Europe’s gastronomic capitals: an all-Italian podium

It is an Italian podium in the ranking of Europe’s culinary capitals of Europe for 2026, compiled by Holidu after assessing one hundred of the continent’s largest and most popular cities against five criteria. The results see Rome in first place, followed by Venice and Naples.

The number of dishes for which they are renowned locally and nationally, the number of food tours and cookery classes available on TripAdvisor, and the number of Michelin-starred restaurants in the ‘Eat like a local’ category: these are the factors used by the holiday home and apartment booking portal to carry out the study. The results show Italian dominance across the rest of the rankings too, with nine Italian cities in the top 20. In addition to the three mentioned above, Bologna, Milan, Florence, Turin, Genoa and Palermo.

Then there are the top rankings in the individual categories. Florence proves to be Europe’s leading city for food tours: 129 tours available, almost three times as many as in Barcelona and London. Venice, on the other hand, tops the list for restaurants where you can eat like a local: 18, double the number in Rome.

The first European city, after the Italian ones, to feature in the ranking is Istanbul, which recorded the highest score in the entire study for nationally renowned dishes: 70 Turkish dishes to savour in the capital, including Kunefe, Lahmacun, Döner and Shish Kebab. With 64 food tours on TripAdvisor and 10 Michelin ‘Eat like a local’ restaurants, Istanbul outperforms Paris on both counts.