In Typical Town, USA, Il Valentino might well be the best restaurant around. In Manhattan, where Italian restaurants are two or three to a block, it is a neighborhood treasure known and loved by a devoted clientele of affluent, sophisticated, Sutton Place-area residents. (The Zagat survey says that Il Valentino “caters to retired VIPs and their wives.”) They no doubt want it to stay just the way it is.

“Italian restaurant” doesn’t mean pasta-and-pizza storefront or heavily promoted commercial midtown eatery to these diners. Rather, they seek a genteel, upscale venue, a subdued, somewhat traditional spot with consistently outstanding, understandable Italian food. That’s what they get at Il Valentino.

Huge boughs of cherry blossoms greeted visitors on the spring night I entered the restaurant’s lovely old-world dining room, with its warm, indirect lighting, beamed ceiling, and vast antipasto display. Spiffy looking waiters in white jackets and black bow ties scurried about, effortlessly serving chef Sandro Fioriti’s creations.

His three signature dishes are homemade tagliolini al melone with cantaloupe, anchovies, butter, cream, and Parmesan; spaghetini al limone, or delicate spaghetti with lemon zest and juice, butter, cream, and Parmesan; and ravioli al ricci di mare, or ravioli with sea urchins, scallops, and a few tomatoes.

A long list of creative specials and a menu of somewhat more conventional choices round out the chef’s offerings. The first hints that Il Valentino might also be special comes when the complementary table bread is not bruschetta but panzanella, and both the garlic-soaked Tuscan bread salad and the bread basket are filled with crusty, porous peasant bread (ideal for mopping up some glorious sauces).

Starters sampled included a soothing amalgam of three types of mushrooms sautéed with herbs, that good-looking antipasto, a couple of dense-with-meat crab cakes accompanied by an arugula salad, a refreshing goat cheese and arugula salad, and a half-portion of that sea urchin and scallop pasta made with spaghetti and a dreamy light cream sauce rather than ravioli, which wasn’t available that night.

Two pristine, beautifully presented whole-fish specials (Dover sole and branzino) were light, flaky, fresh, and perfectly filleted. The thin, tender veal scaloppini piccata here will not disappoint traditional eaters and a special of broad-shouldered, fall-away tender osso buco, atop a bed of risotto, delighted one hungry meat lover.

Il Valentino makes its own desserts. Its ricotta cheese cake was an above-average version, an apple tart that arrived hot rather than warm was terrific once it cooled off, zabaglione with raspberries and blueberries was of the boozy and thin variety, and a layered pear-and-apple-crumb-topped tart was by far the outstanding sweet.

330 E. 56th St. btw. First & Second Aves., 212-355-0001