Naples' long-cooked Sunday meat sauce: pork ribs, beef rolls and sausage braised four to eight hours in tomato until the fat rises and the sauce turns brick-red, served over paccheri 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, started Saturday evening to be ready by midday Mass on Sunday. The canonical restaurant versions today are at Tandem Ragu and Trattoria Nennella in the Quartieri Spagnoli.
4 editor picks for Ragu Napoletano in Naples, ranked by editorial score. All Naples signature dishes · Ragu Napoletano across every city.
Tandem Ragu ★ 4.4
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.
Trattoria Nennella ★ 4.3
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.
Osteria Donna Teresa ★ 4.3
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.
Mimi alla Ferrovia ★ 4.2
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.