Neapolitan ragu is a long-cooked Sunday meat sauce of pork ribs, beef rolls and sausage braised for four to eight hours in tomato until the fat rises and the sauce turns deep brick-red; served over paccheri, rigatoni or ziti spezzati.
Ragu napoletano traces to the Spanish viceregal period of Naples (1503 to 1707), when slow-cooking tough cuts in tomato became embedded in the city's cucina povera. It remains the Sunday centrepiece of Neapolitan family cooking, made from Saturday evening to be ready by midday mass on Sunday.
4 editor picks for Ragu Napoletano in Naples, ranked by editorial score. All Naples signature dishes · Ragu Napoletano across every city.
Tandem Ragu ★ 4.5
centro-storico · Via Paladino 51, 80138 Napoli
Tandem on Via Paladino in Naples is the modern trattoria built entirely around the Neapolitan Sunday ragu: paccheri, ziti spezzati and the bread-dunking ritual served daily noon to 24:00.
Trattoria Nennella ★ 4.5
quartieri-spagnoli · Vico Lungo Teatro Nuovo 105, 80134 Napoli
Nennella in Naples' Quartieri Spagnoli runs the most theatrical service in town: shouted orders, plastic stools, 13-euro three-course lunch. The Sunday queue starts at 11:30 around the block.
Osteria Donna Teresa ★ 4.5
vomero · Via Michele Kerbaker 58, 80129 Napoli
Osteria Donna Teresa in Naples' Vomero has run a verbal daily menu since 1913, with no printed carte and no signage, serving Vomero workers a 12-euro three-course lunch in a six-table room.
Mimi alla Ferrovia ★ 4.4
centro-storico · Via Alfonso d'Aragona 19, 80139 Napoli
Mimi alla Ferrovia near Naples Central Station has cooked the canon since 1943, with the linguine all'astice (lobster pasta) the dish Sophia Loren and the city's politicians keep ordering.