5 Best Restaurants in The Bay of Naples, Italy

Come here for the rare experience of dining within a 10,000-year-old volcanic crater (thankfully extinct). Sit back in the homey dining area crammed with bizarre knickknacks, and enjoy a cornucopia of tasting dishes, many made with produce grown in the fertile volcanic soil outside.

Despite its unflattering location on a vicolo (alley) one block from the Pozzuoli waterfront, this restaurant (est. 1946) is admired in Neapolitan circles for its fresh seafood, ample portions, and reasonable prices. Spaghetti with clams, octopus salad, grilled and fried fish, and seafood risotto are among the longtime favorites prepared here.

Il Principe's owner, Gian Marco Carli, inherited his parents' 30-year research into ancient Roman cuisine; Famiglia Carli may not have fed Roman emperors, but they have cooked for at least three U.S. presidents. Their quality meat and fish dishes, and sumptuous tasting menus honor the past, while delivering exquisitely presented, modern plates of food.   

The celebrated site of oyster beds and fish farms in ancient times, Lake Lucrino is now the setting for this rustic trattoria. Quirky Ruggiero runs the dining room with a whimsical charm—don't be shocked if he addresses you through his megaphone or warmly embraces you when you leave—and his wife, Maria, lovingly prepares specialties from land, sea, and lake, much to the delight of the locals who tend to pack the place.

Doing a brisk trade with both stranieri and napoletani—always a good sign—this restaurant and pizzeria on the roundabout near the Circumvesuviana station is a 10-minute walk from the excavations of Herculaneum. Dishes vary according to season but always draw on local recipes: pasta e fagioli (with beans) is a winter favorite, and richly garnished schiaffoni (flat tube pasta) with seafood is a summer stalwart. If you're sensitive to traffic noise, avoid sitting at the outside tables.