with butter, almonds and sugar.
The result is three layers of noodles interspersed with almond cream and baked for 40 minutes.
Recommended for:snack, dessert
Average cost: €7.00 medium-sized cake
Main ingredients: egg noodles, wheat flour, butter, almonds, sugar
8 - Capunsei
Photo by Massimo Telò. Known as bread gnocchi, they are a traditional Mantuan peasant dish and can be eaten in broth or dry, dressed with melted butter, grana cheese, or meat sauce.
The ancient recipe was imported to the Lombardy area by Tyrolean emigrants and is based on breadcrumbs, grana padano cheese, butter, onion, garlic, broth and nutmeg.
These ingredients are mixed with cheese and eggs, and once they are well mixed, it is necessary to form elongated gnocchi to be cooked in boiling water or broth.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €8.00
Main ingredients: breadcrumbs, grana cheese, onion, broth, eggs
9 - Risotto with saltarelli
Often considered a single dish, risotto with "saltarelli" is made with crayfish (the "saltarelli" or "saltarei" once abounded in the waterways of the Mantuan area) which are fried in hot oil and put over a white risotto made only with vialone rice grown in the Scaliger rice fields, broth and onion.
The dish is served after whipping the rice with a knob of butter and parmesan cheese and brought to the table with the hot saltarelli.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €12.00
Main ingredients: saltarelli, rice, broth, onion, grana cheese, oil for frying
10 - Bigoli with pilchards
This is the star dish of the centuries-old'La Bigolada' festival celebrated every year on Ash Wednesday in Casel d'Ario.
The pasta, similar to a thick spaghetto, is made with soft wheat, water, egg and salt; once the mixture has been kneaded, it is put into the press (an ancient tool) from which the bigoli originate, which must be rough in order to hold the sauces.
They should be seasoned with onion and pilchards, washed and cleaned of their bones, which should be slowly melted in hot oil.
Recommended for: lunch, dinner
Average cost: €12.00
Main ingredients: bigoli, pilchards, onion, oil