Restaurant in Sorisole, Italy
One Michelin star, hard to book, worth it.
A Michelin-starred modern Italian restaurant in the hills above Bergamo, Osteria degli Assonica delivers creative, vegetable-forward cooking from the Manzoni brothers at €€€ — a price point that undercuts most starred addresses in northern Italy. Book three to four weeks ahead for a weekend slot; Saturday or Sunday lunch is the optimal visit. Rated 4.5 across 766 Google reviews.
Picture a Saturday lunch in the hills above Bergamo: the city below, a quiet dining room, and food that makes you reconsider what modern Italian cooking can do with a vegetable and a handful of foraged herbs. That is the experience at Osteria degli Assonica, and it earns its Michelin star without ceremony. If you are driving up from Bergamo for a weekend meal and want serious cooking at a price point well below the €€€€ tier that dominates northern Italy's starred restaurants, this is where to book. The caveat: it fills quickly, and Tuesday and Wednesday closures narrow your window.
The dining room in Sorisole reads as smart and composed rather than theatrical. The setting in the Bergamo hills lends it a calm that urban tasting-menu destinations rarely achieve — the scale is intimate, the service anchored by Giovanna Danzo in the front of house, and the overall atmosphere lands closer to a refined family-run trattoria than a destination-dining showroom. For food-focused travellers who find the hushed reverence of big-city starred rooms off-putting, that spatial register is part of the appeal. You are here to eat, not to perform. The room supports that.
Alex and Vittorio Manzoni run the kitchen together, and the food reflects a clear point of view: local ingredients, a strong vegetable focus, and herbs and spices used to build complexity rather than assert novelty. The approach won recognition from Opinionated About Dining as a leading new restaurant in Europe in 2023, and the 2024 Michelin star followed. What distinguishes the cooking here from the broader wave of Italian contemporary menus is the restraint , the flavour combinations are original without being antagonistic. Dishes are described in Michelin's own notes as striking for their complexity without overwhelming the palate, which is a harder balance to hit than it sounds. The chargrilled veal sweetbreads, crunchy outside and soft within, served with mushrooms and a fir extract that introduces a precise note of bitterness, are a useful illustration of how this kitchen works: classical technique, local sourcing, and an aromatic detail that reframes the whole plate.
The sourcing philosophy is not decorative , it is structural. Vegetables drive many of the dishes, and the herbs and spices function as seasoning with intent rather than garnish. For food-focused travellers coming up from Bergamo or passing through Lombardy, this is the kind of cooking that rewards attention. It is not designed for casual diners who want a plate of pasta and a glass of wine, though the setting could easily accommodate that instinct. Come with appetite and curiosity.
The assigned editorial angle here is the weekend and midday service, and it matters practically. Osteria degli Assonica is open for both lunch (12:30–2:00 PM) and dinner (7:30–9:00 PM) Thursday through Monday, with Tuesday and Wednesday closed. For a first visit, Saturday or Sunday lunch is the move. The hill setting above Bergamo makes more sense in daylight , you can see where you are, the drive is more scenic, and the pace of a weekend lunch fits the food better than a rushed weekday dinner. Sunday lunch, in particular, is when Lombard families eat seriously, and a restaurant at this level on a Sunday afternoon is operating at its intended register. If you are building a weekend around Bergamo's old city, plan the meal for Saturday or Sunday midday and leave the afternoon free for the upper city. Monday lunch or dinner works if the weekend is fully booked, which it often will be.
Dinner service is tight , the kitchen closes orders at 9:00 PM , so arrive on time. The lunch window is similarly narrow at 90 minutes. Neither slot rewards late arrivals or lingering beyond the service window.
Booking difficulty is rated hard. With a starred kitchen, a compact schedule of five service days, and a dining room that Google reviewers rate 4.5 across 766 responses, demand is consistent. Book as far in advance as possible , three to four weeks minimum for a weekend slot, and more in peak summer when visitors are also moving through Bergamo and the lakes region. The restaurant is in Sorisole, a short drive from central Bergamo, and is not walkable from the city. A car or taxi is required. There is no booking information published online that Pearl can verify, so contact the restaurant directly for reservations.
Practical summary: €€€, Michelin 1 Star (2024), open Thu–Mon lunch and dinner, closed Tue–Wed, hard to book, drive or taxi from Bergamo required.
For context on where Osteria degli Assonica sits in northern Italy's wider modern Italian scene, see our guides to Sorisole restaurants, as well as portraits of Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli in Verona, Andrea Aprea in Milan, and Harry's Piccolo in Trieste , all working in the same modern Italian contemporary register at comparable or higher price points. For a broader sweep of Italy's starred dining, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Piazza Duomo in Alba, Uliassi in Senigallia, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone, and Reale in Castel di Sangro offer useful reference points for what the tier above delivers at €€€€. Closer to Bergamo, our full guides to Sorisole hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences round out the local planning picture.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osteria degli Assonica | Modern Italian, Italian Contemporary | Situated in the hills just beyond Bergamo, this smart, elegant and well-run restaurant has the Manzoni brothers (Alex and Vittorio) at the helm in the kitchen, where they create some of the most interesting cuisine in the region, while the capable Giovanna Danzo oversees the excellent service in the dining room. Creative and surprising, the dishes here are striking for their complex and original flavours, which combine vegetables with a clever use of herbs and spices without overwhelming the palate. The chargrilled veal sweetbreads (slightly crunchy on the outside and soft inside) are delicious, served with a selection of mushrooms and a fir extract that provides a hint of bitterness. There’s a strong focus on sourcing local ingredients in order to create cuisine which is both contemporary and sustainable at the same time.; Chef: Alex Manzoni document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() { var el = document.getElementById("Achievements_chefs"); if (el && el.parentNode) { el.parentNode.removeChild(el); } });; Situated in the hills just beyond Bergamo, this smart, elegant and well-run restaurant has the Manzoni brothers (Alex and Vittorio) at the helm in the kitchen, where they create some of the most interesting cuisine in the region, while the capable Giovanna Danzo oversees the excellent service in the dining room. Creative and surprising, the dishes here are striking for their complex and original flavours, which combine vegetables with a clever use of herbs and spices without overwhelming the palate. The chargrilled veal sweetbreads (slightly crunchy on the outside and soft inside) are delicious, served with a selection of mushrooms and a fir extract that provides a hint of bitterness. There’s a strong focus on sourcing local ingredients in order to create cuisine which is both contemporary and sustainable at the same time.; Michelin 1 Star (2024); Opinionated About Dining Top New Restaurants in Europe Recommended (2023) | Hard | — |
| 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 | — |
| Enoteca Pinchiorri | Italian - French, Italian Contemporary | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Enrico Bartolini | Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Le Calandre | Progressive Italian, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
How Osteria degli Assonica stacks up against the competition.
It holds a 2024 Michelin star and was named on Opinionated About Dining's Top New Restaurants in Europe list in 2023, so expect a kitchen with genuine ambition rather than a neighbourhood trattoria that got lucky. The restaurant is in Sorisole, a small town in the hills above Bergamo, so you'll need a car or taxi. Lunch and dinner run on a tight window — 12:30 PM and 7:30 PM — so arriving on time matters. Tuesday and Wednesday are closed.
The Michelin guide singles out the chargrilled veal sweetbreads, described as slightly crunchy outside and soft inside, served with mushrooms and a fir extract that adds bitterness. Beyond that, the kitchen's identity is built around vegetables, herbs, and spices used with precision, so dishes with a strong vegetable focus reflect what the Manzoni brothers do best. Ordering à la carte, if available, is the way to target those signatures directly.
At €€€ pricing with a Michelin star and OAD recognition, the tasting menu format suits the kitchen's approach — complex, layered flavours built around local Lombard ingredients need context to land properly. If you're making the trip to Sorisole specifically for this kitchen, the tasting menu is the right call. If you want flexibility or are testing the restaurant before committing fully, check whether à la carte is offered at your service time when booking.
Book at least three to four weeks in advance, particularly for Saturday lunch, which is the most accessible service for visitors combining Bergamo sightseeing with a meal. The kitchen is Michelin-starred, operates only five days a week, and the dining room is Google-rated at 4.5 across reviews, which points to a consistently full house. Weekday lunch slots may open closer to the date, but don't rely on it.
Lunch is the practical choice for most visitors: you get the Bergamo hills setting in daylight and can pair it with time in Bergamo Alta before or after. Both services run on identical hours windows (12:30 PM and 7:30 PM) and the kitchen doesn't change between them based on available data. If atmosphere matters to you, dinner in a composed hilltop dining room has its own case — but the food is the constant draw regardless of service.
There are no other Michelin-starred restaurants in Sorisole itself, so the direct comparison is with the broader Bergamo province dining scene. For a different take on modern Italian at a higher level of recognition, Le Calandre in Rubano (three Michelin stars) is the regional benchmark. Dal Pescatore in Mantua offers a more tradition-rooted Italian experience at comparable prestige. Within Lombardy, Enrico Bartolini at Mudec in Milan competes on contemporary ambition.
Yes, provided the group is aligned on a kitchen-forward, tasting-format meal. The dining room is described as smart and elegant, service is overseen by Giovanna Danzo and is rated highly, and the Michelin star gives it the occasion credential. For larger groups or celebrations requiring a more flexible or festive format, confirm in advance whether the room accommodates your party size and whether private arrangements are possible — the restaurant's compact schedule suggests limited flexibility for special requests.
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