Magnolia

Verdict: Book Magnolia if you can get a table — this is two-Michelin-star cooking in a Romagna hilltop villa that most visitors to the Adriatic coast have never heard of

Magnolia is one of the most compelling arguments for extending an Adriatic trip inland. Chef Alberto Faccani holds two Michelin stars (retained through 2024 and 2025) and a La Liste score of 89.5 points in 2025, placing him firmly in the top tier of Italian fine dining — yet the restaurant sits in Longiano, a medieval hilltop town that most tourists drive past without stopping. If you are planning a serious meal in Emilia-Romagna and have not yet considered Magnolia, reconsider. The question is not whether the cooking justifies the €€€€ price point; it does. The question is whether you can get a reservation.

The Setting and the Weekend Lunch Case

Magnolia occupies the dining room of Relais Villa Margherita, an 18th-century villa converted into a six-room residence with grounds and a pool. The dining room is a contemporary veranda-style space with large picture windows that look out over the Romagna hills toward the outline of San Marino on the horizon. On a clear Saturday or Sunday afternoon, that view alone reframes what lunch means.

Saturday lunch (12:30–2:30 pm) and Sunday lunch (12:30–2:30 pm) are the formats to prioritise if your schedule allows. Weekend lunch at a two-star restaurant of this calibre is one of the better value propositions in Italian fine dining: the kitchen is operating at full intensity, the light through those picture windows is at its leading, and the pacing of a long afternoon meal suits the setting far better than a rushed midweek dinner. For food and travel enthusiasts who want depth of experience rather than just a box ticked, the Saturday lunch slot is the one to target. Compare this to Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, where the room is magnificent but the urban setting means you lose the sense of arriving somewhere specific. At Magnolia, the journey to Longiano is part of the experience in a way that feels earned rather than contrived.

Alberto Faccani's Kitchen: What to Expect

Faccani's cooking is described by La Liste as revolving around the leading local products, thoughtful technique, and above all, taste. His style balances the classic dishes that have defined his career alongside more experimental work , documented examples from award sources include lobster with mango, lime and almond, and fried artichoke with eel and parsley. A cuttlefish preparation with coconut milk, caviar and peas is cited as demonstrating his ability to handle delicate flavour combinations without losing balance. These are not generic fine-dining dishes; they show a chef working with Adriatic and Romagna ingredients and pushing them in directions that are genuinely his own.

Vegetables occupy an unusually prominent place in Faccani's philosophy. La Liste notes that he is a committed vegetable cook who works extensively with local produce, and that some dishes are prepared as entirely plant-based compositions. This is not a token nod to current trends; reviewers have described his vegetable work as prepared with real conviction. For guests with plant-forward preferences, Magnolia is more considered in this area than most restaurants at this price point.

For the full picture on dining in the area, see our full Longiano restaurants guide, which also covers Dei Cantoni for Romagna regional cooking and Terre Alte for seafood.

Ratings and Recognition

• Michelin: 2 Stars (2024, 2025)
• La Liste: 89.5 pts (2025), 87 pts (2026)
• Google: 4.8 from 583 reviews , a strong signal of consistency given the volume

The combination of a high Google score at meaningful volume and sustained two-star Michelin recognition across multiple years is the trust signal that matters here. This is not a restaurant riding a single year of momentum.

Booking

Booking difficulty is rated Near Impossible. Two Michelin stars in a six-room villa with a small dining room means tables are scarce. Plan well ahead , think months for weekend slots, not weeks. Dinners run Tuesday through Sunday (7:30–10 pm); Saturday and Sunday also offer lunch (12:30–2:30 pm). Monday is closed. No booking method, phone number, or website is listed in our current data, so check current availability through your hotel concierge or via a specialist reservation service. If you are staying at Relais Villa Margherita itself, you are in the strongest position to secure a table.

Reservations: Book as far ahead as possible , months in advance for weekend lunch. Hours: Tue–Sun dinner 7:30–10 pm; Sat–Sun lunch 12:30–2:30 pm; closed Monday. Budget: €€€€ , expect tasting menu pricing commensurate with two-Michelin-star positioning. Dress: No formal code confirmed in our data, but the setting (historic villa, two Michelin stars) warrants smart dress at minimum. Getting there: Longiano is a hilltop town in the Emilia-Romagna region; a car is the practical choice from the Adriatic coast or from Cesena, the nearest larger town.

How to Plan Around Magnolia

If you are building a trip around this meal, Longiano itself is small but worth a half-day. For broader context on what the area offers, see our full Longiano hotels guide, our full Longiano bars guide, our full Longiano wineries guide, and our full Longiano experiences guide. For comparable serious dining elsewhere in the region, Osteria Francescana in Modena and Piazza Duomo in Alba are the reference points at the leading of northern Italian fine dining. On the Adriatic coast more broadly, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone offers a coastal counterpoint. For creative Italian cooking in other parts of the country, Reale in Castel di Sangro, Il Pagliaccio in Rome, and Terra The Magic Place in Sarentino each represent distinct regional approaches worth comparing.