Restaurant in Strongoli, Italy
Farm-sourced tasting menus. Book early.
Dattilo holds a Michelin star (2024) and sits within a working organic agriturismo in Calabria's Crotone province, making it southern Italy's most compelling farm-to-table fine dining destination. Chef Caterina Ceraudo's modern, locally-anchored cooking is available across two tasting menus and a fixed-price à la carte. Book 4-6 weeks ahead minimum; a dedicated detour from Crotone or Catanzaro is required.
With a 4.6 Google rating across 147 reviews and Michelin recognition held through 2024, Dattilo at the Ceraudo agriturismo in Strongoli is the kind of destination that justifies building a trip around it. This is not a restaurant you stumble into. Strongoli sits in Calabria's Crotone province, a region that rarely appears on Italian fine dining itineraries, which is precisely why Dattilo rewards the effort. If you have been once and are weighing a return, the answer is yes — but the timing matters significantly.
Dattilo sits within the Ceraudo family's agriturismo on the Maremonti estate. The property produces its own wine, olive oil, cedro marmalade, orange marmalade, and fruit juices. The swimming pool sits under olive trees that are, by the property's own account, a thousand years old. The guestrooms are simple and rustic in their decoration. Visually, this is not a sleek urban dining room — it is a working farm that also happens to house one of southern Italy's most serious kitchens. If you are coming for a minimalist hotel experience, manage expectations accordingly. If you are coming for the food and the land it grows from, the setting is exactly right.
Chef Caterina Ceraudo's cooking is described by Michelin as modern and creative without being fussy. The menu is anchored to local Calabrian ingredients and presented across two tasting menus and a fixed-price à la carte. That structure gives you more flexibility than a single-format omakase experience, which matters if you are visiting as a couple with different appetites for long tasting formats. The à la carte option is genuinely useful here , not a compromise version of the experience, but a legitimate alternative path through the kitchen's output.
This is where the advice becomes most specific. Dattilo's kitchen draws from a farm that changes with the Calabrian seasons, and the ingredient list at the heart of Ceraudo's cooking shifts meaningfully across the year. Calabria's growing season runs long compared to northern Italy, with summer heat producing intense citrus, tomatoes, and peppers. The cedro , a citrus fruit native to this part of the coast , features prominently in the estate's preserved products and almost certainly appears in the cooking in some form. Spring and early autumn are the windows when the farm's output and the kitchen's creativity are most in sync: warm enough for the estate's fruit and vegetable production to be at full capacity, cool enough that the dining room experience is comfortable without air conditioning competing with the ambiance.
If you visited in summer and found the heat oppressive or the room less atmospheric than you hoped, an early October return is likely to read differently. Conversely, a first visit in late September or October through into early spring positions you to experience the kitchen at its most ingredient-driven. Summer visits are viable, but the swimming pool becomes a more central part of the experience, and the combination of pool time and a long lunch on the property is a legitimate way to structure a day here for a repeat visitor.
Lunch on the estate in warm weather also has a practical advantage: the drive into Calabria's interior from the coast is easier in daylight, and the property's setting reads better with natural light across the olive groves. If you are choosing between lunch and dinner on a return visit and you came for dinner the first time, switch formats.
Book early. Dattilo is not in a major city, but that does not mean it is easy to get a table. Michelin recognition at the one-star level in a remote southern Italian location means international visitors are now competing with local and domestic Italian diners who have known about this place for longer. Four to six weeks ahead is a reasonable minimum for planning, and for peak summer or a specific date around a Calabrian festival or long weekend, push that to eight weeks. There is no phone number or website listed in our current data, so booking through the property directly via email or through a local concierge service is the most reliable route.
Strongoli is approximately 45 kilometres from Crotone and around 90 kilometres from Catanzaro. Neither city is a major international hub, so factor in domestic connections or a driving day from Naples or Reggio Calabria. Staying on the property itself removes the logistics of a late-night drive after a long tasting menu, and the simple guestrooms make more sense in that context than as a standalone accommodation choice.
Price range: €€€€ , expect fine dining tasting menu pricing. Format: two tasting menus plus fixed-price à la carte. On-site accommodation available (simple, rustic style). Organic farm estate with pool. Booking difficulty: hard , plan 4-8 weeks ahead minimum. Address: Contrada Maremonti, 4/6, 88816 Strongoli KR, Italy. Award: Michelin 1 Star (2024). Google rating: 4.6 (147 reviews).
For more on where to eat, stay, drink, and explore in the area, see our full Strongoli restaurants guide, our full Strongoli hotels guide, our full Strongoli bars guide, our full Strongoli wineries guide, and our full Strongoli experiences guide.
If Dattilo appeals because of its farm-rooted, regional Italian approach, two other country cooking venues worth putting on your radar are 21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba and Andrea Monesi - Locanda di Orta in Orta San Giulio , both operate in the same territory of regional Italian cooking grounded in their immediate landscape. For southern Italy specifically, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone and Reale in Castel di Sangro offer points of comparison for the quality tier Dattilo occupies.
There are no direct Michelin-starred competitors within Strongoli itself, which makes Dattilo the clear first choice for serious dining in the area. For comparable quality in Calabria and southern Italy more broadly, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone is the most relevant peer in the south. If you are comparing across Italy's €€€€ country cooking category, 21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba is worth the comparison. For the full picture of Italian fine dining at this level, see our guides to Osteria Francescana in Modena, Piazza Duomo in Alba, and Uliassi in Senigallia.
Lunch is the better format for most visitors, particularly on a return trip. The estate setting reads leading in natural light, the olive groves and swimming pool are accessible before and after the meal, and the drive out of the Calabrian interior is more practical in daylight. If you are staying on the property, dinner makes sense as a slower, more immersive experience. For a day visit, lunch wins.
The agriturismo format and the tasting menu structure mean Dattilo can likely accommodate small groups, but seat count data is not in our current records. For groups larger than six, contact the property well in advance , remote estate restaurants at this level typically have limited total covers, and a large party booking requires coordination around the kitchen's tasting menu pacing. A private dining or full estate hire inquiry is worth exploring for groups of eight or more.
Yes, at the €€€€ price point, a Michelin one-star tasting menu rooted in an organic estate that produces its own wine, oil, and preserves represents strong value relative to comparably priced urban tasting menus in Rome or Milan. You are paying for both the food and the context , the farm, the setting, the estate produce. If you want tasting menu cooking without the location as part of the experience, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence or Enrico Bartolini in Milan give you higher overall star counts in more accessible cities. Dattilo is worth it specifically because no urban equivalent replicates the estate dimension.
Four to six weeks minimum for standard dates; eight weeks for peak summer (July-August) or Italian public holidays. Michelin recognition has increased demand significantly, and Strongoli's remote location means cancellations are less common than at urban restaurants , visitors have usually planned specifically to be there. No booking platform is confirmed in our data, so reaching out directly by email or through a travel concierge with Italian access is the most reliable approach.
The tasting menus are the primary format and the leading way to experience the kitchen's full range of Calabrian ingredients across a sitting. If you prefer flexibility, the fixed-price à la carte is a genuine alternative rather than a lesser version. Dishes built around the estate's own olive oil, cedro citrus, and the region's fish and vegetables from the surrounding coastline and hills represent Ceraudo's core territory. Specific dish recommendations require current menu data we don't hold , ask the team on arrival what is at peak season during your visit, and build your choices around that answer.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dattilo | Country cooking | €€€€ | In a world of haute cuisine still dominated by male chefs, Caterina Ceraudo stands out for her authoritative presence and large personality. Her restaurant is housed in a charming agriturismo which offers simple guestrooms decorated in attractive, rustic style, a beautiful swimming pool shaded by thousand-year-old olive trees, and traditional produce such as wine, olive oil, cedro and orange marmalades, and fruit juices. All of this provides a fitting backdrop for Caterina’s modern, creative and yet unfussy cuisine which is made using local ingredients and showcased on two tasting menus and a fixed-price à la carte. The tour of the property with owner Roberto (the chef’s father), a forerunner of organic agriculture in the region who, together with his family, has dedicated his life to this farm, is both instructive and enjoyable.; In a world of haute cuisine still dominated by male chefs, Caterina Ceraudo stands out for her authoritative presence and large personality. Her restaurant is housed in a charming agriturismo which offers simple guestrooms decorated in attractive, rustic style, a beautiful swimming pool shaded by thousand-year-old olive trees, and traditional produce such as wine, olive oil, cedro and orange marmalades, and fruit juices. All of this provides a fitting backdrop for Caterina’s modern, creative and yet unfussy cuisine which is made using local ingredients and showcased on two tasting menus and a fixed-price à la carte. The tour of the property with owner Roberto (the chef’s father), a forerunner of organic agriculture in the region who, together with his family, has dedicated his life to this farm, is both instructive and enjoyable.; Michelin 1 Star (2024) | 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 | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Dattilo and alternatives.
The closest comparisons are other farm-rooted, regional Italian restaurants with Michelin recognition rather than anything in Strongoli itself, which has no comparable dining scene. Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio operates on a similar family-estate model with a longer Michelin track record and three stars if you want to escalate the commitment. Le Calandre near Padua is the right alternative if you want creative Italian tasting menus in a more accessible location. Neither replicates the Calabrian organic-farm setting that makes Dattilo the specific proposition it is.
Lunch is the stronger case for a first visit. The Calabrian summer heat makes the shaded outdoor areas and pool surroundings most usable during daylight, and a lunch sitting lets you take Roberto's property tour and still make a practical exit. Dinner makes more sense if you are staying on-site in the agriturismo guestrooms, where the €€€€ spend starts to look better value as an all-in overnight.
The agriturismo format means there is physical space for groups, but Dattilo runs a focused tasting menu operation, not a flexible banquet setup. Small groups of four to six are manageable on the fixed-price à la carte format. Larger parties should check the venue's official channels to confirm private dining availability before assuming it can absorb a group without prior arrangement.
Yes, if you are willing to travel to Strongoli. The €€€€ price range is steep for Calabria, but Dattilo holds a 2024 Michelin star on the back of Caterina Ceraudo's cooking from ingredients the family farm produces itself — wine, olive oil, cedro and orange marmalades among them. That vertical integration is what separates it from a city fine-dining restaurant charging similar prices. If you want Michelin-calibre tasting menus without the farm context, Le Calandre or Enoteca Pinchiorri in more urban settings are alternatives worth pricing out.
Book a minimum of four to six weeks out, longer for summer weekends in July and August when the Calabrian coast draws visitors and the agriturismo rooms fill alongside the restaurant. Michelin recognition at the one-star level in a remote location creates demand that consistently outruns what the dining room can seat. Waiting to book on arrival is not a viable plan.
Dattilo runs two tasting menus and a fixed-price à la carte, so the ordering decision is primarily about format rather than individual dishes. The tasting menus are the intended vehicle for Caterina Ceraudo's cooking and reflect the farm's seasonal output most fully. The à la carte is a reasonable choice if the tasting menu length or price is a constraint, but specific menu items and current pricing are best confirmed directly with the restaurant before visiting.
Location
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