Mario Batali on Where to Eat in Italy

"On a farm just south of Chieti, my grandma's ancestral home, Villa Maiella is the kind of place I dreamed about before I happened upon it. Abruzzese cooking is considered to be the apex of Italian food south of Bologna; Arcangelo Tinari, the son of the original chefs, has taken his parents' ideas to another level in purity of traditional flavor. I started with a plate of salumi that made me cry, including a blood sausage that was as dense and dark as a moonless night in the mountains and twice as intense. Next up was handmade and super-firm fusilli with three textures of baccalà, and then a roast pork loin with crispy skin, fragrant with myrtle and juniper. I washed down all the food with legendary Montepulciano d'Abruzzo by Valentini at fire-sale prices. This place merits a whole weekend of sleeping upstairs (it's a 14-room inn) just to taste the entire menu." villamaiella.it

"Built in a renovated church, directly on the water on the Pugliese coast north of Bari, Le Lampare is one of the most beautiful restaurant sites I have ever seen. On the terrace, one can watch the marina purr with action; inside, the palatial dining rooms exude luxurious comfort and timeless style. Chef Giovanni Lorusso has the local fishermen in his back pocket, and it shows: perhaps the best selection of pesce crudo I have ever seen outside of Japan; it took my breath away. Three different kinds of Adriatic urchins, baby octopi, scampi, three sizes of red shrimp, calamaretti, all dressed with different oils, salts and citruses. The antipasti course was a 40-minute excursion into Neptune's palace, and we took a walk after that first course just so I could get my head back in order. Reseated, we had short rigatoni with barely cooked scampi, tiny Pachino tomatoes and cubes of melting mozzarella di bufala. Then, a perfect grilled turbot. The chef is confident and restrained, allowing the magnificence of his local products to shine. One word: whoanelly." lelamparealfortino.it

"Equidistant from 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio's splendid showcase Vicenza and grappa shrine town Bassano del Grappa, El Coq sits quietly in the little burg of Marano Vicentino, but it's not quiet at all. The spare, barely furnished dining room was created to leave all of the noise to the plate. The idiosyncratic modern style is the work of well-traveled chef and owner Lorenzo Cogo, who has done time at Melbourne's Vue de Monde and staged at Noma. My favorite antipasto was a steamed-crab salad with burnt-olive meringue and a kind of ajo blanco (almond gazpacho) that blew my mind with simplicity and flavor. The best way to get a feel for the place is to take a bit of the verdant risotto with fermented beans and anchovies, followed by a sip of Soave by Prà. The chef uses infinite modern Italian, Japanese and Spanish techniques, many clearly explained and none of which I can re-create. This is the work of a young genius." elcoq.com

"Basilicata is an area where restaurants rarely capture the joys of the home table and are nothing to write home (or to Food & Wine) about. One of my favorite exceptions is in San Fele, a sweet little mountain town. Tipicamente captures tradition and forward thinking at the same moment on every plate. Chef Antonio Puppio leaves no heroic local ingredient untouched, celebrating everything from the podolica long-horn cattle to the burrata from Andria. My meal started with a crunchy ball of porcini and waxy potatoes on a delicious puddle of barley soup, made rich with fragrant saffron. The paccheri pasta, a seemingly risky yet perfect take on carbonara with baccalà, guanciale and a dusting of peperone di Senise (a spicy pepper), made me crazy. Then came rabbit with braised fennel; a stew of potatoes, mushrooms and lamb shoulder; and a carafe of Cirò (a Calabrian wine). I was actually angry at how effortless this cooking looked, and how complex and miraculously geo-specific the flavors were, and the way the wind and the wine and the food danced together." ristorantetipicamente.it

Alessandro Cogliati, now in his late 20s, began training as a chef at the age of 14 and ran his first kitchen at 22. He opened DueScale in December 2009 in a renovated 19th century building. alessandrocogliatilaboratori.com

This restaurant, located inside Eataly in Genoa, is completely dedicated to seafood. It's headed by chef Enrico Panero, designed by Renzo Piano, and has panoramic views of the Old Port, the Bigo and across the beautiful Gulf of Genoa below. genova.eataly.it

Matteo Rizzo, the son of chef Elia Rizzo, has joined his father in the kitchen at this restaurant, which highlights traditional Italian ingredients with modern techniques and plating. ildesco.com

Originally opened as an inn and restaurant in 1977, the restaurant has remained a family-run business ever since. Young chef Mattia Spadone now runs the kitchen with his father. The restaurant focuses on Abruzzo cuisine in a cozy environment, but the food is quite refined. labandiera.it

An agriturismo located near the castle of Verduno, the farm is on the Castello di Verduno vineyard, where they produce Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and Verduno Pelaverga. The inn can accommodate 14 guests, and the restaurant seats 40, with everything prepared by chef Giovanna Bianco. The menu includes peppers in sweet-and-sour sauce, Tomini cheese with a green sauce and stuffed tomatoes, homemade pasta and traditional local main courses. (Open from mid-February to mid-December.) castellodiverduno.com

Inside a gorgeous Puglian villa, chef Vito Giannuzzi oversees Le Palme, one of four restaurants on the property. He serves ingredients foraged from the property and in 2009 won the Italian Championship of Mediterranean Cuisine. masseriatorremaizza.com

An Italian chef named Mary Magadalene married into the family that owned this restaurant, which has a history that dates to 1922; she ran the kitchen with her mother-in-law for years. Vito Pepe is the current chef. ristorantebeccaceci.com