The bar in Italy is not just a place to have a coffee or have a quick breakfast. It is a real point of cultural and social reference, a place where the community meets and traditions reinterpret themselves. From breakfast to aperitif, passing through snacks and lunches, the bar is still a crossroads of culture, innovation and conviviality.
Although a sector that in 2024 recorded, according to Fipe, a 3.3% decrease in the number of signs, the Italian bar continues to reinvent itself, confirming one of the most dynamic and identity places in the country. Today the bars turn to an increasingly aware and informed clientele, attentive to sustainability, the quality of the supply chain and a genuine welcome. Thus the neighborhood bars are reborn, reinvented in a modern key: lively and accessible spaces, where you can feel at home and in which the identity of the place becomes a real distinctive sign.
Many bars combine today traditional charm and contemporary spirit, take care of every detail, offer a warm and welcoming atmosphere and establish an authentic and lasting bond with customers.
But what are the best bars in our country? In the Bars of Italy 2026 of the Gambero Rosso, presented at the Manzoni Theater in Milan, 52 rooms are awarded with the three cups and three beans this year, the maximum recognition for quality, experience and attention to detail.
The ranking of the 52 best bars of Italy 2026
This is the list of bars reported by Gambero Rosso:
The bar of the year 2026
The most coveted prize, the bar of the year 2026, was awarded by a jury of experts in Mamm bread, wine and cuisine of Udine. According to Gambero Rosso:
The sustainability here is the starting point and arrival of a project that explores it in a concrete and authentic way in all its facets – environmental, economic, social – and which is expressed in strategic choices and daily gestures. Energy supply from 100% renewable sources, focus on ethical products, healthy and righteous and righteous, anti -waste policies such as beer made with invented bread, promoting synergies with the territory and job placement initiatives with prisons and for political asylum seekers.
