Pesce Pazzo, a fishmonger’s with a kitchen in Quartiere Maghetti since 2021
Pesce Pazzo is a seafood restaurant that opened in 2021 in the Quartiere Maghetti courtyard in Lugano: you choose the fish at the counter, pay for it per 100 g, and the kitchen cooks it however you like.
Photo: Michel Passos Zylberberg / Inarchi
The Corte dei Sapori
Pesce Pazzo is one of the Corte dei Sapori venues in the Quartiere Maghetti, and part of Spaghetti Gastro Group.
“The Corte dei Sapori is named after the interplay of four raw ingredients (…): fish, meat, wine and bread.”
When Pesce Pazzo opened, the Braceria Elvetica and the Wine Bar were already in the courtyard.
The empty shell
In 2021 the Inarchi studio found “a completely empty shell”: four walls, shop windows and ceilings.
They turned it into a fishmonger’s with a kitchen and a custom-designed counter.
Pesce Pazzo opened in May 2021.
The idea
“With the fishmonger’s we give customers added value by making them part of the culinary experience, where they can make decisions starting from the initial choice of the raw ingredient, continuing with the cooking method, and finally reaching the finished dish, which is served to them in an almost personalised way.”
The counter today
Five years on, the fish is still chosen at the counter and paid for per 100 g: you choose, we cook.
- Wild sea fish
- 13.50 per 100 g
- Sea-farmed fish
- 9.50 per 100 g
The mural
On the dining-room wall is a mural signed “Lugano 2021”; it was retouched in April 2026, five years on.
In the dining room
“Above all, the atmosphere and the warm service (…) win you over.Vor allem das Ambiente und die herzliche Bedienung (…) überzeugt.”
See you at Pesce Pazzo.