Gluten-Free Modena: bakery, pizza, piadina and shops for coeliacs

Modena’s historic centre is compact, and its sights sit close together: from Piazza Grande, the Cathedral, the Ghirlandina, the Palazzo Comunale and the Mercato Albinelli are all within a few minutes, the Palazzo Ducale, the Teatro Comunale and the Palazzo dei Musei about 5 minutes away, and the Giardini Ducali about 10, all on foot and by our estimate. The station is about 15 minutes on foot from Piazza Grande, by our estimate, with the Museo Enzo Ferrari close to it. Three places on this page are in that centre: Dulzy on Via Farini, entirely gluten-free crêpes, waffles and frozen yoghurt, about 5 minutes on foot from Piazza Grande by our estimate, and two mixed kitchens with gluten-free dishes, Osteria Stallo del Pomodoro on Largo Hannover and Fusorari on Piazzale Torti, a few steps from the Cathedral. Most of the entirely gluten-free places are outside it: SForno on Viale Sigonio is about 10 minutes on foot west of Piazza Grande, Le stelle di Adua on Via Pascal about 15 and Essenza Glutine on Via Buonarroti about 20, all by our estimate; Luigi Teperino · Gluten Free, at Viale Gramsci 141, is north of the station, about 10 minutes on foot from it. Doppiozero on Via Paganelli is a short bus or bike ride away, and Starbene Senza Glutine, Ci Piace Senza Glutine, Apicella and Pizzeria Anissa are best reached by bus or car.

A day that works, ideally a Saturday, when SForno is open in the morning and the afternoon and the Palazzo Ducale gives its guided tours (the Galleria Estense and Luigi Teperino’s gluten-free pizzeria are closed on Mondays). Start in Piazza Grande with the Cathedral and the Ghirlandina at the time you booked, then walk through the Mercato Albinelli, a few minutes away, to look rather than to eat. Dulzy on Via Farini, about 5 minutes on foot from the square by our estimate, is entirely gluten-free, so a crêpe or a waffle there makes an easy mid-morning stop; check its hours first. The Palazzo Ducale, for the weekend tour you booked, is about 5 minutes on foot beyond it. For lunch, walk west past the Palazzo dei Musei and the Galleria Estense to Essenza Glutine on Via Buonarroti, an entirely gluten-free gastronomia and bistrot, about 20 minutes on foot from the museums by our estimate; Le stelle di Adua on Via Pascal, an entirely gluten-free gastronomia with fresh gluten-free pasta, is about 10 minutes from each. On the way back, SForno on Viale Sigonio, an entirely gluten-free artisan bakery, opens again at 16:30, about 10 minutes on foot from Piazza Grande. End the day north of the station at Luigi Teperino · Gluten Free, Viale Gramsci 141, where every pizza is gluten-free, open from 18:00; the Museo Enzo Ferrari is about 10 minutes on foot from it, by our estimate, if you want to see it first (open until 19:00 through October, until 18:00 from November).

Across Italy, many places belong to the coeliac association’s eating-out programme, Alimentazione Fuori Casa (AFC). AIC calls them «informati», informed: staff trained on coeliac disease, AIC’s rules for preparing gluten-free food, a signed agreement, and an in-depth visit from AIC at least once a year. It is not a certificate, and joining is voluntary: plenty of kitchens serve gluten-free food outside it. AIC Emilia-Romagna, whose regional office is here in Modena, adds that it cannot take responsibility for a venue’s gluten-free service, which stays with the venue. Member places show the AFC sticker with the current year on the entrance door, so look for it; Dulzy says on its own site that its kitchen has been in the programme since 2015. AIC’s list of member places is for its members, but visitors can buy AIC Mobile Welcome, a 15-day version of the AIC Mobile app, also in English. The Region also has its own rules for food businesses that prepare gluten-free food, and its Alimenti&Salute site publishes, province by province, the businesses notified and authorised to prepare and serve it (the Modena list was last updated in July 2025): a place to check a venue, but not a guarantee either. AIC advises booking ahead so the kitchen can get ready. When you book, and every time you order, say you have coeliac disease: «Sono celiaco» or «Sono celiaca»; AIC Emilia-Romagna also suggests asking for the person in charge of the gluten-free service.

Modena’s own food is where the traps are. Tortellini, tigelle and gnocco fritto are wheat; gluten-free versions exist, but only from a gluten-free kitchen or with the label. Le stelle di Adua makes fresh gluten-free pasta, so ask there about the tortellini; in a mixed kitchen, ask «La pasta senza glutine la cuocete in una pentola a parte, con acqua nuova?» (do you cook the gluten-free pasta in a separate pot, in fresh water?). The stalls of the Mercato Albinelli are fresh pasta, tortellini and bread, and La Bonissima, the local producers’ food fair in Piazza Grande from 16 to 18 October 2026, has bakery stands too; none of them is on this page, so walk them and eat elsewhere. Every pizzeria on this page except Luigi Teperino · Gluten Free also makes wheat pizza, so ask «Come preparate la pizza senza glutine? Impasto, banco e forno sono separati?» (how do you make the gluten-free pizza? Are the dough, the work surface and the oven kept separate?). For Teperino, go to number 141 on Viale Gramsci: the brand’s other pizzerias, including the one at Viale Gramsci 106, are not gluten-free. We haven’t checked a Modena hotel breakfast yet, so confirm a gluten-free breakfast when you book, or have breakfast at Starbene Senza Glutine, an entirely gluten-free bakery-café on Via Vignolese, in the south of the city. For a day out to Maranello, stock up at Ci Piace Senza Glutine, an entirely gluten-free specialist shop with a bar for fresh gluten-free baking.