Restaurant in Cortina Vecchia, Italy
Half-century of fish dishes at fair prices.
Da Giovanni is a fifty-year-old family restaurant in the Piacenza province holding a Michelin Plate and a 4.8 Google rating across 800-plus reviews — at a €€ price point. Fish is the house speciality. The extensive wine list includes by-the-glass options, and the booking difficulty is low. One of the cleaner value decisions in the Po valley.
Da Giovanni in Cortina Vecchia holds a Google rating of 4.8 across more than 800 reviews, which is a number that warrants a booking call rather than a browse. This is a €€ restaurant that has operated for half a century along the Piacenza stretch of the Po valley, and it carries a Michelin Plate for both 2024 and 2025. For first-timers trying to calibrate expectations: you are looking at a long-running family restaurant with serious cooking, a professional service floor, and a wine list extensive enough to include a meaningful selection by the glass. The price point is accessible relative to the quality on offer, and the booking difficulty is low — which makes this one of the more direct decisions in the region.
The room tells you immediately that this is not a newly opened concept restaurant. The 18th-century ceramic stove and a mix of period and vintage decor signal that the space has been inhabited rather than designed. As a first-timer, the key thing to know is that Da Giovanni has built its reputation on fish, not meat. Both appear on the menu, but fish is the house speciality , the cooking that made the restaurant's name across the Po valley over five decades. Order accordingly. If you arrive expecting a Piacenza-style meat-forward meal and ignore the fish, you will have missed the point of the visit.
Service is described as friendly and informal in style but highly professional in execution , the combination that distinguishes a well-run family restaurant from a casual one. For someone visiting for the first time, this means you can expect guidance without formality, and knowledgeable help with the wine list without the theatre that often accompanies it at higher price points.
The Michelin Plate designation at a €€ price point is already a strong signal, but the wine list at Da Giovanni adds a layer of value that is worth considering before you arrive. An extensive list with a solid selection by the glass is not standard at this price tier in northern Italy. It means you can work through multiple pours across a meal without committing to full bottles , useful if you are eating solo or as a pair, or if you want to match different wines to the fish and meat courses without doubling the bill.
The Po valley sits within reach of several of Italy's serious wine regions: Emilia-Romagna's Sangiovese-based reds, Lambrusco in various styles, and the Colli Piacentini DOC, which produces white and red wines that rarely travel far from the region. A list built for a restaurant that has served this territory for fifty years will likely draw on local producers alongside broader Italian selections. This is the kind of depth that rewards asking the floor staff what is drinking well rather than defaulting to familiar labels. For wine-focused diners, this is genuinely part of the reason to book Da Giovanni over a comparable restaurant in the area with a thinner list.
Da Giovanni's half-century of operation suggests it is a year-round proposition rather than a seasonal outlier, but the Po valley in spring and autumn offers the most comfortable conditions for the kind of leisurely lunch or dinner this restaurant rewards. The Piacenza area can be humid and warm in high summer; if you are visiting between June and August, an evening booking will be more comfortable than lunch. The combination of classic room, professional service, and an unhurried wine list makes this a better fit for a two-hour meal than a quick stop , book accordingly, and give yourself time to work through the glass pours.
Reservations: Recommended , booking difficulty is rated Easy, but a restaurant with this rating and history will fill on weekends. Call or book ahead for Friday and Saturday evenings. Dress: No dress code listed, but the combination of Michelin recognition and professional service floor suggests smart casual is the right register , avoid beachwear or athleisure. Budget: €€ price range makes this one of the better-value Michelin-recognised dining options in the Po valley corridor. Getting there: The address is Str. di Cortina, 1040, Piacenza province , a car is the practical choice from central Piacenza. Group size: The family-tradition format and informal service style suit couples and small groups equally; larger parties should book in advance and confirm table configuration.
See the comparison section below for how Da Giovanni sits against regional and national peers.
For more options in the area, browse our full Cortina Vecchia restaurants guide, our Cortina Vecchia hotels guide, our Cortina Vecchia bars guide, our Cortina Vecchia wineries guide, and our Cortina Vecchia experiences guide.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Da Giovanni | Modern Cuisine | €€ | The 18C ceramic stove, bright, colourful decor (both period and vintage), long family tradition and excellent cuisine all contribute to making this restaurant which opened half a century ago a bastion of fine cuisine in Piacenza and the wider Po valley. Meat and fish both feature on the menu, although it is the latter that has become renowned as the restaurant’s speciality over the years. The excellent service is friendly and informal yet highly professional, while the extensive wine list also includes a good selection of wines by the glass.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dal Pescatore | Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Osteria Francescana | Progressive Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Quattro Passi | Italian, Mediterranean Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Reale | Progressive Italian, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Da Giovanni and alternatives.
Go for the fish. Meat features on the menu, but fish is what the restaurant has built its reputation on over fifty years of operation in Piacenza and the Po valley. The room is not a sleek modern interior — an 18th-century ceramic stove and period decor set the tone, and service is professional but informal. At €€ pricing with a Michelin Plate (2024 and 2025), the value case is strong from the start.
There is no bar seating confirmed in the available venue data for Da Giovanni. Given the traditional dining room format suggested by the period decor and ceramic stove, this is most likely a sit-down table-service restaurant. Book a table rather than planning a bar drop-in.
Cortina Vecchia is a small locality near Piacenza, so realistic alternatives sit in the broader Po valley and Emilia-Romagna region. Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio is a higher-spend option with Michelin star recognition if you want to push the budget. For a comparable family-tradition experience at a similar price point in northern Italy, Da Giovanni holds its own and is the stronger value case at €€.
The venue data describes service as friendly and informal yet highly professional, which points to relaxed but presentable dress. Jeans with a neat shirt or a simple dress will not be out of place. This is not a black-tie environment — the 18th-century ceramic stove and vintage decor signal character over formality.
Specific menu formats are not confirmed in the available venue data, so this cannot be answered definitively. What is clear is that fish dishes are the house speciality and the Michelin Plate recognition at a €€ price range suggests the kitchen delivers at a level above the spend. If a tasting format is available, the fish-led dishes are the strongest reason to take it.
At €€, yes — the Michelin Plate across two consecutive years (2024 and 2025) and a 4.8 Google rating from more than 800 reviews put Da Giovanni firmly in over-delivering territory for the price. The extensive wine list, including a good selection by the glass, adds further value. For a comparable spend in northern Italy, few restaurants at this price tier match that combination of longevity, recognition, and guest satisfaction.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
