Restaurant in Arezzo, Italy
20 seats, Michelin star, book early.
Octavin holds a Michelin star (2024) and just 20 seats in a stone palazzo on one of Arezzo's quieter streets. Chef Luca Fracassi cooks creative Italian built around foraged, forgotten, and regional ingredients — technically precise, genuinely local, and unlike anything else in the city. Book four to six weeks out for weekends; this is one of the harder reservations in Tuscany outside Florence.
If you have been to Octavin before, the reason to return is the same reason you went the first time: Luca Fracassi is cooking a style of creative Italian that Arezzo simply does not have a second example of. A Michelin star since 2024, 20 seats, and operating hours that close at 9 PM sharp mean this is a restaurant you plan around, not stumble into. Book at least three to four weeks out for dinner, more if you are targeting a Friday or Saturday. This is one of the harder reservations in Tuscany outside Florence, and it earns that difficulty.
The address on Scalinata Camillo Berneri puts you on one of Arezzo's quieter stepped streets, and the room reflects that register. Two small dining rooms on the ground floor of an old palazzo, connected by a stone arch, with 20 seats distributed between them. Materials throughout are stone, wood, and iron at the tables; glass in the mirrors and wine bottles on display; paper in books tucked into small wall niches. The effect is closer to a considered private home than a formal restaurant. Noise levels stay low enough for conversation even when the room is full, which at 20 covers it almost always is. The large counter near the entrance, separated by an arch from the recently restructured kitchen, is worth requesting if you are dining solo or as a couple and want proximity to the kitchen's activity without the formality of a set table.
For a special occasion, the atmosphere delivers on the promise of the price tier. This is not a room that performs intimacy; it actually has it. Compared to the more conventional trattoria settings you will find across the rest of Arezzo's dining scene, Octavin's interior reads as deliberately considered. If the occasion matters, this is the right physical setting for it in this city.
Fracassi's cooking draws on the varied geography of Arezzo province as its primary source material, with an explicit commitment to zero waste and the revival of ingredients that urban restaurant culture tends to ignore: snails, game, wild-foraged elements, preparations rooted in techniques that predate modern Tuscan cooking. The influence is regional but the approach is creative, with occasional Eastern culinary references woven in without disrupting the coherence of what is fundamentally a hyper-local project.
The cuisine sits at the intersection of modern technique and forgotten flavour, which means you are not getting a greatest-hits tour of Tuscan classics. If that is what you want, Osteria Grande or Le Chiavi d'Oro will serve you better at a lower price point. Octavin is for diners who want to understand what Arezzo's landscape actually produces, cooked with technical precision and a point of view.
The price range is €€€€. At this tier in a mid-sized Tuscan city, value is measured differently than in Florence or Milan. For context, a starred meal at Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence operates at a significantly higher absolute price point. Octavin's four-symbol pricing in Arezzo represents a serious spend for the city, but positioned against comparable creative one-star experiences elsewhere in Italy — Osteria Francescana in Modena, Piazza Duomo in Alba, or Le Calandre in Rubano — it is a notably accessible price of entry for this level of cooking.
Octavin operates both lunch (12:30–2:00 PM) and dinner (7:30–9:00 PM) Tuesday through Sunday, with Wednesday as the only full closure. The lunch service is worth serious consideration, particularly for visitors building a day around Arezzo's historic centre. The room is smaller and more intimate at lunch, the energy quieter. If your visit to Arezzo is a day trip or a single-night stay, booking the Saturday lunch allows you to arrive at the restaurant directly after a morning in the city and still have the afternoon free. Dinner is the more atmospheric choice for a date or celebration, but the 9 PM last-order window means you need to plan the evening around the restaurant rather than using it as a late anchor.
For weekend visitors specifically, Saturday lunch at Octavin is a structurally sound way to access the restaurant's full format without the booking competition that Friday and Saturday dinner attracts. The service window is tight at 90 minutes, so this is not a drawn-out occasion meal in the way that a multi-hour dinner would be , factor that into your planning if you want the full experience without a sense of time pressure.
With 20 covers and a Michelin star awarded in 2024, demand has increased faster than capacity can absorb. Book three to four weeks in advance as a minimum; six weeks is safer for Saturday dinner. The restaurant is closed on Wednesdays. No website or phone is listed in our current data, so check reservation platforms directly or contact the restaurant via its listed address on Scalinata Camillo Berneri, 2, Arezzo. Hours run 12:30–2:00 PM for lunch and 7:30–9:00 PM for dinner across the open days.
Dress code information is not confirmed in our data, but at the €€€€ price point and Michelin one-star level, smart casual is the safe baseline. This is not a room where casual resort wear will feel right; the space itself signals that a degree of consideration is appropriate.
For broader Arezzo trip planning, see our full Arezzo restaurants guide, our Arezzo hotels guide, our Arezzo bars guide, our Arezzo wineries guide, and our Arezzo experiences guide.
Quick reference: Michelin 1 Star (2024) | 20 seats | €€€€ | Lunch 12:30–2 PM, Dinner 7:30–9 PM | Closed Wednesday | Book 4–6 weeks out for weekends.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Octavin | Housed in two small dining rooms connected by an arch on the ground floor of an old palazzo, this restaurant is decorated with materials that give it a minimalist feel – a combination of stone, wood and iron in the tables, glass in the mirrors and bottles on display, and paper in the books arranged in small niches, just like the lounge of a private home. There are just 20 seats in this warm, intimate and unfussy restaurant, as well as a large counter separated by an arch at the entrance which precedes the recently restructured kitchen. Observation of his own region has shown owner-chef Luca Fracassi that the varied geography of his province is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. As a result, he has embarked upon an impassioned search for ingredients that best showcase the region, combining these in dishes that not only respect the flavours of his produce but also revive traditional local techniques and include the occasional oriental influence. His cuisine is modern yet eschews modern trends, paying careful attention to integrity of flavour and zero waste. In this way, the kitchen becomes a place in which wild ingredients and forgotten flavours are rediscovered and brought back to life. This focus on lost traditions combines ingredients such as snails and game (often neglected in urban restaurants) with a skilful and updated use of contemporary culinary techniques.; Housed in two small dining rooms connected by an arch on the ground floor of an old palazzo, this restaurant is decorated with materials that give it a minimalist feel – a combination of stone, wood and iron in the tables, glass in the mirrors and bottles on display, and paper in the books arranged in small niches, just like the lounge of a private home. There are just 20 seats in this warm, intimate and unfussy restaurant, as well as a large counter separated by an arch at the entrance which precedes the recently restructured kitchen. Observation of his own region has shown owner-chef Luca Fracassi that the varied geography of his province is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. As a result, he has embarked upon an impassioned search for ingredients that best showcase the region, combining these in dishes that not only respect the flavours of his produce but also revive traditional local techniques and include the occasional oriental influence. His cuisine is modern yet eschews modern trends, paying careful attention to integrity of flavour and zero waste. In this way, the kitchen becomes a place in which wild ingredients and forgotten flavours are rediscovered and brought back to life. This focus on lost traditions combines ingredients such as snails and game (often neglected in urban restaurants) with a skilful and updated use of contemporary culinary techniques.; Michelin 1 Star (2024) | €€€€ | — |
| Le Chiavi d'Oro | €€ | — | |
| Osteria Grande | €€€ | — | |
| Saffron | €€ | — | |
| ‘O Scugnizzo | — |
Comparing your options in Arezzo for this tier.
Octavin holds a 2024 Michelin star and seats only 20 people, so availability is tight — book three to four weeks ahead. Chef Luca Fracassi cooks a creative, regionally rooted style that revives forgotten Arezzo-province ingredients like snails and game alongside modern technique. The format is intimate and unhurried across two small dining rooms in a ground-floor palazzo, so this is not a quick dinner; plan for a full sitting window of 12:30–2:00 PM or 7:30–9:00 PM.
At €€€€ pricing with a 2024 Michelin star and only 20 covers, Octavin is positioned at the serious end of the Arezzo dining spectrum and delivers accordingly. The case for spending that much rests on Fracassi's zero-waste, ingredient-led cooking that you are unlikely to find replicated elsewhere in the province. If you are after a standard Tuscan trattoria experience, this is the wrong room; if you want a single-chef tasting-format dinner with a clear culinary point of view, the price holds up.
Le Chiavi d'Oro is the closest peer in terms of considered cooking within Arezzo's historic centre. For a lower-commitment evening, Osteria Grande offers a more traditional format at a lower price point. Saffron and O Scugnizzo cover different bases — the latter skewing toward Neapolitan influences — so the right alternative depends on whether you want to stay in the creative Italian lane or shift registers entirely.
The large counter at the entrance — separated from the two main dining rooms by an arch — makes Octavin a practical solo option, as counter seats at Michelin-starred restaurants typically carry less booking friction than table seats for one. With only 20 covers total, solo diners should still book in advance rather than assuming the counter is walk-in territory. The intimate, quiet register of the room suits solo dining more than a lively group setting would.
The room is described as warm, intimate, and unfussy — a minimalist palazzo space with stone, wood, and iron rather than white tablecloths and formal service trappings. That signals neat, considered dress rather than a jacket-required formality; think clean, put-together clothes appropriate for a Michelin-starred dinner in a small Italian city. Overdressing is unlikely to be an issue, but arriving in casual tourist gear would feel out of register with the room and the €€€€ price point.
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