True Italian Awards 2026: Zum Heiligen Teufel Named Berlin’s Italian Restaurant of the Year and Wins Three Awards

Three awards for Zum Heiligen Teufel, two for Kuchen von Gaia, Malafemmena named Pizzeria of the Year for the second year in a row, and a Lifetime Achievement Award celebrating more than 60 years of Italian gastronomic history in Berlin.

These are some of the main results of the True Italian Awards 2026. Around 250 guests from the restaurant industry, media and hospitality sector gathered on Sunday, September 6, for the second edition of the awards ceremony at Fotografiska Berlin.

The big winner of the evening was Antonio Di Santo, chef and owner of Zum Heiligen Teufel. His restaurant received three awards: Italian Restaurant of the Year, Premium Restaurant of the Year and Most Innovative Menu of the Year.

The winners were selected by an independent jury of 24 journalists, restaurant critics, food writers and industry experts from Germany and Italy. The jury included media professionals working for tipBerlin, Berliner Zeitung, Berliner Morgenpost, Corriere della Sera, Sky TG24, Mit Vergnügen and Spreeradio.

The True Italian Awards ceremony marked the closing event of Frizzante, organised by tipBerlin in collaboration with True Italian, bringing a full day dedicated to Italian food culture in the heart of Berlin to an end.

Antonio Di Santo and Zum Heiligen Teufel: three awards in one evening

With three awards, Zum Heiligen Teufel was the big winner of the True Italian Awards 2026.

The restaurant owned and led by chef Antonio Di Santo stood out in three different areas: as Premium Restaurant of the Year, for the Most Innovative Menu of the Year, and above all as Italian Restaurant of the Year, the Awards’ most important overall distinction.

The prizes recognised both the quality of the overall dining experience and the creativity of the cuisine, as well as the ability to develop a contemporary and distinctive Italian restaurant concept in Berlin.

The title of Italian Restaurant of the Year holds a special place within the True Italian Awards: rather than recognising one specific gastronomic speciality, it is awarded to the restaurant that has particularly stood out overall within Berlin’s Italian food scene over the past year.

Franco Francucci: from the “cardboard suitcase” to three generations of Italian gastronomy in Berlin

One of the most emotional moments of the evening was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Franco Francucci, who accepted the prize together with his sons Louis and Elia.

On stage, Francucci focused in particular on the story of his father, Franco Francucci Senior, who came to Germany at the end of the 1950s carrying the “cardboard suitcase” that Franco recalled as a symbol of an entire generation of Italian immigrants.

That arrival, together with the determination to build a new life through hard work, became the beginning of an entrepreneurial story that now spans more than six decades and three generations.

After moving to Berlin in the early 1960s, Francucci Senior opened La Grotta on Bleibtreustraße and later the renowned Ciao Ciao at Lehniner Platz, which would become an institution of West Berlin’s restaurant scene.

In 1996, his son Franco opened Francucci at Kurfürstendamm 90, continuing the family legacy while also giving it his own identity. Today, the third generation is already carrying that story forward.

Franco Francucci Senior passed away on February 16, 2024. By awarding the Lifetime Achievement Award to Franco Francucci, True Italian is therefore recognising not only the career of one restaurateur, but the story of a family that has helped shape Italian food culture in the German capital.

A’ Muntagnola wins – and Pino Bianco announces his return to Basilicata

Another remarkable story of the evening came from Trattoria A’ Muntagnola, winner of the Regional Cuisine of the Year category.

On stage, founder Pino Bianco announced that he will soon leave Berlin and return permanently to Basilicata – the very region whose cuisine A’ Muntagnola has represented in the German capital for decades.

The restaurant’s Berlin story, however, will continue. His mother Angela Matarrese, the legendary heart and soul of A’ Muntagnola, will remain in the city. Together with Tina Sento, who has played a central role in managing the restaurant as a business partner for many years, she will continue the story of the venue.

The moment also carries special significance within the history of the True Italian Awards: Angela Matarrese and Pino Bianco received the event’s first Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025, in recognition of more than 30 years spent bringing the cuisine of Basilicata to Berlin.

One year later, A’ Muntagnola returned to the stage, this time as Regional Cuisine of the Year – precisely as Pino prepares to return to the region where this gastronomic story began.

Two awards for Kuchen von Gaia, Malafemmena retains its title

Among the other winners of the second edition are Giulio Silveri and Kuchen von Gaia. The project received two awards: Italian Café/Pastry Shop of the Year and Italian Street Food of the Year.

Kuchen von Gaia, which has a permanent location at Markthalle Neun, was recognised both for its pastry offering and for its ability to translate it into a contemporary, approachable format.

There was also an important title defence in the pizza category: Malafemmena was named Pizzeria of the Year for the second consecutive year. After winning at the inaugural True Italian Awards in 2025, Malafemmena once again convinced the jury in 2026.

The award for Pasta Restaurant of the Year went to Mani in Pasta, while Ripieno was named Comfort Food Restaurant of the Year – a category dedicated to restaurants where quality, consistency, value for money and hospitality make guests want to return again and again.

Bar Nonno dedicates its win to the owner’s grandfather

The award for Aperitivo Venue of the Year, presented to Bar Nonno, also highlighted the importance of family stories.

While accepting the award, the owner dedicated the prize to his grandfather, who also inspired the name of the venue.

It was a gesture that perfectly captured one of the recurring themes of the evening: a new generation of Italian venues is looking to the future, while often building its identity on memories, family stories and traditions.

All winners of the True Italian Awards 2026

Italian Restaurant of the Year: Zum Heiligen Teufel

Premium Restaurant of the Year: Zum Heiligen Teufel

Most Innovative Menu of the Year: Zum Heiligen Teufel

Pizzeria of the Year: Malafemmena

Pasta Restaurant of the Year: Mani in Pasta

Comfort Food Restaurant of the Year: Ripieno

Italian Café / Pastry Shop of the Year: Kuchen von Gaia

Italian Street Food of the Year: Kuchen von Gaia

Aperitivo Venue of the Year: Bar Nonno

Italian Wine Bar of the Year: Cantine St. Ambroeus

Italian Cocktail Bar of the Year: Glasweise

Regional Cuisine of the Year: Trattoria A’ Muntagnola

Italian Feinkost Shop of the Year: Viani

Gelateria of the Year: Zàgara

Revelation of the Year: Rasoterra

Italian Venue of the Year for Location: Café Botanico

Italian Venue of the Year for Vegan Offering: Gemello

Lifetime Achievement Award: Franco Francucci

From the first restaurant families to Berlin’s new Italian cuisine

The second edition of the True Italian Awards highlighted just how much the meaning of Italian gastronomy in Berlin has changed over the past decades.

Today, the list of winners ranges from fine dining and comfort food to pizza and pasta, pastry and street food, cocktails, wine, regional cuisine and vegan offerings. Alongside classic Italian restaurants, specialised concepts and a new generation of entrepreneurs and chefs have emerged, developing contemporary and individual projects rooted in Italian food culture.

At the same time, the stories of Franco Francucci and Pino Bianco on stage served as a reminder of the foundations on which this new scene was built.

In this sense, a single evening symbolically brought together more than 60 years of Italian gastronomic history in Berlin: from the first generations who arrived in Germany as part of post-war Italian migration to the protagonists of Berlin’s restaurant scene today.

This is also the core idea behind the True Italian Awards: the aim is not to determine “the best Italian restaurants in Berlin” in absolute terms, but rather to recognise each year those venues and projects that have particularly distinguished themselves through quality, identity, development, originality, consistency and their contribution to Italian food culture in the city.

The 2026 winners were selected by an independent jury of 24 figures from the German and Italian food, hospitality and media sectors, including journalists, critics, food writers, sommeliers and industry experts. The jury included media professionals from tipBerlin, Berliner Zeitung, Berliner Morgenpost, Corriere della Sera, Sky TG24, Mit Vergnügen and Spreeradio.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, by contrast, is awarded directly by the True Italian team.

The next True Italian events in Germany

Following the True Italian Awards, the autumn programme continues with two of True Italian’s most important events: True Italian Pizza Week (October 15–25) and True Italian Pasta Week (November 12–22).

In 2026, both initiatives bring together Italian venues in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, celebrating Italian pizza and pasta culture respectively.

Photos and interviews for the press

High-resolution photos of the awards ceremony, the winners and the presentation of the awards are available for editorial use at this link.

The True Italian team is available to media outlets for interviews and background conversations about the True Italian Awards, the results of the 2026 edition and the development of Italian gastronomy in Berlin.

Upon request, we are also happy to arrange interviews with the winners and key figures from the evening.

About True Italian

True Italian was founded in Berlin in 2015 with the aim of promoting and increasing the visibility of authentic Italian food culture in Germany.

For more than ten years, the project has followed and supported the development of Italian gastronomy through a network of venues and events aimed at the German public, including True Italian Pizza Week, True Italian Pasta Week, food festivals and the True Italian Awards.

The second edition of the True Italian Awards is organised by Berlin Italian Communication as part of the True Italian project.

Press Contact

Sara Trovatelli

+49 1575 7708708

press@berlinitaliancommunication.com

True Italian / Berlin Italian Communication

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+49 30 628 674 42