How long does a Michelin star last? More than one in three fades out within six years

From the 2021 edition to the 2027 edition, starred restaurants in Italy went from 371 to 382, peaking at 395 along the way before suffering the sharpest drop of the period in the latest guide. We lined up the official lists from seven editions, restaurant by restaurant, to understand who enters, who exits, who comes back, and how long a star truly lasts.

The numbers in brief

• 546 different establishments held at least one star across seven editions.
• 239 restaurants kept their star uninterrupted from 2021 to 2027: 64% of the starting cohort.
• 175 entries and 164 exits between the 2022 and 2027 editions.
• 74 exits due to restaurant closures versus 76 unconfirmed stars: restaurants drop out because of a pulled-down shutter almost as often as they do for failing inspection.
• 22 promotions and 10 demotions between star tiers.
• Piedmont dropped from 46 to 34 starred venues; Southern Italy and the Islands rose from 84 to 99.
• Rome grew from 19 to 23: it is Italy’s most-starred city, ahead of Milan (19).

How many there are: seven editions, three phases

The total number of starred restaurants tells a story in three distinct acts. The first is the post-pandemic rebound: from 371 in the 2021 edition, the count climbs by seven restaurants a year up to 395 in the 2024 edition, the high-water mark of the period. The second is a two-year plateau, hovering between 393 and 394. The third is the 2027 edition, which drops to 382: twelve fewer in a single year.

The decline mostly hits the base of the pyramid. One-star restaurants fall back to 329, the exact same figure as the 2022 edition. Two-star venues fluctuate between 37 and 40. Three-star restaurants grow steadily from 11 to 15 before dropping to 13 for the first time in this timeframe.

n the chart, each column represents an edition: one-star restaurants in blue, two-star in orange, three-star in green. The number at the top is the total.

Who gets in and who drops out

The overall total barely budges, yet beneath the surface turnover is constant: every year, between 10% and 17% of starred restaurants change hands through new entries and exits.

Two trends explain the slowdown. New entries are losing steam: there were 33–34 per year in the 2022, 2023, and 2025 editions, dropping to 22 and 24 in the last two. Exits, meanwhile, hit their highest levels right at the end: 35 in the 2025 edition and 36 in 2027. The only truly generous year was 2024, with 29 new entries and just 19 exits.

For each edition, the blue column counts the restaurants entering the starred list, and the orange column counts those leaving it. Below the year is the net balance.

Almost everyone starts on the bottom rung. Only four restaurants in six editions skipped the first star altogether: Tre Olivi in Paestum (2022, straight to two stars), La Rei Natura in Serralunga d'Alba and Verso in Milan (2024, straight to two), and Atelier Moessmer in Brunico (2024, straight to three).

Why restaurants lose their star

In the popular imagination, a star is lost due to a negative verdict from the inspectors. The data tells a different story: of the 164 exits recorded between the 2022 and 2027 editions, 76 were unconfirmed stars and 74 were restaurants that closed down. The remaining 14 are special cases: venues closed for renovation, relocating, or reopening under a different concept.

Closures show three identical spikes of 19 restaurants each: the 2021 edition (the Covid year), followed by the 2025 and 2027 editions. Unconfirmed stars, on the other hand, remain remarkably steady at 15 or 16 in four out of six editions. The outlier is the 2026 edition, with only three downgrades off the list.

Each column breaks down the year's exits into three groups: unconfirmed stars in orange, closures in blue, and other cases in gray.

Closures do not spare the upper tiers. Over this period, two three-star restaurants exited due to closure (St. Hubertus in San Cassiano in the 2024 edition, Quattro Passi in Nerano in 2027) along with two two-star restaurants (Vun in Milan in 2022, Santa Elisabetta in Florence in 2027). Above the one-star level, the only exit unrelated to a closure was Piccolo Lago in Mergozzo, which dropped from two stars to zero in the 2025 edition.

Who climbs and who falls

Among already-starred restaurants, moving up is twice as common as moving down: 22 promotions versus 10 demotions across seven editions.

Il grafico conta, per ogni edizione, i ristoranti che guadagnano una stella (blu) e quelli che ne perdono una restando in guida (arancione).

Dopo quattro edizioni consecutive con almeno un nuovo tre stelle, la 2027 non ne ha nessuno ed è l'unica del periodo con un declassamento dal massimo livello.

Spostamenti e cambi di chef

La guida segnala ogni anno due movimenti che non toccano il conteggio ma dicono molto sulla salute del settore: i ristoranti che cambiano sede portandosi dietro la stella e quelli che la confermano con un nuovo chef.

For each edition, the chart counts the restaurants gaining a star (blue) and those losing one while remaining in the guide (orange).

After four consecutive editions featuring at least one new three-star restaurant, 2027 has none—and is the only edition in the period to record a demotion from the top tier.

Relocations and chef changes

Every year, the guide flags two types of movement that do not affect the overall headcount but speak volumes about the health of the industry: restaurants that relocate while carrying their star with them, and those that keep their star under a new chef.

There were 25 relocations across seven editions, becoming more frequent from 2024 onward at 4 or 5 per year. Some merely change street address, while others change city and name: Casual in Bergamo became Villa Elena (and earned its second star the following year), Larossa moved from Alba to Turin, Atman from Lamporecchio to Vinci, and Coria from Caltagirone to Catania.

Chef changes with a confirmed star totaled 74. They climbed from 9 to 16 between the 2021 and 2026 editions—the highest mark—before falling back to 8 in 2027.

In blue, stars confirmed despite a change in the kitchen; in green, venue relocations.

Changing chefs is rarely painless. Of the 65 restaurants confirmed with a new chef between the 2021 and 2026 editions, 9 dropped out in the very next edition: 14%, compared to an annual average of 8% for one-star restaurants overall.

Losses and comebacks: who made it back

Winning back an unconfirmed star is rare. Of the 60 stars stripped between the 2022 and 2026 editions, only 6 returned by 2027: one in ten.

To these we can add Achilli al Parlamento in Rome, which lost its star in the 2021 edition and reclaimed it in 2025.

Different is the case of restaurants exiting for an announced hiatus. Don Alfonso 1890 in Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi left the guide in the 2023 edition for renovations while holding two stars, returning in 2025 with one. Bros' and Osteria Arbustico exited in the 2026 edition due to relocation and bounced right back in 2027, with the former moving from Lecce to Martina Franca.

Then there are the rebirths under a new banner, which the guide treats as brand-new restaurants:

• Norbert Niederkofler: St. Hubertus closed with three stars in the 2024 edition, and in that same edition Atelier Moessmer in Brunico debuted directly with three.
• Michelangelo Mammoliti: La Rei Natura entered in 2024 with two stars and climbed to three in 2026.
• Andrea Aprea: Vun closed with two stars in 2022; the chef's eponymous restaurant entered in 2023 with one and returned to two in 2024.
• Alfio Ghezzi: Senso at Mart in Rovereto closed in 2025, and Senso Lake Garda in Limone debuted in 2026.

How long a star lasts

Of the 371 restaurants starred in the 2021 edition, 239 held onto their status uninterrupted through 2027: 64%.

The more stars you have, the longer you stay. Still in the guide are 10 of the original 11 three-star restaurants (91%), 31 of the 37 two-star restaurants (84%), and 198 of the 323 one-star restaurants (61%).

he blue line tracks restaurants already starred in the 2021 edition, while the orange line tracks newly starred restaurants from the 2022 edition: for each group, it shows how many remain in the guide, edition after edition.

A steady erosion

Stars are not lost in sudden waves; they wear away at an almost steady pace. Among restaurants already starred in 2021, between 5% and 9.5% exit each year, with the highest attrition occurring in the latest edition. At this rate, half of the starred restaurants in any given edition would no longer hold a star roughly ten years later.

Of the 132 restaurants from 2021 that did not make it to 2027 with their star intact, 65 saw it go unconfirmed and 55 closed down. The other 12 exited due to renovations, relocations, format changes, or with no reason given.

Those that stay usually stay put. Among the 239 ever-present restaurants, 11 now hold one more star than in 2021 and 7 hold one less: for nine out of ten, their tier has not changed.

The honeymoon phase for new stars

First-time star recipients enjoy a grace period. Of the newcomers inducted from 2022 onward, only 3% exit in the very next edition and 8% within two. For veteran starred restaurants, those same figures are 7% and 12%.

The honeymoon wears off in year three: within three editions of entry, 20% of newcomers have exited, compared to 19% of veterans. From that point on, the advantage flips—at least for the cohort we can track longest. Of the 34 newly starred restaurants in the 2022 edition, 17 remain after five editions—exactly half; over the same span, 69% of previously starred restaurants remain.

The reason for exiting also shifts. Among newly minted stars that have already gone out, 19 out of 32 were closures and only 11 were unconfirmed stars: a newly starred restaurant is more likely to drop out because it pulls down the shutters than because of a bad review. Two establishments held their star for just a single edition after debuting in 2022: Locanda le 4 Ciacole in Roverchiara and Zanze XVI in Venice.

Where stars last longest

Staying power is not uniform across the country. In Southern Italy and the Islands, 69% of 2021's starred restaurants still hold a star, compared to 63% in the North and Center.

The three regions with the highest concentration of stars in the North and Center are also where stars have the shortest lifespan: in Lombardy, Piedmont, and Tuscany, nearly one in two restaurants from 2021 failed to reach 2027 without interruption. The difference is that Lombardy replaced every exit with new entries, whereas Piedmont and Tuscany did not. Among smaller regions, Abruzzo (5 out of 5) and Marche (4 out of 4) preserved every single one of their starting stars.

The geography of stars

The regions

Lombardy holds onto first place with 59 starred restaurants, the exact same number it had in 2021. Behind it, the leaderboard shifts: Campania climbs from 44 to 48 to take second place, Tuscany slips from 42 to 39, and Piedmont tumbles from 46 to 34, dropping from second to fourth.

In proportional terms, smaller regions saw the biggest gains: Sardinia jumped from 2 to 7, Marche from 4 to 9, and Sicily from 16 to 22. Molise entered the rankings in the 2025 edition with Locanda Mammì in Agnone. Liguria rode a rollercoaster: from 7 up to 13 in the 2024 edition, then back down to 9.

For each region, the gray bar shows the number of starred restaurants in the 2021 edition, and the blue bar shows the 2027 edition.

Comparing two endpoints, however, masks the churn in between. Lombardy has the exact same tally because it recorded 33 entries and 33 exits. Piedmont lost 22 establishments and gained only 10. Sicily gained 10 and lost 4.

On the right, in blue, cumulative entries across the 2022 to 2027 editions; on the left, in orange, exits. Regions are ordered from best net balance to worst.

North, Center, and South

Northern Italy still accounts for more than half of all starred venues, yet it is the only macro-area to finish below its starting mark, falling from 208 to 198. Central Italy rises from 79 to 85. Southern Italy and the Islands climb from 84 to 99, after peaking at 103 in the 2024 edition.

Three lines, one per area, tracking the number of starred restaurants in each edition.

Cities and provinces

Rome is the city with the most starred restaurants: 23, up from 19 in the 2021 edition and 16 in 2022. Milan rises from 16 to 19. Turin moves in the opposite direction: 11 in the 2023 edition, down to 7 in 2027.

Six cities compared: starred restaurants in the 2021 edition in gray, and in 2027 in blue.

Among provinces, Rome leads the 2027 edition with 28 starred restaurants, followed by Naples (26), Bolzano (22), Milan (21), and Salerno (17, up from 12). Cuneo drops from 18 to 14. Provinces with at least one star numbered 84 in 2021, rose to 89, and returned to 84 in 2027.

Curiosities and anomalies

Two stars that vanished without explanation

Every year, alongside its directory of starred venues, the guide publishes a list of exits: unconfirmed stars, closures, and demotions. Comparing the directories line by line reveals two restaurants that disappeared without appearing on any of those lists.

• Balzi Rossi, Ventimiglia (IM): Held one star from the 2023 edition through 2025. In the 2026 edition it is gone, yet it appears neither among unconfirmed stars nor closed restaurants.
• Il Cappero, Vulcano Island (ME): Held one star in every edition from 2021 to 2026. In the 2027 edition it is missing from the directory and, once again, appears on no exit list.

In our dataset, both exits are classified as "reason not stated."

Other oddities

• Up and down in three years. Tre Olivi in Paestum entered the 2022 edition straight with two stars and dropped to one in 2025.
• The fastest arc. Santa Elisabetta in Florence received its second star in the 2021 edition and exited due to closure in 2027.
• One edition only. Agli Amici Dopolavoro in Venice and Cracco Portofino entered in the 2026 edition and exited due to closure in 2027.
• Double step back. La Madernassa in Guarene dropped from two stars to one in the 2023 edition and lost that remaining star in 2025.
• San Marino left starless. Righi la Taverna, the Republic's sole starred restaurant, exited in the 2023 edition due to closure.
• Basilicata cut in half. Down from two starred venues to one in the 2027 edition, following the closure of Don Alfonso 1890 San Barbato in Lavello.
• No newcomers in Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is the only region without a single new entry across six editions.