Restaurant in Florence, Italy
Michelin-starred dinner, sea-forward, no theatre.
Atto di Vito Mollica earns its 2024 Michelin star through sea-focused contemporary Italian cooking inside a 16th-century frescoed palazzo behind Florence's Duomo. Open Wednesday to Sunday, dinner only, with a 5,400-bottle wine cellar and hard-to-secure reservations. At the €€€€ price point, it is the most considered choice for a special dinner in central Florence.
If you are visiting Florence and want a Michelin-starred dinner that earns its star through cooking rather than theatre, Atto di Vito Mollica is the right call. The restaurant sits inside Palazzo Portinari, a few steps behind the Duomo, and delivers a sea-focused contemporary Italian menu in a frescoed dining room that would be reason enough to visit on its own. A second visit will confirm what a first visit establishes: the setting does not outrun the food, and the food does not outrun the setting. That balance is harder to achieve than it sounds in this city.
At the €€€€ price point, with cuisine pricing at $66+ for a typical two-course dinner (beverages excluded), this is not a casual drop-in. But for what you get — a one-Michelin-star kitchen, 5,400-bottle wine cellar managed by Wine Director Clizia Zuin, and service overseen by General Manager Mark Ignatov — the spend is defensible. If you are deciding between this and a mid-range trattoria for a special evening, this is the upgrade worth making.
The kitchen, led by chefs Rosario Bernardo and Paolo Acunto under owner and chef patron Vito Mollica, focuses on the sea. For a landlocked city, that is a deliberate and confident choice. The menu leans on high-quality ingredients , house-made bread, a curated selection of primarily Tuscan and Umbrian olive oils , with first courses described in the Michelin record as highly distinctive. The cooking style is contemporary Italian, with combinations that, in the Michelin guide's own framing, come as a pleasant surprise rather than a disorienting challenge. This is not a restaurant asking you to work hard. It rewards attention without demanding it.
The dining room itself warrants specific mention. Original 16th-century frescoes depicting scenes from the Odyssey line the walls alongside images of daily life from the same period. A fountain provides ambient sound. None of this is replica or recreation , you are eating inside a genuinely historic palazzo interior. For a first-time visitor, the practical advice is to arrive without rushing: give yourself time to absorb the room before the menu takes over.
Wine program is a serious asset. With 850 selections and 5,400 bottles in inventory, the list skews toward France (Champagne, Burgundy) and Italy (Piedmont, Tuscany). Pricing is in the $$$ range, meaning many bottles exceed $100, though the range includes mid-tier options. If you bring your own bottle, the corkage fee is €42 (listed as $42 in the database). For wine-focused diners, this is one of the stronger cellar offerings among Florence's top-tier restaurants and worth discussing with the team when you book.
Restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday, dinner only, from 7 PM to 10:30 PM. Monday and Tuesday are closed. For a first-time visitor, the practical implication is direct: your window is narrow, so do not leave booking to the last day of a short trip. This is a hard-to-book venue , reservations should be secured well in advance, particularly for weekend evenings in peak tourist season (spring and autumn in Florence).
Atto di Vito Mollica works well for couples on a special occasion, food-focused travellers who want a Michelin-starred dinner without the full tasting-menu commitment of Florence's heavier hitters, and wine-serious diners who want depth of cellar alongside strong cooking. It is less obviously suited to large groups given the intimate nature of the setting, though the palazzo context suggests private dining possibilities worth enquiring about when booking.
For broader context among Italian contemporary restaurants, the sea-focused kitchen here sits in a tradition that includes venues like Uliassi in Senigallia and Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone , both Michelin-recognised and seafood-led. The commitment to coastal produce in an inland setting is a through-line in Italian fine dining, from L'Olivo in Anacapri to Agli Amici Rovinj. Atto holds its own in that company.
If you are building a broader Italy itinerary around serious restaurants, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Dal Pescatore in Runate, Reale in Castel di Sangro, and Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico are worth adding to your consideration set alongside this one.
| Detail | Atto di Vito Mollica | Enoteca Pinchiorri | Gucci Osteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price tier | €€€€ | €€€€ | €€€€ |
| Michelin stars | 1 (2024) | 3 | 1 |
| Dinner only? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Days open | Wed–Sun | Tue–Sat | Varies |
| Wine cellar depth | 5,400 bottles | Extensive | Curated |
| Booking difficulty | Hard | Very hard | Hard |
For more options across the city, see our full Florence restaurants guide. If you are planning accommodation around a dinner here, our Florence hotels guide covers the leading options near the centre. For pre-dinner drinks, our Florence bars guide has the relevant picks, and for wine tourism beyond the city, our Florence wineries guide and experiences guide are worth a look.
Nearby Florence alternatives worth considering for different occasions: Il Palagio, Degusteria Italiana, Gunè San Frediano, and Konnubio cover a range of price points and cooking styles if Atto is fully booked or the format does not suit.
Yes, for what it delivers at the Michelin one-star level in Florence. The €€€€ pricing reflects cuisine that costs $66+ for two courses before drinks, with wine adding considerably more given the $$$-tier list. Compared to Enoteca Pinchiorri, which charges more for its three-star experience, Atto offers a more accessible entry point to serious cooking in an equally historic setting. If your priority is a strong dinner rather than a full tasting marathon, the value holds.
The Michelin record describes the kitchen as producing highly distinctive first courses with unusual, pleasant combinations , which points toward a tasting format being the leading way to experience the range. Without confirmed menu details from the database, the specific structure cannot be confirmed here. Contact the restaurant directly when booking to ask about tasting vs. à la carte options and what the kitchen is currently running. The one-star credential and sea-focused identity both suggest the tasting menu, if offered, is the more rewarding path.
The kitchen's focus is seafood and the sea, with house-made bread and Tuscan and Umbrian olive oils cited as notable quality signals in the Michelin entry. Specific dishes are not confirmed in the available data, so ordering from the kitchen's current recommendations when you arrive is the practical approach. Ask your server what the team is most proud of that evening , the professional service standard here makes that conversation direct.
No specific dietary policy is confirmed in the available data. Given the Michelin one-star context and the level of service noted in the record, the kitchen is well-positioned to accommodate restrictions with advance notice. Contact the restaurant directly before booking to flag any requirements , this is standard practice at this tier and will give the kitchen time to adjust.
The intimate nature of a palazzo dining room with frescoed walls and fountain ambiance is better suited to smaller parties. The data does not confirm private dining capacity or maximum group size, so if you are planning for four or more, contact the restaurant before booking to discuss options. For larger groups at the €€€€ tier in Florence, Enoteca Pinchiorri may have more flexible private dining infrastructure.
Dinner is your only option. The restaurant operates exclusively in the evening, Wednesday through Sunday, from 7 PM to 10:30 PM. There is no lunch service. Plan accordingly , if you are arriving in Florence on a Monday or Tuesday, you will need to look elsewhere for a comparable experience on those nights.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atto di Vito Mollica | €€€€ | Hard | — |
| Enoteca Pinchiorri | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Santa Elisabetta | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Il Palagio | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Borgo San Jacopo | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Florence for this tier.
A kitchen operating at Michelin-star level — as Atto di Vito Mollica has held since 2024 — will typically accommodate dietary restrictions when given advance notice. check the venue's official channels before booking to flag specific requirements. The menu's strong focus on seafood means pescatarians are well served; guests avoiding fish should make this clear when reserving.
The kitchen under chefs Rosario Bernardo and Paolo Acunto centres on the sea, so seafood-forward dishes are where the cooking is most purposeful. The house-made bread and the selection of Tuscan and Umbrian olive oils are highlighted as worth attention in their own right. At €€€€ pricing with a two-course meal running $66+, ordering across multiple courses makes practical sense — this is not a restaurant to visit for a single dish.
For food-focused diners, yes. The Michelin star awarded in 2024 reflects consistent kitchen execution, and the setting — a frescoed 16th-century palazzo with a 5,400-bottle cellar — adds genuine context rather than decorative filler. If you want a shorter, lower-commitment dinner, Santa Elisabetta or Borgo San Jacopo offer comparable prestige with more flexible formats.
The venue is set within the Palazzo Portinari, a historic palazzo space, which typically suits intimate dining better than large parties. Groups of six or more should check the venue's official channels to confirm availability and any private dining options. This is a dinner-only venue (Wednesday through Sunday, 7 PM to 10:30 PM), so scheduling flexibility for groups is limited.
At €€€€ with a wine list priced at the $$$ tier — many bottles above $100 and a corkage fee of $42 — an evening here will clear €150–200+ per person once wine is included. The 2024 Michelin star and the combination of serious cooking, a 5,400-bottle cellar curated by wine director Clizia Zuin, and a genuinely historic room make the spend defensible for a special occasion. For comparable food at a lower price point, Gucci Osteria offers a more accessible entry into Florence's top tier.
Dinner only — the restaurant operates Wednesday through Sunday from 7 PM to 10:30 PM, with no lunch service. Monday and Tuesday are closed. Book at least two to three weeks out for weekend dates; a Michelin-starred room in central Florence with limited operating nights fills quickly.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
