Silvestro – Naples remembered, a few streets from Monza's park

On Via Lecco, a short walk from the historic walls of Monza's park, Silvestro is a small, family-run dining room opened by chef-owner Giuseppe Silvestro in the summer of 2023. Born in Naples and long settled in Brianza, Silvestro trained in the kitchens of Carlo Cracco, Nino Di Costanzo and Paolo Traversone before a stage at the three-Michelin-starred Geranium in Copenhagen sharpened his technique further. The restaurant is Selected in the MICHELIN Guide, a distinction that arrived within two years of opening, alongside the 2024 TheFork Public Choice Award and public praise from chef Davide Oldani, who named it among the year's best new openings. What makes the address worth the detour from Milan is its directness: Neapolitan dishes, carried by his mother and grandmother, rewritten without sentimentality in a room his own siblings help run.

01The room and the setting

The dining room seats around twenty, a size that lets the kitchen look after each table with near-tailored attention; exposed brick meets black surfaces and an essential bar counter, a design pitched somewhere between a modern trattoria and a fine-dining room rather than either extreme.

02The chef

Giuseppe Silvestro was born in Naples and has lived in Monza for years; his cooking, he says, follows the seasons while staying anchored to his Campanian roots. The apprenticeship behind it reads like a map of Italian fine dining: the Scuola ALMA, Trattoria del Nuovo Macello, Cracco in Galleria, Danì Maison and, finally, a stage at the three-Michelin-starred Geranium in Copenhagen.

Insider tip

Book ahead, especially for Monday services; business lunch served weekdays 12.15–14.15.

Silvestro runs as a family concern. His sister Giovanna oversees the dining room and its communication, a brother looks after the cellar, and in the kitchen his identity is built on bold, balanced flavours rooted in Neapolitan culture and sharpened with French technique.

03The cooking

The style sits between modern and Mediterranean: produce handled with restraint rather than disguised, recipes rewritten in a contemporary key without losing the memory of where they came from. Sustainability runs through the kitchen's logic, with seasonal ingredients and a stated refusal to waste any part of what comes through the door.

The dish that carries the house signature is the ravioli filled with genovese campana, the slow Neapolitan beef-and-onion stew turned into a pasta filling capable of converting a simple braise into something close to a sensory statement — the plate most regulars order on sight.

04What to order

Reading the menu on the restaurant's own site in October 2026, the autumn offer runs on a free-form tasting route and three themed six-course paths. 'A Mano Libera' is the chef's free-hand menu, six courses for €95, with an optional wine pairing at €65. A fish-led route pairs lobster and grapes with the ravioli alla genovese campana, the day's catch and a pumpkin, yoghurt and chestnut dessert, for €65. A vegetarian path moves from mushrooms through pappardelle with cauliflower and truffle to a pumpkin course and chocolate with hazelnuts, also €65. A game menu built on venison and turnips, a wild boar risotto with pomegranate and a stuffed pheasant closes with apple and almonds, at €72. Two or three dishes can be chosen freely from any of these routes à la carte, at €60 and €90, with desserts at €10.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar is a family project, assembled with an eye for value rather than status: bottles and glass pours chosen so that, label for label, the quality-to-price ratio stands out rather than the name on the front.

06When to go and booking

Bread and focaccia are made in house daily, with a €4 cover charge, water at €4 and coffee at €2 — prices read on the restaurant's own menu page in October 2026. A two-course business lunch, water and cover included, is served on weekdays from 12.15 to 2.15pm for €20. Monday has become one of the house's busiest services, an unusual rhythm born of a deliberate choice to settle in Monza rather than compete with Milan's denser fine-dining scene. Tables can be booked by phone on +39 389 564 9903 or through the restaurant's website; the nearest station, Monza, is roughly a fifteen-minute walk away.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.