Restaurant in Ostuni, Italy
Michelin-backed Apulian cooking at €€ prices.
Holding back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand awards in 2024 and 2025, Osteria Piazzetta Cattedrale is the most credentialled restaurant in central Ostuni at a €€ price point. A husband-and-wife operation steps from the cathedral, it delivers precise Apulian cooking — broad bean purée, sformatino, suckling pig — in an intimate room that works well for a special occasion dinner without requiring a special-occasion budget.
Picture the old town of Ostuni at dusk: the whitewashed alleys narrowing toward the cathedral square, the stone walls still warm from the afternoon sun. Osteria Piazzetta Cattedrale sits almost in the shadow of that cathedral, and for visitors trying to decide where to spend a meaningful evening in the Città Bianca, the decision is direct. This is the most credentialled neighbourhood restaurant in central Ostuni, holding consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand awards in 2024 and 2025, and it earns those distinctions without the price tag that usually accompanies them. At a €€ price point, it represents serious value for the quality on the plate.
The physical space reinforces the occasion without overwhelming it. The restaurant is small and intimate, positioned close enough to the cathedral that the setting itself does part of the work for a special dinner. The scale is domestic rather than grand: think a handful of tables, the kind of room where the husband and wife running the place are genuinely present throughout the meal. Chef Gabriele Dal Moro's wife manages the kitchen; he works the floor. That arrangement matters more than it might sound. In a small room run by two people with a direct stake in every table, service attentiveness tends to be consistent in a way that larger, more anonymous restaurants rarely match. For a date dinner or a celebration where being looked after properly is part of the point, that human scale is an asset.
The menu is anchored in Apulian produce, and the dishes documented by the Michelin guide give a reliable picture of the kitchen's direction. Broad bean purée with seasonal vegetables is the kind of dish that looks understated on paper but tests a kitchen's respect for ingredient quality and timing. The sformatino, a soufflé-style preparation with courgette flowers, spring onions, and date purée, shows ambition with local flavours without tipping into the overwrought. Suckling pig with baked potato and wild greens is the heartier option for those who want something more substantial. Warm sfogliatina pastry with vanilla cream closes the meal in the same register: classical Apulian technique, clean execution, no theatre for its own sake. The consistency across these dishes, from vegetable-led starters through to dessert, is what sustains a Bib Gourmand over two consecutive years.
For context on where this fits in the broader Italian dining picture: the Bib Gourmand is Michelin's designation for restaurants offering good cooking at moderate prices. It is a different credential from a Michelin star, but in many ways a more practical one for the reader deciding where to book on a given evening. Venues like Osteria Francescana in Modena, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, or Le Calandre in Rubano represent the starred end of Italy's fine dining spectrum. Piazzetta Cattedrale operates at the other end of the price curve while still meeting Michelin's threshold for kitchen quality. Within Puglia specifically, it sits alongside places like Casa Sgarra in Trani and Pashà in Conversano as a reliable reference point for Apulian cooking done with care.
Booking is listed as easy, which is consistent with a small neighbourhood osteria in a town that, outside peak summer weeks in July and August, does not have the tourist pressure of a major city. That said, a room this size fills quickly on weekends and during the summer high season when Ostuni draws visitors from across Europe. If you are planning a special occasion dinner, booking ahead is sensible rather than optional. The cathedral adjacency makes the walk from anywhere in the old town short, and the location is the kind of address that justifies arriving slightly early to take in the square before sitting down.
For current seasonal availability and the precise focus of the menu right now, the leading approach is to contact the restaurant directly or check recent visitor reviews, since hours and seasonal schedules for small Italian osterias are not always published consistently online. Google reviewers rate it 4.5 from 450 reviews, a score that holds up well for a room this size, where the variance between a quiet Tuesday and a packed Saturday can be significant. The consensus across that review base aligns with the Michelin assessment: the cooking is the main reason to go, and the value relative to quality is the headline.
If Apulian cuisine is the focus of your time in the region, this is also a useful lens for the wider trip. The full Ostuni restaurants guide covers the broader options in town. For those moving around Puglia, the Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler and Dal Pescatore in Runate represent the other end of the Italian dining register if a more formal tasting experience is on the agenda. Within Ostuni itself, the hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide round out the planning picture for a full stay.
The short version: Osteria Piazzetta Cattedrale is the restaurant in central Ostuni that justifies a dedicated booking rather than a walk-in impulse. The Michelin recognition is current and consecutive, the setting is as good as the old town offers, and the price does not require rationalisation. Book it for the evening you most want to get right.
Booking difficulty is low by Ostuni standards, but the small room size means availability tightens fast during summer weekends and the July–August peak. Book at least a few days ahead for weekend dinners; same-week availability is generally possible outside high season. The address is Via Cattedrale, 72017 Ostuni, in the historic centre. No phone or website is listed in our current data , check Google Maps or recent travel forums for the most current contact route. The €€ price range means a full dinner with wine should remain accessible rather than requiring a special budget allocation.
See the comparison section below for how Piazzetta Cattedrale positions against Cielo, Masseria Moroseta, Osteria Ricanatti, and Pescheria Nautilas Ostuni. Also worth considering for the broader region: Berton al Vista and Enrico Bartolini if you are benchmarking against the wider Italian fine dining tier.
Planning a full stay? The Ostuni restaurants guide covers the full dining picture. For accommodation context, see the Ostuni hotels guide. For wine exploration in the region, the Ostuni wineries guide is the starting point.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osteria Piazzetta Cattedrale | Apulian | Run by a married couple with the wife in the kitchen and the husband front of house, this gem of a restaurant just a few metres from the cathedral stands out for its top - quality produce (mainly from Puglia), in dishes such as broad bean purée with seasonal vegetables. Other specialities include sformatino (a type of soufflé) with courgette flowers, spring onions and date purée; suckling pig with baked potato and wild greens; and warm sfogliatina pastry with vanilla cream.; Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025); Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) | Easy | — |
| Cielo | Modern Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Masseria Moroseta | Mediterranean Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Osteria Ricanatti | Modern Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Pescheria Nautilas Ostuni | Italian Seafood | Unknown | — | |
| Restaurant 700 | Contemporary | Unknown | — |
How Osteria Piazzetta Cattedrale stacks up against the competition.
Groups should book early and keep numbers modest. The room is small — this is not a venue built for large parties — and availability tightens fast during summer weekends and the July–August peak. A table of four to six is workable; anything larger risks the kitchen being stretched. check the venue's official channels to confirm capacity before planning a big gathering.
This is a husband-and-wife operation a few metres from Ostuni's cathedral: she runs the kitchen, he runs the floor. It holds the Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2024 and 2025, meaning the inspectors rate it as good cooking at a fair price — which at €€ is genuinely low for a recognised Michelin venue. Book ahead rather than walking in, especially in summer, and expect a short, produce-led menu grounded in Apulian ingredients.
The broad bean purée with seasonal vegetables is the most frequently cited dish and the clearest expression of what the kitchen does: simple Apulian produce handled carefully. The sformatino with courgette flowers, spring onions, and date purée shows more technical range, and the suckling pig with baked potato and wild greens is the main course to order if it's on. Finish with the warm sfogliatina pastry with vanilla cream.
For a step up in setting and spend, Cielo offers rooftop views over the white city with a more ambitious menu. Masseria Moroseta is the choice if you want a full agriturismo experience outside town rather than a trattoria in the old centre. Osteria Ricanatti is the closest like-for-like alternative for Apulian cooking in a similar neighbourhood format. Pescheria Nautilas Ostuni is the go-to if seafood is the priority over the land-based cooking that defines Piazzetta Cattedrale.
The venue data does not confirm a dedicated tasting menu format, so this is not a guarantee. The kitchen's strength is in its produce-led Apulian dishes, and at €€ pricing, a multi-course progression here costs considerably less than at comparable Michelin-recognised venues in the region. If a tasting option is available when you visit, the Bib Gourmand credential suggests the value case is solid.
Yes, clearly. The Michelin Bib Gourmand — awarded in both 2024 and 2025 — is specifically designed to flag good cooking at reasonable prices, and at €€ this is one of the more affordable ways to eat at a Michelin-acknowledged table in Puglia. For the quality of produce and the care in execution described by the inspectors, the price-to-quality ratio is the venue's strongest argument.
It works well for a low-key special occasion — an anniversary dinner or a meaningful meal rather than a large celebration. The cathedral-side location in Ostuni's old town adds occasion without effort, and the husband-and-wife format means service is personal. For a grander, more formal celebration, Cielo's setting or Restaurant 700's profile may suit better. But if the occasion calls for intimate and genuinely good food, Piazzetta Cattedrale at €€ is a sharper choice than most.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
