Melbourne has a new meeting and eating place with the opening of Il Mercato Centrale, an ambitious new Italian food hub on the western end of Collins Street.

Open daily from 7am to late, 23 artisans sell their wares across three floors of the McPherson’s Building, an art deco edifice that was once Melbourne’s fanciest place to buy hardware. The rivets, nuts and bolts are long gone; now it’s ravioli, Napolitana and bonbons.

“It’s like Lygon Street in a single store,” said Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece at Thursday’s launch, in a pronouncement that may not endear himself to the Carlton portion of his City of Melbourne constituency.

The upmarket food hall is the fifth Il Mercato hub and the first one outside Italy. Founder Umberto Montano launched the brand in Florence in 2014, and followed up with sites in Rome, Turin and Milan. Collectively, they draw 12 million patrons a year.

For this project, estimated to have cost more than $18 million, he has partnered with local entrepreneur Eddie Muto, an early player in Southbank and South Wharf eateries.

‘Everybody is welcome. You don’t have to spend money. It’s a new square in the centre of Melbourne.’

Founder Umberto Montano

“The vibe about food is very strong in Melbourne,” Montano told The Age. “The standards are high because you have great ingredients, and you have passion.”

The Il Mercato vision is to celebrate artisan food traditions. “The second pillar is that we host cultural activity connected with the society around it,” Montano said.

That means a packed calendar of events, including cooking classes, book launches and music performances, all still to come.

“Everybody is welcome. You can come in and use the Wi-Fi. You don’t have to spend money. It’s a new square in the centre of Melbourne.”

Here are Good Food’s top picks.

Gnocchi in a pizza bowl, $34, La Pizza Napoletana x La Pasta Fatta in Casa

Gnocchi is great, pizza is life, put them together and you’ve entered the culinary stratosphere. Annapaola D’Alessio hand-makes pasta at La Pasta Fatta in Casa. Next door, her husband Valerio Violetti stretches dough at La Pizza Napoletana and cooks his creations in ovens shaped to look like roaring panthers. The couple meld their talents in a signature dish in which pizza is baked into a bowl shape and filled with gnocchi in a Napoli sauce. It’s warm, comforting, clever and just a bit messy.

Bistecca alla fiorentina, about $130, depending on weight, La Carne E I Salumi

Nikos Chatzopoulos  worked as a butcher in his native Greece and as a meat cook at Grill Americano in Melbourne. He brings his talents together at La Carne E I Salumi, selling fresh and cured meats, and cooking steaks to order. Pick of the bunch is a classic Florentine-style T-bone steak, cut from Chianina cattle, an Italian breed. Take it home for your own barbecue or have Nikos grill it on the spot for you to share with friends.

Lobster roll, $28, Il Pesce

Second-generation fishmonger George Milonas is retailing and cooking at Il Pesce, a destination for fresh seafood for home, oysters for right now, and cooked dishes to order. There’s sushi, sashimi and lobster mornay but any city lunch break will go better with a lobster roll, slathered with chilli mayo, stuffed into a soft bun and blowtorched to order for theatrical caramelisation.

Porchetta panini, $24, La Mozzarella

One of the most beautiful displays in the whole market is at La Mozzarella, the store from Giorgio Linguanti, also the owner of Thomastown cheese producer That’s Amore. “This is one of the best mozzarellas you can eat outside of Italy,” says Montano. The quivering orbs and plaited lengths of fresh cheese look spectacular, but even they are shown up by an extraordinary roasted whole pig with blistered crackling. Have them together in a soft panini.

Pork and fennel sausage roll, $10.50, Il Forno

Not everything at Il Mercato Centrale is Italian. You can get smash burgers and fried chicken and at Il Forno, baker Damian Malone channels his maternal Italian heritage in a flaky sausage roll filled with minced pork and fennel.

The shop is a spin-off from his Highett bakery, The Flour House, which sources Victorian wheat and mills it on site. If you’re a city shopper in need of a loaf, the sourdough is excellent. Try the crusty rye spiked with apple cider.

Sfogliatella classica, $8.50, La Pasticceria

Alessandro Grillo and Vincenzo Marino  craft traditional Italian pastries at La Pasticceria, the city spin-off of their Brunswick store, Pulcinella. My favourite is the little-seen shell-shaped sfogliatella, made over four days with a lard-laced pastry and a ricotta filling studded with citrus rind. Have one here with a coffee or take a box to friends to secure their love for life.

Chocolate Assoluto, $19, Il Cioccolato

You can’t get Alessandro Luppolo’s outstanding chocolate creation anywhere else (at least until he opens his Elsternwick shop next month). At Il Cioccolato, a warm chocolate brownie is topped with chocolate sorbet set with liquid nitrogen to create a smart, temperature-twisting dessert.

Also check out his chocolate truffles: they make excellent eating on site and go well as a gift. The macadamia bonbon is a good place to start.