Chef shares giveaway sign of 'tourist trap' restaurant

If you're lucky enough to be spending your summer in Italy, chances are you'll be planning your days around what you're eating next.

Whether it's a bowl of fresh pasta, a wood-fired pizza, creamy burrata or an Aperol Spritz in the sun, few things beat pulling up a chair at a family-run restaurant after a day of sightseeing.

But if you want the real deal rather than an overpriced tourist trap, one chef says there's a simple giveaway to look out for before you even step through the door.

Neapolitan chef Michele Pascarella has shared the biggest giveaway that a restaurant is aimed at tourists rather than locals.

Ironically, it's the exact kind of thing that often goes viral on TikTok and convinces people to eat there in the first place.

Handmade fresh pasta is one of the best parts of authentic Italian cooking (Luigi Avantaggiato/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Speaking to Metro, the chef said anyone visiting Italy in search of authentic food should steer clear of restaurants with a pasta window.

If you've never come across one before, it's exactly what it sounds like: a large street-facing window where staff can be seen rolling, kneading and shaping fresh pasta by hand.

It makes for a great photo, and it's easy to see why tourists stop to watch the chefs - and sometimes even Italian 'nonnas' at work. But according to Pascarella, it's often a dead giveaway that the restaurant is targeting visitors rather than locals.

Apparently a pasta window is a sign of a 'tourist trap' in Italy (Luigi Avantaggiato/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

"I’ve never seen proper restaurants in Italy displaying people in the window making pasta. And if a place does, it’s usually more of a kitschy tourist trap than an authentic restaurant," he told the news outlet.

"If I saw something like this, I’d probably walk away. I don’t think it’s right to put people on display while they’re doing their job, as if they were part of an attraction."

The chef, who owns 'Napoli On The Road' in London, said the trend might look like a celebration of traditional cooking, but he believes it's anything but.

"I wouldn’t call putting workers in shop windows like mannequins a tradition," he said.

"It’s turning people’s work into a spectacle, and, in my opinion, diminishing the value of both the craft and the people behind it. There’s nothing authentic about that; it’s a tourist trap."

Watch out for tourist trap red flags before you sit down to dinner (Luigi Avantaggiato/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

According to Pascarella, there are a few other red flags worth keeping an eye out for too.

e also recommends being wary of restaurants with menus plastered with photos of every dish, waiters dressed in old-school 'Italian' costumes, and pasta served in miniature copper pans instead of regular bowls.

And if the restaurant is right beside a major landmark like the Tower of Pisa or the Pantheon, don't be surprised if it's catering more to tourists than locals.

So before you park yourself at the first place overlooking the Trevi Fountain, it might be worth taking a stroll around the corner instead.