Toronto's newest registered Italian restaurants

New Italian restaurants in Toronto: 16 have been licensed in the past year, tracked daily from the City of Toronto business-licence registry (chains excluded). The most recent is GELATERIA DOLCE MIA, first seen 39 days ago.

Two Italies in Toronto: the postwar Calabrian and Sicilian one along Corso Italia and College, and a younger Roman/Bolognese wave downtown. New openings lean toward the second - single-dish pastificios, focaccerias, gelaterias.

Where are Italian restaurants opening in Toronto right now?

The newest Italian openings are scattered across the city rather than concentrated in the traditional College St / Corso Italia belt. Scarborough has Old Soul Pizzeria (Lawrence Ave E), a wood-fired Neapolitan kitchen that opened 40 days ago; Etobicoke has The Blue Horse Cucina (The Queensway), a full sit-down trattoria with an Italian wine list; West Toronto has the gelato counter Gelateria Dolce Mia (Bloor St W), the Florentine focaccia sandwich shop Ariete e Toro (Dundas St W), and Cafe Russo (Roncesvalles Ave). East Toronto adds Pizza Fun on the Danforth.

The newer wave skews single-dish and takeout-friendly — pastificios, focaccerias, gelaterias — rather than the full-service red-sauce rooms that defined the postwar Italian corridors.

What should I order at a new Italian restaurant in Toronto?

It depends on the format. At Ariete e Toro on Dundas St W, the whole menu is built around Florentine schiacciata — a saltier, olive-oil-drenched focaccia stuffed with fillings like porchetta or prosciutto e figs; that's the thing to get. At Old Soul Pizzeria in Scarborough, the draw is Neapolitan wood-fired pies with a proper leopard-spotted cornicione (the puffy, charred crust edge) — order the margherita first to judge the dough. At The Blue Horse Cucina in Etobicoke, the full sit-down format means pasta and secondi are fair game; look for house-made pasta if it's listed.

At gelaterias like Gelateria Dolce Mia on Bloor, ask what's made in-house that day — pistachio and stracciatella are the reliable benchmarks for quality.

Is Italian food a good option if I'm vegetarian?

Italian is one of the more vegetarian-friendly European cuisines by default — pasta with tomato, olive oil, or cheese sauces; wood-fired pizzas without meat; arancini; bruschetta; and gelato are all meatless staples. At a focacceria like Ariete e Toro, ask which sandwich fillings are vegetable or cheese-based, as the menu rotates. Neapolitan pizzerias like Old Soul Pizzeria almost always have a marinara (no cheese, no meat) as a menu anchor.

Vegan is harder — butter, cheese, and egg appear throughout pasta and dessert. Gelato at Gelateria Dolce Mia typically includes dairy-free sorbetto options alongside the milk-based gelato; confirm which flavours are which when you order.

What is the difference between Neapolitan, Roman, and New York–style pizza?

Neapolitan pizza — the style at Old Soul Pizzeria in Scarborough — uses a thin, soft, slightly wet centre with a pillowy, charred crust (the cornicione), baked at 900°F in a wood-fired oven for about 90 seconds. Roman pizza (pizza al taglio) is baked in rectangular trays, sold by weight, and has a crispier, more bread-like base. New York style splits the difference: larger, hand-tossed, foldable slices with a moderate crust, baked in a gas deck oven.

The key tell is the centre: Neapolitan centres are intentionally soft and moist; if that bothers you, Roman or NY style holds up better as a slice-to-go.

Where does Toronto's Italian community come from historically?

The largest wave arrived between the 1950s and 1970s, predominantly from Calabria, Sicily, and the Veneto — southern and northeastern Italy. They settled along College St (today's Little Italy), Corso Italia on St Clair W, and in the inner suburbs. By the 1980s Toronto had one of the largest Italian diaspora populations in North America outside Italy itself.

A younger, more recent wave — often temporary workers, students, and restaurateurs — skews Roman, Bolognese, and northern Italian, which explains why newer openings in the directory lean toward Roman-style formats (focacce, pastificios, gelaterias) rather than the red-sauce trattorie that defined the postwar corridors.