Il Cavatappi is one of the best restaurants that my husband and I had the pleasure of eating at during our trip through Italy. Il Cavatappi is nestled between some of the oldest buildings in Varenna, which (combined with the decorations and service) helped give the restaurant a very romantic vibe. The food was extremely fresh, and that applied to every dish we ate (antipasti, pasta, meat, dolci).

I ordered a pasta dish (which I believe was made using a type of pasta flour traditional to the area) and both the pasta itself and the accompanying sauce tasted like something you would be hard pressed to find outside of Italy (and even Varenna). The sauce was extremely special, because it was made with fresh fish ragout using fish caught in the Lake Como area. My husband ordered one of the steaks, and it was honestly superior to the steak we tried in Florence. The Caprese was a show stopper, and our dolci was extremely good as well.

Overall, Il Cavatappi is definitely a restaurant you should make time to check out when you come to Varenna! This was one of the best dinners we had in all of Italy, and I strongly recommend checking it out if you're in or around Varenna.

The only thing I want to note is that it books up fast (it will book up reservations at least 4-6 weeks in advance); you can book via email, but you'll want to make sure you don't wait too long. If you do come as a walk-in, you will get to sit in one of their (very romantic) outdoor seats, but please note that they have a small number of tables and limited capacity. The owner doesn't want any of his patrons to rush (and dinners can take upwards of 2 hours if you go for multiple courses), so he will cut off the wait list fairly early in the evening. If you want to do walk-in, I'd recommend arriving sometime before 6:30pm at least.