Vegan in Verona: 5 Great Places to Grab a Bite
Verona, like much of Northern Italy, is known for heavy, meat and butter based dishes or creamy risottos. However it’s pretty easy to be vegan in Verona, and I’ve got a few favourites I’m going to share with you.
Over the years, I’ve gotten fussier about the food I’m willing to pay for. I’m enough of a realist to know that not everywhere is well equipped to serve good vegan options, but it’s a real pet peeve of mine that “vegan options” often just means carbs or salad. And don’t get me wrong, I love both carbs and salad, but if I’m going to pay the same as my omni friends, is it too much to ask for some protein?
In this post, I’m going to share some of my favourite places that you can get a proper meal for a vegan in Verona. And there’s a couple of carb forward options too, because something you just need a focaccia snack in between seeing the sights.
Best Vegan Restaurants in Verona
Flower Burger
If you search Google Maps for “vegan in Verona”, Flower Burger is going to be one of the first places that pop up. This fully vegan burger restaurant originated in Milan, and now has branches all over the country. In Verona, you’ll find it on Corso Porta Nuova, less than a 10 minute walk from the Verona Arena.
Flower Burger’s specialty is plant-based burgers with vibrant, colorful buns. These are naturally dyed using ingredients like turmeric or beetroot, and the entire vibe is cheerful and bright. The restaurant offers both dine-in and takeaway options. The space is as colourful as the food, which arrives in a small, signature wooden crate.
They regularly change out their specials, but the constant classic is the Flower Burger: a double bean-based patty with vegan cheese, their house sauce, and a purple bun.
Most of their burgers are made from ingredients like chickpeas or lentils. There are occasionally seitan or mock-meat options on the menu, but the majority is whole-food based.
It’s also worth noting that Flower Burger is on Deliveroo and other food delivery apps. I may or may not have ordered some to my hotel when I was too lazy to go out in the rain.
A burger, side, and drink will set you back around €13.
La Lanterna
If Flower Burger is the casual, vegan in Verona lunch spot, then La Lanterna is the more sophisticated, elegant dinner pick. If you’re a vegan in Verona who’s looking for traditional Italian food minus the meat and dairy, this one’s for you.
La Lanterna is in the San Zeno neighbourhood of Verona, about a 15 minute walk from the main town square of Piazza Bra and the Verona Arena.
It’s a quieter, more understated restaurant than Flower Burger – the type of place you’re going to want to linger over a glass of Valpolicella or bowl of tiramisu. The interior is warm and cosy, with wood beamed ceilings and artwork on the walls.
The menu at La Lanterna is seasonal, changing with the available produce. Everything in the restaurant is homemade: they even bake their own bread and make their own condiments and desserts in house.
I’ve eaten in La Lanterna a couple of times. On my first visit to Verona, it was already on my list, and then when I returned with my husband on another visit, I took him there to share the place I’d loved so much.
Finding fully vegan yet traditional Italian restaurants isn’t always a given. Plenty of places may offer a good vegan dish, but La Lanterna’s menu means you can experience the full, multi-course Italian spread, from your appetisers through your primi pasta dishes to the traditionally meaty secondi, all the way through to your dolci.
As the menu is seasonal, it does change, but there’s usually a sharing platter appetiser featuring home-made charcuterie and other treats. I’ve also had a great carbonara there a few times, which seems to be a menu staple through the seasons.
For a second course, I’ve gotten the mixed grill a couple of times, which also seems to be a regular fixture on the menu. You’ll get a mix of things like polenta, seitan, tofu or veggie sausage – all homemade, and all protein-y enough to feel satisfied.
For dessert, I’ve had and loved their tiramisu, and there seems to be a constant rotation of absolutely beautiful cakes. I’ve never been a massive cake person, and I don’t know if that’s in part because I haven’t found many great vegan cakes, but La Lanterna’s always hold up.
Price-wise, you’re probably looking at around €50 per person if you go for a multi-course meal. A main on its own is around €15.
Pro Tip: Reservations are highly recommended for dinner, as it is a popular spot with locals and tourists alike.
Vegan Snacks in Verona
If you’re spending the day sightseeing in Verona, you may reach a point where you just want a quick pick me up, not a full sit down meal like you’ll find in La Lanterna. There are plenty of places around the city to grab a casual bite, and these are some that I’ve enjoyed as a vegan in Verona.
Dal Grano Pizzeria
Dal Grano, on Via Armando Diaz, is a casual takeaway pizza spot. They sell pizza al taglio, which is a large pizza baked into a rectangular pan and sold by the slice. At Dal Grano, the slices are sold by weight – so if you want to try a few, you can ask for smaller slices!
I’ll be blunt, you’re not going to be completely spoiled for choice as a vegan, but there’s usually a vegan option or two. I had a cheeseless pizza covered in veggies, and it was lovely.
Focacceria Ponte Pietra
In the Ponte Pietra district, where the Adige river loops around the top of Verona’s old town, you’ll find Focacceria Ponte Pietra. If you search Google maps, it usually comes up as Focaccia Genovese. Whatever name it’s going by, it’s where you’ll find some of the absolute best focaccia in the city.
I wrote about this in my Verona in a Day post, but it’s permanently on my list of places to go in Verona. I have really nice memories of the delight in my husband’s face when he first tried their onion focaccia; or on another trip, sitting next to the river on a cold December day with my brother, warm focaccia in our hands.
It’s a small shop, and when you walk in, you’ll immediately see a glass covered counter displaying tons of focaccia options. They’ve got all sorts of toppings here, from the classic rosemary and sea salt, to onion, to chilli flakes (surprisingly spicy, be warned).
They’ll heat the focaccia for you in the shop, and then you take your carby goodness to go – I recommend the benches around the corner overlooking the Adige river.
Berbere Pizza
Berbere Pizza is an actual sit down restaurant, but I’m still going to file it under “snacks”. While their pizza is great, their vegan options aren’t strong enough for me to recommend it as a solid dinner option. For me, this would be ideal if you wanted to share a pizza with someone else over a beer for a light energy boost.
They’ve got quite a few branches around London, but their Verona branch is on Via Pellicciai, just off Piazza Delle Erbe.
For vegans, they’ve got the standard marinara pizza, a veggie pizza with onion, olives and tomato, and a hummus pizza with sundried tomatoes and cavolo nero.
A Final Tip for Eating Vegan in Verona
Verona is a wonderful city. It’s the city I look at on Rightmove most often, so that’s saying something. Sadly, I am yet to win the lotto and live out my dreams of having a villa in Veneto.
As a vegan in Verona, hopefully you can see from this post, Happy Cow, and any other research you’ve done, that it’s definitely doable. It’s getting increasingly easier to be vegan in Italy in general, and even if you find most of the restaurant options are arrabbiata pasta or marinara pizzas, there are often gems like Flower Burger or La Lanterna.
It’s also worth giving an honourable mention to Italian supermarkets. Whenever I do travel to Italy, I tend to stay somewhere with cooking facilities because the range of vegan options in the supermarkets is honestly great. I’ll do a follow up post in the future about cooking and self catering as a vegan in Italy, so sign up for the mailing list if you want to keep in touch!
In the meantime, if you need help planning your Verona trip, you might find my Verona guide or post on how to get to Lake Garda without a car helpful. I’ve also written a general guide to travelling as a vegan, which you can find here.
Happy travels!
