Expanding your restaurant or hotel brand into Italy?
A great concept isn’t enough to win in a new market. You need a local partner who knows exactly how Italians discover, choose and book — so your launch lands, and keeps performing.
Italy is its own market
TheFork & Google
Guests book on local platforms — not the ones you know at home.
Discovery in Italian
Search and maps happen in Italian, on local intent.
Local reviews
Reputation is built on Italian reviews and word of mouth.
Italian creators
Demand is shaped by local influencers, seasonality and city culture.
A global agency gives you a global template. We give you the Italian playbook — because we operate inside it every day.
What it actually takes to win here
Whether you’re opening your first venue in Italy or taking over an existing one, these are the five things that decide whether Italians find you, trust you and book you.
Google & local SEO — in Italian
Your future guests search “ristorante”, not “restaurant”. Your Google Business Profile, website and local SEO have to speak natural Italian and match local search intent, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Get this wrong and you’re invisible to the people who live around the corner.
Reviews are your currency
In Italy, Google and TripAdvisor reviews are read, weighed and quoted over dinner. A steady flow of genuine Italian-language reviews — and a professional reply to every single one — builds more credibility than any ad campaign.
TheFork & the portal ecosystem
A large share of Italian diners book through TheFork, and hotel guests compare on the OTAs before anything else. You need to be present, priced and presented correctly on the platforms Italians actually use — without becoming dependent on them.
The WhatsApp culture
Italians ask questions, request tables and confirm reservations on WhatsApp. If your venue only answers email or a web form, you lose guests to the place next door that replies within minutes. It’s a habit, and you have to be set up for it.
Direct bookings you own
Portals bring the first visit; direct channels protect the margin. From day one we build the system — website, Google profile, campaigns, follow-up — so a growing share of covers and room nights arrives commission-free, on channels you control.
What we handle for your launch
Pre-opening buzz
Build anticipation before day one.
Local SEO & Google profile
Be found the moment you open.
TheFork & direct bookings
Capture reservations and own the channel.
Launch campaigns
Google & social ads that fill covers and rooms from week one.
Italian social & creators
The right voice, the right faces, the right city.
Ongoing growth
We don’t disappear after the opening — we run the system.
New to opening in Italy? Follow our step-by-step pre-launch marketing checklist.
Why a local partner beats a global agency
You could brief your global agency to “cover Italy”. But you’d be paying a generalist to learn — on your budget — a market we already master. We give you Italian-market execution from day one, an operator’s instinct for hospitality, and a single accountable partner on the ground.
Your next guest chooses on a screen — and now asks an AI
Guests no longer find you by walking past. They find you on Google Maps, on TheFork, in reviews — and, increasingly, by asking AI assistants where to eat and where to sleep. When someone asks for “a great trattoria near the Duomo” or “a quiet four-star hotel in Trastevere”, the answer is drawn from the digital footprint you’ve built: your profiles, your reviews, your content, your data.
That footprint takes months to build and compounds over time. The brands laying it down now will be the answers; the ones who wait will simply not come up. This shift isn’t theory for us: our founder, Giancarlo De Leonardo, also serves as President of Fondazione Innovation Bridge, a non-profit foundation dedicated to technology and AI culture. That work is where our method and tools come from — and why we build your visibility for how guests will choose tomorrow, not only how they chose yesterday.
Trusted by the best in Italy
We work with venues at the top of the Italian scene — including La Pergola di Roma, Chef Heinz Beck (3 Michelin stars). If we earn the trust of Italy’s finest, we can carry your brand into this market with the same standard.
From Rome to Ibiza
Taking a hospitality brand across a border is not theory for us. Micalusi, a Roman restaurant brand we’ve worked with since 2017, expanded to Ibiza in 2024 — and brought us along. We run the same system for the new venue that we run in Rome: website, Google Business Profile, Google Ads, local SEO and photo/video content, adapted to a new city, a new audience and a new competitive map. It’s the same playbook we’d run for your entry into Italy, just in the opposite direction.
Frequently asked questions
Do you work with international restaurant and hotel brands entering Italy?
Yes. Helping international hospitality brands launch and grow in the Italian market is a core focus. We manage the local side of your entry end to end, in English with you and in Italian with the market.
We already have a global marketing agency. Why add a local partner?
Your global agency keeps your brand consistent worldwide. We make it perform in Italy specifically — TheFork, Italian Google Ads, local SEO, Italian creators and guest behaviour — execution a generalist would have to learn on your budget.
When should we involve you — before or after opening?
Ideally before. The strongest launches start weeks ahead with pre-opening buzz, local SEO and Google Business Profile in place for day one. But we also take on venues already operating in Italy.
Do you take on every brand that applies?
No. Eligibility comes first: we only take on venues where we genuinely believe we can deliver growth. If your concept, location or timing isn’t a fit, we’ll tell you on the first call — and point you in a better direction.
Have you actually managed a cross-border expansion?
Yes. Micalusi, a Roman restaurant brand we’ve supported since 2017, expanded to Ibiza in 2024 with Caro Collega managing the website, Google Business Profile, Google Ads, local SEO and content for the new venue. Detailed figures stay private, out of respect for our colleagues.
Do you cover AI assistants and new discovery channels?
Yes. Visibility today spans Google Search and Maps, TheFork, reviews — and increasingly the AI assistants guests ask for recommendations. We structure your profiles, reviews, content and data so you can be found across all of them. Our founder also presides over a non-profit foundation dedicated to technology and AI culture, which is where our method and tools keep evolving.
How do we start?
With a free market-entry analysis. We review your concept, locations and targets and give you an honest plan — and tell you if we are not the right fit.
Planning your entry into Italy?
Book a free market-entry call. We review your concept, locations and targets — and tell you honestly how we’d grow your brand here. One thing to know before you book: we don’t work with everyone. If we don’t believe we can genuinely move the needle for your venue, we’ll say so on the call and save you the budget.
Book your market-entry call →In English, free of charge, no obligation — and an honest “no” if we’re not the right fit.