Restaurant in Bolzano, Italy
Intimate glasshouse dining, skip the Tyrolean defaults.
ConTanima is Bolzano's most intimate creative dining room, set in a candlelit glasshouse inside the Hotel Laurin's gardens. The Michelin Plate-recognised kitchen bridges Neapolitan technique with local Alto Adige produce across three, five, or eight personalised courses. Book it for a special dinner for two — it's easy to get a table, but the small format means you shouldn't leave it to the last minute.
ConTanima is worth booking if you want creative cuisine in Bolzano that doesn't default to the region's well-worn Tyrolean formula. Housed in the gardens of the Hotel Laurin inside a glasshouse with candlelit tables, it earns its €€€€ price point through a kitchen that bridges Neapolitan technique with South Tyrolean produce — a combination you won't find at most addresses in this city. It holds a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, which signals consistent kitchen quality without the waiting-list pressure of a starred room. Book it for a special dinner for two, or for any occasion where setting and culinary ambition both matter.
The glasshouse setting inside the Hotel Laurin's gardens does real work here. With only a handful of tables, the room is genuinely quiet enough for conversation, which already distinguishes ConTanima from livelier options in central Bolzano. Candlelight keeps the atmosphere intimate without tipping into theatre. If you are thinking about timing, this is a venue that rewards an autumn or winter evening visit, when the contrast between the warmth of the glasshouse interior and the cool Alpine air outside adds a specific kind of atmosphere that a summer lunch simply cannot replicate. That said, spring bookings — when the hotel gardens begin to come alive around the glass walls , offer their own case for visiting.
The kitchen's sourcing approach is where ConTanima makes its clearest argument. The chef, originally from Naples, uses that culinary background not as a gimmick but as a genuine interpretive lens applied to local Alto Adige ingredients. This matters for understanding what you are paying for: the menu is not a standard South Tyrolean offering dressed up with a few Italian flourishes, nor is it a Neapolitan restaurant transplanted to the Alps. The sourcing logic runs through both sides , regional meat, vegetables, and producers on one hand; Neapolitan technique and flavour logic on the other. For diners who pay attention to how a kitchen thinks about its ingredients, this is more interesting than the average creative tasting menu, where sourcing claims often function as marketing rather than menu structure.
Format is flexible enough to suit different budgets and appetites. You can build the meal around three, five, or eight courses, and the menu can be personalised , a practical point worth noting if you are dining with someone who has strong preferences. A handful of signature dishes anchor the menu across seasons, giving regular visitors a reference point while the broader menu shifts. For a first visit, the five-course format gives you enough range to understand what the kitchen is doing without committing to the full eight-course experience.
Google rating sits at 5.0 from 23 reviews , a small but clean signal. A near-perfect score from a modest review count is more meaningful at a small-format restaurant like this than it would be at a high-volume venue, where averages tend to compress toward the mean. It suggests a consistent experience rather than a variable one.
For context on where ConTanima sits within the broader creative cooking conversation in Italy, it is worth knowing the landscape. Venues like Reale in Castel di Sangro, Osteria Francescana in Modena, or Uliassi in Senigallia represent the national ceiling for creative Italian cooking. ConTanima is not competing at that level, nor does it need to. It is operating in a specific niche , Bolzano's most intimate creative room , and within that niche it is the clearest choice for the kind of dinner that combines setting, sourcing intelligence, and menu ambition. If you want to benchmark what this style of kitchen can achieve at the leading of the Italian register, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone offers a useful Neapolitan-inflected comparison, and Arpège in Paris sets the global standard for vegetable-forward creative menus. ConTanima's positioning between local Alpine produce and Southern Italian technique is genuinely its own, and the Michelin recognition in consecutive years confirms the kitchen is executing on that premise reliably.
For explorers who want to fill out a Bolzano trip with more depth, the city has more to offer than most visitors realise. Our full Bolzano restaurants guide covers the full range of options across price points. You can also explore Bolzano's bar scene, local wineries, and experiences across the region. If you are considering staying nearby, our Bolzano hotels guide covers the options. Given that ConTanima is located within the Hotel Laurin itself, booking a room there and walking to dinner is a practical move that also removes any timing pressure from the evening.
Price range: €€€€. Booking difficulty: Easy , but the small table count means you should not leave it until the day before, particularly on weekends or around local events. Format: Three, five, or eight courses; menu personalisation available on request. Setting: Glasshouse in the Hotel Laurin gardens, candlelit, intimate. Leading time: Autumn or winter evenings for the full atmospheric effect; spring for garden-adjacent appeal. Reservations: Recommended , the room is small and fills. Group suitability: Leading for two; groups should confirm capacity and format with the venue directly before booking. Dress: Smart casual at minimum given the setting and price point.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ConTanima | Creative | Housed in an elegant glasshouse in the gardens of the Hotel Laurin, this restaurant boasts soft lighting and just a few tables, with candlelight adding to the intimate and romantic atmosphere (booking is recommended). Here, the talented chef (originally from Naples) serves creative cuisine with a focus on meat and vegetable dishes. The menu also features a few signature dishes and can be personalised by choosing three, five or eight courses. A perfect fusion between local ingredients and Neapolitan influences, all reinterpreted with skill and imagination.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Vögele | Regional Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Laurin | Modern Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Zur Kaiserkron | Mediterranean Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Marechiaro | Seafood | Unknown | — | |
| Castel Flavon - Haselburg | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how ConTanima measures up.
The eight-course menu is the strongest way to experience what the chef is doing here. The kitchen's focus is meat and vegetable dishes, shaped by both local Alto Adige ingredients and Neapolitan influence from the chef's background. Signature dishes can be incorporated into whichever menu length you choose, so ask when booking which of those are currently featured.
At €€€€ in Bolzano, ConTanima is priced at the top of the local market, but it justifies that positioning: two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024, 2025) confirm consistent kitchen quality. If you want creative, chef-driven cooking rather than regional comfort food, this is one of the few places in the city operating at that level. For a more casual spend, Vögele or Zur Kaiserkron give you solid regional cooking at a lower price point.
For traditional South Tyrolean cooking, Vögele and Zur Kaiserkron are the reliable local choices at a lower price. Castel Flavon - Haselburg offers a similarly scenic, upmarket setting with strong regional roots. Marechiaro is the option if you want Italian rather than Alpine-creative. ConTanima is the pick specifically for creative cuisine that mixes local produce with Neapolitan technique.
The venue database does not confirm a bar counter or bar-seating option at ConTanima. Given the glasshouse format with only a handful of tables and a booking-recommended policy, this reads as a reservation-only, table-service restaurant. Contact the Hotel Laurin directly to confirm before planning a walk-in.
The small table count in the glasshouse setting works against larger parties. This is a venue built around intimate dining: quiet, few tables, candlelit. Groups of two to four are the natural fit. If you are planning a larger gathering, contact the Hotel Laurin well in advance to establish whether a private arrangement is possible.
Yes, and it is one of the stronger calls in Bolzano for exactly that. The glasshouse in the Hotel Laurin gardens, the small room, the candlelight, and a personalised tasting menu from three to eight courses all point toward occasion dining rather than everyday eating. Book ahead, particularly on weekends, given the limited table count.
The eight-course format is where the kitchen's creativity is most legible: it lets the chef work through both local Alto Adige produce and Neapolitan influences across a full progression. The three-course option is there if budget or appetite is a factor, and signature dishes appear across all formats. For a one-off visit at €€€€, the longer menu is better value for the investment.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
