Craft Beer in Italy: where to start (and what to order)

The first time, we weren’t in Milan, or in some bar packed with taps. We were at Valscura, in Sarone di Caneva, with a few beers in front of us and a lot of curiosity. That’s where it all started. But if we walked into a bar today with twenty taps and a bartender waiting, we’d know exactly what to do. Not because we became experts, but because we figured out that craft beer in Italy isn’t a maze: it’s a map. Once you know how to read it, every bar becomes an opportunity.

That’s exactly why we wrote this guide. Not for people who want to become competition judges, but for anyone who wants to enjoy a good pint with a little more confidence. You’ll find the numbers behind the industry, a geographic map of breweries worth knowing, what makes Italian beer unique, and how to start exploring it, at your own pace, without feeling out of your depth.

In 2010, Italy had around 250 craft breweries. Today there are over 1,300 active operations, according to the Unionbirrai/OBiArt 2022 Report, and the trend hasn’t stopped since. A quarter of those are agricultural breweries: operations that grow some of their own ingredients. A 380% rise in fifteen years isn’t a trend. It’s a cultural shift.

Total production now exceeds 48 million litres a year, worth over 430 million euros in the out-of-home market. Those numbers explain why even supermarkets have started making room for craft labels on their shelves.

But what does “craft” actually mean? Since 2016, Italy has had a precise legal definition (Law 154/2016, Art. 35): to carry the label, a beer cannot be pasteurised or microfiltered, and must come from an independent brewery producing under 200,000 hectolitres a year. In practice: no industrial treatment that would flatten the character, and no ties to the big groups. That’s the line, at least on paper.

International recognition confirms that quality has grown alongside the numbers. The Brewer of the Year title went to Agostino Arioli of Birrificio Italiano, a brewery celebrating its thirtieth anniversary that continues to set benchmarks across Europe.

The Italian craft beer scene is going through a consolidation phase. Fewer new openings, more focus on quality and identity. And a few clear trends are emerging.

Italian Pilsner is having a moment. Clean, crisp, and elegant, it’s a style gaining ground fast, especially in the warmer months. Alongside it, Session IPA is growing: lower alcohol, big aroma, easy drinking. The idea is that a great beer doesn’t have to be strong to be interesting.

On the hop front, alongside classics like Citra and Mosaic, the Krush variety has made its mark in recent years, appreciated for its tropical, fruit-forward profile.

Low and no-alcohol beers (NoLo) are also finding their footing. Not as a compromise, but as a genuine craft product. It’s a small shift that says something about where the culture is heading.

Italian craft beer doesn’t have a single centre. It has many, each with its own character.

Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia are the regions to start with.

Brewery 32 Via dei Birrai was founded in 2006 in Pederobba, near Treviso, by three friends with different backgrounds: an agronomist, an engineer, and a commercial specialist, united by one idea: to make beer differently. All their beers are unpasteurised, bottle-conditioned, and never standardised. Every batch is a little different from the last, and you can taste it.

In Friuli, Birrificio Agricolo Garlatti Costa in Forgaria nel Friuli tells a different kind of story: family-run, deeply rooted in the land, with barley grown on their own fields and the clean water of the Val d’Arzino as a secret ingredient. Founded in 2012 by Severino Garlatti Costa, it’s now run together with the family, with a weekend taproom set in nature, guided tastings, and an outdoor terrace that’s worth the drive in summer.

Lombardy has the highest number of active breweries in the country. Birrificio Lambrate in Milan is an institution, known for its bright, citrus-forward IPA. Birrificio Rurale works with traditional techniques and a genuine commitment to sustainability. In Piedmont, one name stands alone: Baladin, founded by Teo Musso in Piozzo, was the pioneer of Italian craft beer. Belgian influences, Italian ingredients, and the ability to bring an entire generation of brewers along for the ride.

Tuscany has a mature agricultural scene, with operations like Brasseria della Fonte in Val d’Orcia, which grows its own barley and hops directly on its land, and Piccolo Birrificio Clandestino in Livorno, more urban and experimental in character. In Lazio and the Marche the scene is younger but growing: breweries like MC77 in the Marche are names to watch in the coming years.

Birra Salento uses malt grown among olive groves and vineyards, in collaboration with the University of Salento. Malto Lento, in Alto Molise, works with grains recovered from ancient local varieties. Here the product becomes a portrait of the place, with the same evocative power we usually associate with wine. Worth following closely in the years ahead.

The answer lies above all in the relationship with ingredients and with the place where they’re grown.

A concrete example is right here in Friuli, in Polcenigo: Luppolo Verde is an agricultural project founded in 2017 by Federico Comel, an agronomist who chose to grow the hops and other ingredients used in his beers directly on site. The result is an impressively short supply chain, in a setting that couldn’t be more beautiful: Polcenigo is one of Italy’s most beautiful villages, at the foot of the Friulian Dolomites. Visits are by appointment, with a tour through the hop garden and the brewery that ends, as it should, with a tasting.

Also in Friuli, in San Lorenzo di Sedegliano, we recently discovered Birrò: a family brewery built quite literally with their own hands, the kiosk, the tasting space, all of it. Their beers are made with barley grown directly by the family, fully local, with a clear philosophy: light, easy-drinking flavours, moderate alcohol, and the highest respect for the raw ingredients. We visited recently and you can feel it in every sip: this is people who genuinely love what they do.

These aren’t isolated cases. Baladin launched Italy’s first significant hop-growing project in 2008. Brasseria della Fonte, in Val d’Orcia, grows its own barley and hops on-site and uses them in at least 70% of its beers. This is the terroir of Italian beer: still young compared to wine, but already real and recognisable.

An Italian craft beer isn’t simply “non-industrial.” It carries the imprint of where it was born, the people who made it, the ingredients chosen one by one. It’s a difference you taste in the glass.

Non devi diventare esperto. Basta conoscere qualche punto di riferimento per orientarti al bancone.

You don’t need to become an expert. You just need a few reference points to find your way at the bar.

IPA (India Pale Ale) is one of the most common styles in Italian craft breweries: hoppy, aromatic, with a bold character. It also comes in a Session version, lighter and easier to drink, great if you want to make it to dessert.

Stout is at the opposite end: dark, full-bodied, with notes of coffee and chocolate. Perfect in winter, excellent with aged cheese.

Sour is tart and often fruity, born from spontaneous or controlled fermentation. Birra dell’Eremo has made a name for itself here: their Selva Sour took first place in its category at industry competitions in 2023.

Wheat beers are lighter and creamier, a good starting point for anyone coming to craft beer for the first time.

One practical tip: when you’re facing a label you don’t know, look for two things: the style (IPA, stout, lager…) and the alcohol percentage. Everything else follows from the first sip.

Italy is a country built on pairings, and craft beer is no exception.

A citrus-forward IPA cuts through the richness of cured meats and hard cheeses beautifully. A stout alongside a dark chocolate dessert is a combination that surprises even confirmed wine drinkers. A light wheat beer, fresh and slightly hazy, works perfectly with seafood or a summer salad.

The rule is simple: the more intense the food, the more structured the beer should be. Start with what you’re eating and let that guide the choice.

The best way to understand a beer is to drink it where it was born.

A taproom is the brewery’s own tasting space, often run by the people who made the beer. In Friuli, Wild Raccoon Taproom in Udine is one of those places that stays with you: informal atmosphere, taps that change regularly, and the clear sense that the people behind it know exactly what they’re doing. The taproom at Garlatti Costa in Forgaria nel Friuli is a different kind of experience, more immersed in the landscape, with guided tastings and a very welcoming outdoor space. And then there’s Birrò in San Lorenzo di Sedegliano: small, family-run, with a tasting space built with their own hands and boards of cured meats and cheeses sourced from neighbouring farms. Three places, three different ways to experience Friulian craft beer.

In Veneto, Lucky Brew is a reliable reference point for exploring the local scene: a good selection, a welcoming atmosphere, and the kind of place where you end up staying much longer than planned.

For anyone not yet planning a brewery tour, a specialist craft beer pub is the right place to start. Finding one in your city is often the first step, and the one that turns a curious drinker into a genuine fan.

Worth knowing: thanks to advocacy work by Unionbirrai, breweries producing up to 10,000 hectolitres a year have secured a permanent 50% reduction in excise duty. A concrete lifeline for small operations, the ones that brew with care and often make the most interesting beers. When you buy from an independent brewery, you’re also supporting someone who chose to do things differently.

Craft beer in Italy isn’t a trend. It’s a mature industry, rooted in the land, with real stories behind every label. And with a scene focused on quality more than volume, there’s never been a better time to explore it.

Pick a region. Find a brewery nearby. Walk into a taproom and ask what’s on tap, without worrying about sounding like an expert. Nobody was, at the beginning.

Which region would you like to start with? Follow us and stay tuned as we keep adding new stops to the map.

Cheers!