Restaurant in Sirmione, Italy
Serious cooking that earns its Michelin star.
Tancredi earned its first Michelin star in 2024 under chef Vincenzo Manicone, a Cannavacciuolo alumnus delivering creative Italian cooking at €€€ — below what comparable starred restaurants charge elsewhere in northern Italy. The glass-fronted dining room and lakeside terrace in Sirmione are genuinely impressive, but the food is the primary reason to book. Reserve three to four weeks out minimum for peak season.
The most common mistake travellers make about Tancredi is assuming it is a scenic restaurant that happens to have good food. It is not. Chef Vincenzo Manicone, who trained under Antonino Cannavacciuolo, is running a technically serious creative kitchen here — one that earned its first Michelin star in 2024 , and the lake view is almost incidental to the quality on the plate. If you arrive expecting a polished but safe Italian-with-a-view experience, the cooking will reorient you quickly.
Tancredi is worth booking for one specific type of diner: someone who wants creative Italian cooking at a price point (€€€) that significantly undercuts comparable starred restaurants in northern Italy, in a physical setting that genuinely adds to the meal rather than compensating for it. If that is you, book sooner rather than later , a 2024 Michelin star in a small lake town means tables are now harder to secure than the restaurant's modest profile might suggest.
The space at Tancredi is structured around two distinct experiences, and your choice between them matters. The interior is a glass-fronted dining room , composed, elegant, with the lake visible through the full-height windows but filtered through architecture. It works well in cooler months and for anyone who prefers the quiet of an enclosed room.
The terrace is a different proposition. Suspended between the lake and the sky, it puts you physically over the water in a way that very few restaurants in Sirmione replicate. In summer, the front tables on the terrace are the specific seats to request: not the back rows, which give a more diluted version of the same view, but the front row, where the lake is directly below you. This is confirmed advice from Michelin's own inspectors, who explicitly recommend those positions. A practical note: the terrace fills earlier in the evening during peak season, so booking an 8:30 PM or later slot on a Saturday in July or August may mean settling for interior seating. If the outdoor experience is important to you, book early in the evening and request the terrace front when you make your reservation.
Physical scale of the room keeps service attentive without being formal. This is not a cavernous grand dining room of the kind you encounter at, say, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence or Le Calandre in Rubano. The intimacy is closer to a restaurant where the kitchen's personality comes through clearly, which suits Manicone's approach: precise, considered, personal.
Manicone's training with Cannavacciuolo , one of Italy's most technically rigorous chefs, with two Michelin stars at Villa Crespi , shows in the discipline of the cooking. The cuisine is genuinely creative rather than creative in name only: dishes are built around colour and flavour balance, with presentation that earns its place rather than substituting for substance. The kitchen takes a nose-to-tail approach that extends beyond land proteins to fish , Michelin's inspectors specifically noted an amberjack dish using the whole fish alongside curly salad and sea urchin as an example of how the kitchen reduces waste without sacrificing quality.
Both tasting menus and à la carte are available, which gives the restaurant more flexibility than many starred venues of similar ambition. The à la carte option is worth noting for anyone who finds tasting menus structurally limiting, or who is visiting after a long day on the lake and wants a shorter meal. That said, if you are travelling specifically for the food , and from elsewhere in Italy or from abroad, that is a reasonable reason to come , the tasting menu is the more complete way to see what Manicone is actually doing.
For a reference point on northern Italian creative cooking at a comparable level, look at how Tancredi positions against Piazza Duomo in Alba or Enrico Bartolini in Milan. Tancredi is less established and at a lower price tier, but the 2024 star signals that the gap in execution is smaller than the gap in profile.
Tancredi is open Tuesday through Sunday, lunch and dinner, with Monday closed. Lunch service runs 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM; dinner 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM. The restaurant does not take walk-ins reliably , this is a destination that now carries serious booking pressure following the Michelin recognition. Plan a minimum of three to four weeks ahead for a weekend dinner in peak season (May through September), and longer if you want specific seating. Off-season weekday lunches are your leading window if you have schedule flexibility. There is no booking method confirmed in our data, so contact the restaurant directly via their listed address at Via XXV Aprile, 75, Sirmione, or check current availability through reservation platforms that cover the region.
For context on where Tancredi sits in the Sirmione dining scene and against its peers, see the comparison section below. For broader planning, our full Sirmione restaurants guide covers the complete picture, and we also have guides to Sirmione hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences.
| Detail | Tancredi | La Rucola 2.0 | La Speranzina | Risorgimento |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuisine | Creative | Creative | Italian | Mediterranean |
| Price | €€€ | €€€€ | €€€€ | €€€ |
| Michelin | 1 Star (2024) | Check Pearl | Check Pearl | – |
| Booking difficulty | Hard | Hard | Moderate | Easier |
| Leading for | Creative tasting, lakeside terrace | Creative fine dining | Italian lakeside | Relaxed lakeside dining |
| Monday | Closed | Check venue | Check venue | Check venue |
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tancredi | Creative | Having trained with Antonino Cannavacciuolo, young chef Vincenzo Manicone has, with his wife Sara, embarked on a new venture in this elegant restaurant with a glass-fronted dining room and a terrace suspended between the lake and the sky. Showcased on tasting menus and an à la carte, the chef’s cuisine demonstrates a maturity that pays close attention to colour and flavour, with beautifully presented dishes prepared from top-quality, well-balanced ingredients. Also evident is the aim, currently in vogue, of reducing food waste by using every single part of the animal (as in the case of the excellent amberjack, curly salad and sea urchin dish that we very much enjoyed). In summer, we recommend requesting a table at the front of the terrace, right over the lake.; Having trained with Antonino Cannavacciuolo, young chef Vincenzo Manicone has, with his wife Sara, embarked on a new venture in this elegant restaurant with a glass-fronted dining room and a terrace suspended between the lake and the sky. Showcased on tasting menus and an à la carte, the chef’s cuisine demonstrates a maturity that pays close attention to colour and flavour, with beautifully presented dishes prepared from top-quality, well-balanced ingredients. Also evident is the aim, currently in vogue, of reducing food waste by using every single part of the animal (as in the case of the excellent amberjack, curly salad and sea urchin dish that we very much enjoyed). In summer, we recommend requesting a table at the front of the terrace, right over the lake.; Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Hard | — |
| La Rucola 2.0 | Creative | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| La Speranzina | Italian | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Le Gardenie | Italian Lakeside | Unknown | — | |
| Risorgimento | Mediterranean Cuisine | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
Tancredi is the only Michelin-starred option in Sirmione, so the comparison depends on what you're after. La Rucola 2.0 is the closest competitor for upscale dining and a longer track record in the town. La Speranzina offers lake views at a similar price tier but with a more traditional approach. For a lower spend without sacrificing quality, Risorgimento is worth considering.
There is no bar dining documented for Tancredi. The restaurant operates a glass-fronted dining room and a terrace, with service structured around seated meals at both lunch and dinner. If casual drop-in dining is what you need, this is not the right format.
Yes, if you want to see what Manicone's cooking is actually doing. Michelin's inspectors noted the amberjack, curly salad, and sea urchin dish specifically, and praised the discipline in colour, flavour balance, and zero-waste technique. The à la carte is also available, which gives you flexibility at €€€ pricing if a full tasting menu feels like a stretch.
Book at least two to three weeks ahead for dinner, more in summer when Sirmione's tourist season peaks and terrace demand rises. For the front-of-terrace tables directly over the lake, request that position at the time of booking — it is not guaranteed otherwise. Lunch on a weekday is your best shot at shorter notice.
The amberjack with curly salad and sea urchin is the one dish Michelin's inspectors flagged by name, making it the safest anchor order if it is on the menu during your visit. Beyond that, the kitchen's strength is in technically precise, well-balanced dishes built on top-quality ingredients, so the tasting menu gives the fullest picture of what Manicone is doing.
At €€€ with a Michelin star earned in 2024, Tancredi sits at a price point that is reasonable for the category in Italy. The cooking is technically serious — Manicone trained under Cannavacciuolo, who holds two Michelin stars at Villa Crespi — and the setting adds genuine value. Compared to La Rucola 2.0 or La Speranzina at similar prices, Tancredi offers more cooking ambition.
Yes, and the room works in your favour here. The glass-fronted dining room and lake terrace give the occasion a sense of place that purely urban fine dining cannot match. For couples, request a front terrace table in summer. For small groups, the à la carte format is more flexible than a fixed tasting menu and allows the meal to move at your pace.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
