The story
Dal Pescatore is an Italian restaurant at Località Runate 15 in Canneto sull'Oglio, Mantua, and holds three Michelin stars (2026). The Santini family has run it for four generations, and the cooking still answers to the river and farmland around it.
Giovanni Santini has worked in the kitchen beside his mother Nadia since 1996. The menu changes daily with what the markets supply. The house is known for its handmade pasta, including agnoli in chicken broth and pumpkin tortelli with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano. The restaurant ranked 23rd on The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2004 and again in 2008.
Lasagnette come with beef from the pastures of Cascina Runate, turnip tops, Tropea red onion and whole-grain mustard. A saffron risotto is finished with spinach and a milk fondue. Vegetables now take a larger share of the menu, as in the autumn course of aubergine and burrata cream. Foie gras with passito wine and a lobster terrine with Oscietra caviar appear on the à la carte list.
After their honeymoon in France in 1974, Antonio and Nadia opened the dining room with more glass facing the garden, more space between tables, and a separate reading room. Cascina Runate, a certified organic farm founded in 2020 nearby, supplies the kitchen with vegetables from 1000 square metres of gardens and orchards, along with grazing cattle and laying hens.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Exceptional cuisine
It reads Santini but is pronounced Italia. The deep Italy, untouched by the harsh gaze of modern metropolitan follies, where the work ethic aligns with a devotion to quality and care for the guest. Antonio and Nadia have witnessed the birth of high-end Italian dining, namely the kind that possesses a thorough knowledge of raw ingredients and successfully blends a region's resources with contemporary trends without losing its identity. Alberto works on the floor alongside his father, while Giovanni is in the kitchen with his mother, yet also tends to a cattle herd as was traditionally done across this vast plain. The lunch service carries neither Iberian nor Japanese influences in either form or substance; rather, it draws inspiration from the great French maisons à la Bocuse. Two tasting menus are offered, along with an à la carte option. The sprawling wine cellar charts the journey of this family inn, now approaching its first hundred years, particularly highlighting the modern vision of Antonio, the founder’s grandson. Over the years, the menu has placed increasing emphasis on vegetables, which frequently take center stage in certain iconic dishes. An unmissable destination, and we leave you with what may seem like an oxymoron: the Santini restaurant is a modern classic. Meaning, a true classic that never goes out of style.
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