Pigging out on Porcini – Eating out in Rome

In pursuit of Funghi Porcini:
On our first night in Rome, we race off to our favourite restaurant on Campo dei Fiori.  After a few weeks on the road, a fix of good Italian food is much needed and at La Carbonara, we know that we’ll have a good meal.
I eagerly ask the waiter if they [...]

Dar Filettaro a Santa Barbara – Eating out in Rome

Dining out on Filetti di Baccalà near Campo dei Fiori:
This eatery next to Campo dei Fiori seems to get more popular each time we visit, with long queues of locals and visitors trying to get a table each night.
As there are a lot of people wanting to dine here tonight, the guy organizing the ‘reservations‘ [...]

A Passion for Porcini

Hooked on Porcini:
Reading a recipe in the papers this morning reminds me that the Porcini season is here. Once you’ve had a taste of fresh porcini mushrooms, it stays with you forever and just the mention of it is enough to send a thousand thrills to your taste buds.
Porcini mushrooms are found in many regions of [...]

Food in Central Italy

Food in Central Italy: a brief gastronomical tour!
Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche
Pomposa; Ravenna; Ferrara; Bologna; Modena; Parma; Siena; San Gimignano; Pisa; Lucca; Firenze (Florence); Arezzo; Montepulciano; Montalcino; Lake Trasimeno; Perugia; Assisi; Spoleto; Orvieto; San Leo; San Marino; Urbino; Ancona; Ascoli Piceno
Food in Central Italy may be the most familiar to tourists, but [...]

Food in Rome

Food in Rome and around: a brief gastronomical tour!
Rome and Lazio
Rome; Tuscania; Viterbo; Tarquinia; Cerveteri; Ostia Antica; Frascati; Monte Cassino
Perhaps the most savoury of all Italian regional cuisines, and perhaps due to its central location, the food in Rome and the surrounding district of Lazio offers an incredible variety of dishes and ingredients. [...]

Food in Northeast Italy

Food in North-east Italy: a brief gastronomical tour!
Trentino-Alto Adige; the Veneto and Friuli
Padua; Bassano del Grappa; Vicenza; Verona; Lake Garda; Trento; Bolzano; Cortina d’Ampezzo; Misurina; Trieste; Venice
Food in Northeast Italy often comprises dishes rich with creamy and meaty sauces, and risotto and polenta are often eaten instead of pasta.
Trentino-Alto Adige stretches from the [...]

Food in Southern Italy

Food in Southern Italy: a brief gastronomical tour!
Naples and Campania; Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia; Basilicata and Calabria; Sicily and Sardinia
Pompeii; Sorrento; Capri; Positano (Amalfi Coast); Bari; Matera; Castellana; Alberobello; Lecce; Taranto; Calabrian Mountains; Taormina; Syracuse; Ortygia Island; Piazza Armerina; Enna; Selinunte; Agrigento; Mondello; Palermo; Naples
The south of Italy, especially the far south, is a [...]

Food in Northwest Italy

Food in Northwest Italy: a brief gastronomical tour!
Liguria; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Lombardy
Portofino (Cinque Terre); Genoa; Asti; Turin; Aosta; Vercelli; Milan; Cremona; Mantua; Stresa (Lake Maggiore); Como
It may be on the Italian side of the border, but the cuisine of Valle d’Aosta and Piedmont is strongly influenced by neighbouring France, as is much [...]

Food in Italy

Food in Italy: a brief gastronomical tour!
"The main characteristic of Italian cooking," according to the Italian Tourist Board website, "is its healthy balance, the excellent basic ingredients being simply cooked and retaining their original goodness and freshness. Simple and yet with such a variety of flavours and rich inventiveness in preparation, [...]