Where to eat in Ascoli Piceno: restaurants

Where to eat in Ascoli Piceno: where to go

Ascoli Piceno has a place for every time of day. The range goes from the osteria serving Ascoli cuisine to the pizzeria, from the salsamenteria (a deli) to the pub, from the wine bar to the café. Each place on the list has its own page.

To taste freshly fried olives, Maclé Salsamenteria is a deli and fry shop on Piazza Arringo. Behind it are the work and tradition of Macelleria Clerici, a butcher shop. The DOP olive all'ascolana are made with tender olives pitted by hand and stuffed with quality meats. The counter also has cremini, fried vegetables and dishes of the day. You can eat at the outdoor tables on the square or take away a paper cone.

Bottega Panichi 1943 faces Piazza del Popolo and serves piadine, sandwiches and tigelle. It has tables inside and out and also does takeout: it works well for a quick lunch while visiting the city.

For a sit-down meal with local cuisine there is Osteria Nonna Nina, which offers fried dishes, meat dishes and apericena (an aperitif with food). The place is simple, with stone walls and high vaulted ceilings, and sources meat, cured meats and artisanal pasta from local suppliers. Trattoria del Pergolato has a family atmosphere, rustic furnishings and an outdoor pergola, with traditional meat dishes.

Outside the center, La Taverna del Longobardo is in the hamlet of Castel Trosino. It is a medieval-looking restaurant serving typical dishes. Castel Trosino is the village where a Lombard necropolis was discovered by chance in 1893: some of the finds are displayed at the Museo dell'Alto Medioevo in Ascoli Piceno.

For a coffee or a gelato between visits there are, among others, Caffè Gelateria Monardi, Caffè Sestili and Gelateria Arcobaleno.

Where to eat in Ascoli Piceno: the map

The map shows where all the places on the list are. It helps in choosing based on where you are staying or on the sights you want to see. Several of the addresses listed are in the historic center, around Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Arringo. La Taverna del Longobardo, instead, is in Castel Trosino, outside the city.

To plan the day, it is best to look at the map together with the page things to do in Ascoli Piceno. Those staying several days will find accommodation on the page where to stay in Ascoli Piceno. For the city as a whole there is the guide Ascoli Piceno in one day.

Where to eat in Ascoli Piceno: what to try

The dish to try in Ascoli Piceno is the oliva all'ascolana, on its own or in the fritto misto. For the DOP version, the filling is a pre-cooked mixture of pork and beef, with at most 10% chicken or turkey. Cheese, eggs, white wine, onion, carrot, celery and nutmeg are added. The olives are usually picked by hand between September 1 and October 20. Outside of frying, the Ascolana olive is also eaten in brine, flavored with wild fennel.

Cremini are cubes of pastry cream, breaded and fried. In the fritto misto they sit next to the olives, the vegetables and the lamb, so sweet and savory meet on the same plate.

There is much more to Ascoli than fried food. Among the first courses are vincisgrassi in the Ascoli version, a baked pasta with a ragù of mixed meats, chicken giblets and béchamel, made mostly for holidays. Crispelle are large crispy rounds of fried batter, often served with prosciutto crudo. The city is linked to the Adriatic by the Tronto river, so fish also features in the cooking, with salt cod, stockfish, herring and eel among the traditional dishes. At Carnival people eat ravioli, filled with meat as a first course or fried with a sweet filling.

For wine, the Ascoli area offers Rosso Piceno, made with Montepulciano and Sangiovese, the white Falerio dei Colli Ascolani and the whites from native grapes, Pecorino and Passerina. The province also has Offida DOCG. In rural and mountain areas vino cotto ("cooked wine") is made. At the end of the meal people drink anisetta, a liqueur made with green anise: neat, with a coffee bean in the glass, or added to coffee. Those who want to take something home will find shops and specialties on the page local products and shops in Ascoli.

In spring the city hosts Fritto Misto, a festival devoted to Italian and international fried food. It was born in Ascoli Piceno in 2005. The 2026 edition, the twenty-second, took place from April 24 to May 3 at Campo Squarcia, because there was construction work on Piazza Arringo.