Uliassi

The story

Uliassi – World-Class Seafood and Land Cuisine on the Adriatic in Senigallia

A family house on the sea

On 27 May 1990, a Sunday, siblings Mauro and Catia Uliassi opened a restaurant on the Senigallia waterfront that they describe, with characteristic candour, as "little more than a shack on the sea." Sitting between the port canal and the beach, the white wooden structure has since become one of the most closely watched addresses in world gastronomy — appearing in The World's 50 Best Restaurants every year from 2022, reaching as high as 12th place.

The siblings were born and raised in Senigallia. Their palate, Mauro says, was inherited from their grandmother Jolanda and their mother Bianca; their instinct for hospitality was shaped by years growing up in their parents' bar. That combination — rigorous taste, genuine warmth — still defines the place today.

The kitchen and how it works

Mauro Uliassi leads the creative direction, supported by executive chefs Mauro Paolini and Luciano Serritelli and a brigade of more than 35 people. Each winter the entire team retreats into what they call the Uliassi Lab: an intensive period of research and experimentation that produces a new set of courses for the coming season. The Lab menu is the result — available only by advance reservation — while the Classico menu preserves the dishes guests would, in Mauro's words, "revolt" to lose.

The cuisine is rooted in the Adriatic and Marche tradition, but the kitchen's signature move is the dialogue between sea and land. Marine flavours infiltrate meat-based preparations; ingredients from the interior meet the catch from just outside the door. The result is a style of Italian cooking that is simultaneously classical and restless.

What arrives at the table

The meal always opens with a wafer of rabbit liver and a shot of Kir Royal — an amuse-bouche that has become almost mythological among returning guests. From there, the 2025 Classico menu moves through dishes such as seared cuttlefish with cheek-lard oil, chard and honey; smoked spaghetti with clams and roasted datterini tomatoes; and a dessert called Senigallia-Brest — chantilly cream with cherries and caramelised black olives.

The Lab menu takes a more adventurous path: a milkshake of herring, anchovies, walnuts and hops; pasta with sea urchin, mandarin, juniper and shiso oil; lamb with cardamom, eucalyptus and blueberry chutney. A third tasting menu, Caccia, is dedicated to game — wood pigeon, hare royale, partridge ragù with black truffle — drawing on the deeper, more primal flavours of the Marche hinterland.

Bread service alone signals the kitchen's seriousness: aged-grain loaves, seaweed bread, cheese pizza, puffed-corn grissini and seed crackers arrive alongside every menu.

The atmosphere

The room faces the sea. The summer balcony overlooking the water is, by any measure, one of the more beautiful places to eat in Italy. But the restaurant works in every season — the team describes it as "full of energy, beautiful at all times of year." Service is led by Filippo Uliassi and Elisa Cao in the dining room, with sommelier Ivano Coppari, who joined the team in the pioneering early days and has never left. Catia Uliassi remains the maître d', the constant human presence that ties the experience together.

The restaurant's own description of what it wants guests to feel is precise and unpretentious: "They must say — it was worth it. More than worth it — it was a joy."