Dal Pescatore Restaurant in Cannetto sull'Oglio near Mantua.

Six Italian restaurants have retained their top three-star ratings in the 2011 edition of the Michelin Guide Italy, a “bible” for international gourmets. The six are the Sorriso di Soriso near Novara; Le Calandre at Sarmeola di Rubano near Padua; Dal Pescatore at Canneto sull’Oglio near Mantua; Florence’s Enoteca Pinchiorri; Da Vittorio, in Brusaporto, near Bergamo; and Heinz Beck’s La Pergola at the Rome Hilton.

The number of Italian restaurants awarded a two-star rating also remained the same, at 37, although this included two exits and two new entries. The new entries in were Jasmin in Chiusa, near Bolzano and Bracali, in the seaside Tuscan town of Massa Marittima, in the Grosetto area; while dropping to a one-star rating were L’Olivo in Capri and Arquade in San Pietro in Cariano, near Verona.

La Pergola, the beautiful rooftop restaurant at the Rome Hilton Cavalieri.

The number of eateries with a one-star rating rose from 229 in the 2010 guide to 233, with 32 new entries.

Lombardy was the region with the greatest number of restaurants boasting Michelin stars, 52, followed by Piedmont which had 37, although it had the highest number of new entries, six. Bolzano and Cuneo were the provinces with the highest number of establishments with stars, 15, followed by Naples with 14.

The 56th edition of the Italian version of the Michelin Guide was presented here on Wednesday.