Berlin Rewards Its Italian Cuisine: The True Italian Awards Are Coming

Berlin is getting ready to celebrate its more Mediterranean soul with the first edition of the True Italian Awards, a new recognition dedicated to the best Italian restaurants in the German capital. The initiative, created by True Italian, aims to enhance the quality, creativity, and diversity of the Italian food scene in Berlin, which is now more vibrant and authentic than ever.

The award ceremony will take place on Monday, November 10, 2025, starting at 7 PM at the charming Magazin in der Heeresbäckerei, followed by an after-party with a DJ set reserved for guests, restaurateurs, and industry professionals. The nominees (five per category) will be announced in the coming weeks.

On the same day, from 11 AM to 7 PM, the "La Dispensa della Mamma" fair, organized by Italian product distributor Mammafiore, will be held at the same location. Guests can visit the fair, which offers a sensory experience of Italian specialties, and stay for the award ceremony.

A Recognition for a Gastronomic Scene in Full Evolution

In the last ten years, Italian cuisine in Berlin has experienced extraordinary growth. From a once-dominant offering of "pizza, pasta, and bruschetta," the city is now dotted with restaurants specializing in regional cuisine, able to tell local traditions through authentic ingredients, research, and expertise.

Osterias dedicated to specific regions, restaurants specializing in pasta or pizza, Italian cocktail bars, and wine shops importing their bottles and raw materials directly from Italy are multiplying.

The True Italian Awards were created to tell and celebrate this evolution, valuing quality and professionalism without electing a "winner," but instead recognizing each winner as the "local of the year" in their category. Representing the award is a statuette shaped like a golden chili pepper, symbolizing passion, intensity, and character.

Career Award to Pino Bianco and Angela Matarrese of Trattoria A' Muntagnola

The Career Award of the first edition of the True Italian Awards will be given to Pino Bianco and Angela Matarrese, founders of the historic Trattoria A' Muntagnola in Schöneberg. Mother and son have been a landmark for Lucanian cuisine in Berlin for over thirty years, and were among the first to offer authentic regional cuisine in the city, long before the current trend of specialization and rediscovery of origins in Italian gastronomy.

Arriving in the 1980s from Basilicata, they gradually built a restaurant that became a bastion of tradition and gastronomic culture, a meeting place for Italians and Germans alike, united by a love for sincere, deeply rooted cuisine.

Over the years, Trattoria A' Muntagnola has been frequented by cultural and musical personalities – including Claudio Abbado, who considered the restaurant a second home – becoming a symbol of authenticity, hospitality, and Italian resilience in Germany.

With this award, presented directly by True Italian, we want to pay tribute to a history of emigration, hard work, and love for regional cuisine that helped shape the Italian gastronomic identity in Berlin.

Award Categories

In addition to the Career Award, the True Italian Awards 2025 will celebrate thirteen categories, representing the full richness of Italian gastronomy in Berlin:

The Jury

The winners will be chosen by a jury of 12 experts, including journalists, influencers, and professionals from the Berlin gastronomy sector:

The Voting System

For the first voting phase, True Italian has selected between 20 and 40 establishments per category. Each juror was able to vote for each restaurant by assigning a score from 1 to 5 or selecting "I don’t know." The average score for each restaurant will be calculated by taking into account the valid votes (from 1 to 5), ignoring null answers.

The 6 restaurants with the highest average score in each category will proceed to the final phase, where the jurors will receive a new voting card and can vote again, with the same procedures. Each category will have a winner, who will be announced during the award ceremony on November 10th.

Non-Voting Awards: "Italian Restaurant of the Year" and "Career Award"

The "Italian Restaurant of the Year" will be assigned based on a cross-sectional analysis of all categories. The five restaurants that received the highest number of total votes – meaning the ones most frequently visited by the jurors – will be considered. Among these five, the overall average of all the votes received (in all categories) will be calculated, and the restaurant with the highest average will be declared "Italian Restaurant of the Year."

Additionally, the aforementioned Special Career Award will be decided directly by the True Italian team.

True Italian: The Network That Tells the Real Italian Cuisine in Germany

True Italian is an initiative founded in 2015 with the goal of promoting and making the true Italian restaurants in Germany recognizable. Today, it brings together over 150 establishments in Berlin and more than 300 throughout the country, becoming a point of reference for those seeking authenticity and quality.

The brand’s philosophy is based on three core principles:

In the last ten years, True Italian has launched successful festivals and initiatives – such as the True Italian Pizza Week and Pasta Week – which have contributed to spreading the culture of authentic Italian food in Germany and creating a community of food enthusiasts and professionals.

Sponsors and Partners

The first edition of the True Italian Awards is organized by Berlin Italian Communication with the support of Mammafiore, Pasta Armando, Campari, and Amaro del Capo, the official partners of the event.

Press contact

​Sara Trovatelli: +49 1575 7708708

Office

​Gryphiusstr. 26, 10245 Berlin

press@berlinitaliancommunication.com

​+49 30 628 674 42