Discover The Culinary Riches Of The World’s Second Best Food City

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Discover The Culinary Riches Of The World’s Second Best Food City

TasteAtlas, an online food travel guide, recently ranked Milan, Italy, as the second-best food city in the world for 2025 out of 17,073 cities in its database. This ranking challenges the notion that Milan pales as a culinary destination compared to other Italian cities favored by food enthusiasts, such as Bologna, Rome, Palermo and Florence.

The quality of its food plays an essential role in Milan’s outstanding cuisine. Although better known as a mecca for fashion and style, Milan is the capital of the agriculture-rich Lombardy region, ensuring that restaurants and home cooks can access fresh, high-quality local ingredients.

One of the wealthiest cities in Europe and a hub for business, Milan boasts over 8,000 eateries serving both Italian and international cuisine. With a vast selection of restaurants, markets, and food emporiums, finding something to satisfy any craving is easy.

In 2025, Milan boasted 18 Michelin-starred restaurants, rivaling the number in Rome. Enrico Bartolini al Mudec, helmed by Chef Enrico Bartolini, stood out with three Michelin stars, securing its place among Italy’s elite 14 three-star establishments. This achievement underscores the innovative and creative culinary landscape that Milanese chefs have cultivated in the city.

Signature Milanese Dishes

Milan also has a long culinary history, with many traditional Milanese dishes based on recipes and techniques handed down over generations that are still enjoyed today. Milan is the best place in the world to sample these exquisite preparations in their terroir.

Some of these iconic Milanese dishes are:

  • Risotto alla Milanese (creamy risotto made with saffron),
  • Cotoletta alla Milanese (breaded veal cutlet)
  • Ossobuco alla Milanese (veal shanks braised with vegetables)
  • Minestrone alla Milanese (made with rice instead of pasta)
  • Cassoeula (a stew of braised pork cutlets and cabbage)
  • Gorgonzola cheese (both dolce and picante, which originated in a small town close to Milan)
  • Panettone (a tall, yeasty, cake-like bread typically made with candied fruit, especially popular over the holidays)
  • Busecchina (a dessert made with stewed chestnuts)

A Milan Food Crawl

A convenient way for tourists to explore the city’s culinary history, customs, traditional shops and specialty foods is by booking a local food tour.

Context Travel’s three-hour Milan Food Tour: Northern Italian Traditions offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience the city’s deeply rooted culinary scene. This tour explores the city’s culinary history, customs and traditional shops, with opportunities to sample foods along the route.

The company stands out in the growing market of culinary tours because its tours are led by experts such as professors, researchers, visiting scholars, chefs, and food writers. With over two decades of experience, Context Travel offers more than 300 private and small-group tours in cities around the world.

The stops on the company’s Milan food tour, led by a knowledgeable chef, offer a flavor of the city’s rich culinary history. Some examples::

  • Marchesi 1824, a more than 200-year-old gourmet pasticceria and cafe, was recently acquired by Prada. Its original store on Via S. Maria alla Porto is filled with mouth-watering baked goods, chocolates, candies and more—amidst 20th-century furnishings.
  • Visitors feel like they have entered a museum of specialty foods when they enter the 140-year-old gastronomia (delicatessen) called Peck, located on Via Spadari. This venerable gourmet grocer has an incredible inventory of fine foods, wines and gifts.
  • Camparino, the elegant Art Nouveau bar in Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, is considered the birthplace of the Milanese aperitivo. Its predecessor, opened by Gaspare Campari (inventor of the Campari bitter in 1867, was the first occupant of the Galleria.
  • Giovanni Galli, which takes its name from its founder, is listed in the Milanese municipal Register of Historic Shops. The shop on Via Victor Hugo, which first opened in 1911, specializes in confectionary, such as pralines and candied chestnuts displayed in antique wooden and glass cases.
  • Because Milan is a multicultural and economic hub, its cuisine benefits from the immigrants who came to work there from abroad and other parts of Italy. The Luini family came from Puglia and brought the idea of panzerotti, a stuffed pastry from their region, in 1888. Now, tourists and locals alike line up at the Luini bakery on Via Santa Radegonda for the savory snack food.

Whether you are visiting the city for business or leisure, take advantage of the Milan food scene, from historic food emporiums to classic Milanese recipes to the refined elegance of Michelin-starred restaurants.


N.B. If you are curious, TasteAtlas rated Naples the Best Food City in the World.

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