Alghero · old town and Riviera
The cuisine of Alghero
Catalan-Sardinian cuisine, between sea and tradition
✽ Restaurants in the old town, 5 min on foot
Eating in Alghero means crossing two worlds that have coexisted since 1354, the year of the Catalan-Aragonese conquest: Catalan cuisine of the Iberian Mediterranean — lobsters, cold sauces, generous sofrito — and Sardinian cuisine of the island — carasau bread, pecorino, lamb, characterful wines. The result is a gastronomic identity unique in Italy, found in no other city. Catalan-style lobster is the signature dish, but Alghero's table goes much further: from fregula with clams of seafaring tradition to mullet bottarga from the Calich pond, from cavalleros (Catalan sweet fritters) to Sardinian seadas with bitter honey. Below is the guide to dishes to try — and coming soon, our personal restaurant selection: the ones we actually frequent, not the tourist traps.
The Catalan-Sardinian identity
Alghero is the only town in Italy where a small community still speaks Algherese, a Catalan dialect recognised by UNESCO as an endangered language. The dialect arrived here in 1354, when Peter IV of Aragon's troops conquered the city from the Genoese and repopulated the old town with Catalan settlers, mostly from Barcelona, Valencia and Mallorca. For over three centuries Alghero remained part of the Crown of Aragon, and ever since the culture, architecture — the Bastioni, the Gothic-Catalan churches, bilingual signs — and above all the cuisine have stayed bilingual. Catalan recipes (lobster, fideus, escalivada) merged with the Sardinian pantry (pecorino cheese, honey, myrtle, lamb), creating hybrid dishes found neither in Barcelona nor in Cagliari.
The dishes of the sea
The icon dish is Catalan-style lobster: local lobster boiled, cut into pieces, dressed cold with fresh tomato, Tropea red onion, parsley, Sardinian extra-virgin olive oil and salt. Served at room temperature. It costs €40–60 per person (always ask the price per kilo before ordering). Pair it with Torbato di Alghero, the native white wine from the Sella & Mosca winery. Other unmissable seafood dishes: fregula with clams (Sardinian pasta with carpet-shell clams), bottarga from the Calich pond grated on spaghetti or buttered toast, grilled octopus with potatoes and capers, cassola fish soup with rock fish of the day, Alghero-style fish — bass or sea bream baked with tomato sauce, capers, black olives and a touch of myrtle.
Inland tradition, desserts and wines
For those who don't love fish, the inland cuisine offers Sardinian suckling pig roasted with myrtle, lamb with artichokes, culurgiones (potato and pecorino ravioli), malloreddus alla campidanese. On cheeses: Pecorino Sardo DOP, smoked fiore sardo, caciocavallo from the Nurra. Bread: paper-thin carasau, oiled and salted guttiau, and the long-fermented Alghero bread. Among desserts, the Catalan legacy is unmistakable: cavalleros (cream-filled fritters), spiced mostaccioli, tortelle de mel with honey — and the Sardinian seadas (fried pastry with fresh pecorino and bitter strawberry-tree honey). On wines, besides Torbato and Cannonau di Sardegna DOC, ask for Marchese di Villamarina (Cabernet Sauvignon, among Italy's great reds) and Vermentino di Sardegna DOCG from the Coral Riviera. After-dinner: aniseta, the local aniseed liqueur, is the typical close.
Coming soon
Our restaurant selection
We're finishing our personal selection of Alghero's restaurants — only the ones we actually frequent, sorted by occasion (romantic dinner, quick lunch, aperitivo, fish cuisine, meat cuisine) and area (old town, seafront, riviera). We'll publish it here as soon as it's ready. In the meantime, write to us for specific tips for the day of your booking.