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
The biggest mortadella in the world!
Food in Central Italy may be the most familiar to tourists, but is nonetheless highly regarded by italians. Emilia-Romagna, the gastronomic heart of Italy, is the birthplace of balsamic vinegar (Modena), prosciutto di Parma and parmigiano (parmesan cheese) (Parma). With numerous renowned dishes, the cooking of this region tends centre on four key ingredients: tomatoes, chicken livers, cured pork and "soffrito", a sauté of celery, onion and carrot.
Emilia is the home of salamis, and and if you’re into ham and sausages, Parma is pig-heaven (in more ways than one). "Culatello" (made from the rear muscle of the pig’s thigh) is a prime speciality of the area, considered by some even finer than "prosciutto"(which is made from the inner thigh). Modena favours the "zampone" (big paws) which is salami stuffed inside a pig’s foot, and cooked over a very low fire. It is served with mashed potatoes or black lentils. It is traditionally eaten on New Year’s day.
Parma may have prosciutto and parmigiano, but Bologna has "mortadella", although it’s trademark is the "tortellino", and the city fights to maintain the purity of the recipe (this is serious stuff, there’s even a Tortellino Day each year). The pasta must be made from flour and eggs with nothing else added, spread out by hand, thinned with a wooden "mattarello"and the final article must NEVER be more than 3 cm across. The stuffing must contain Parmesan cheese, lonza of pork, mortadella, raw ham, and egg.
Romagnolo cooking, in contrast with Emilian, emphasises aromatic herbs and uses the spit. Fish, seafood and chicken are roasted, as well as game, other meats, and different kinds of sausages. Pasta is still popular, but different – never mistake "cappelletti" for "tortellini": the first ones are bigger and have a completely different filling, made of a fine mixture of ricotta (soft, fresh cheese) and different kinds of cheese. The most typical soup with broth, the oldest of them all, the only Romagna original is the Passatelli pasta: a delicious mixture of eggs, cheese, breadcrumbs and nutmeg processed by means of a specially-designed iron tool.
As opposed to Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche offer more rustic fare, tending towards a simple but hearty style of cooking, with lots of local produce.
The Tuscans bake their breads without salt, and they’re also known for liking white beans ("cannellini"), often cooked in a terracotta casserole with sage and olive oil. Minestrone, including the famous twice-boiled "ribollita" is made from the local vegetables, black cabbage from Siena, cannellini beans and olive oil; it’s served with croutons. Tuscans are big on meat too. For "Bistecca alla Fiorentina" the best beef is said to come from the Val de Chiana, usually grilled and served with a dash of virgin olive oil (some of the finest oil comes from the area around Lucca).
Fish tends to be expensive, but it’s still popular. A Tuscan fish soup called "caciucco" mixes all kinds of seafood from the nearby Tirrenean sea including mullet, dogfish, umbrine, swallow-fish, clams, small octopus and cuttlefish cut in rings. It is ladled over a thick slice of toasted bread flavoured with garlic and spiced up with a sauce of fried tomatoes and red peppers.
Umbria has "tartufo nero", black truffles, especially from Norcia (italian site), "funghi porcini" (porcini mushrooms)and great sheep and goat cheeses ("pecorino" cheese with pears is delicious!). Game and beef play an important role in Umbrian cuisine; A typical Umbrian meat dish is”Faraona alla ghiotta” (roasted guinea-fowl). In the local fairs a regional specialty, stuffed "porchetta" is often served, spit-roasted suckling pig served with a strong flavour of wild fennel. And Norcia has another speciality: sausages. "Mazzafegati" are sausages made from hog’s liver, orange peel, pine nuts, raisins and sugar (there’s also a savoury version). A favourite dish in Todi is sweet and sour ox tongue and at Cascia they prepare, with a very old recipe, veal with truffles.
Fish is not completely forgottenin Umbria! In the towns around Lake Trasimeno the local fish is baked or braised: roasted queen carp, eel with fresh tomatoes, fillet of perch, roasted trout with wild fennel; and “tagliolini” pasta in pike soup.
Home-made pasta afficionados, Le Marche is for you. The food may well be more peasant-like but it can be rich. A version of lasagna called "vincisgrassi" (beat fat) consists of cinnamon-scented chicken gizzards and sautéed chicken livers sandwiched between layers of pasta and a creamy béchamel sauce seasoned with freshly grated nutmeg and baked in the oven. Whew! They do their own version of "porchetta" (pig stuffed with peppers, rosemary and garlic). Stuffed pigeons ("piccione ripieno") and rabbit cooked with fennel ("coniglio in porchetta") are also a Marche speciality.
Around Ancona, try "brodetto", fish stew which must be made with 13 species of fish, no more, no less. Pesaro, on the Adriatic sea, is particularly famous for it. "Brodetto marchigiano" made with fish dipped in flour, fried in a mixture of oil, onion and parsley, and flavoured with saffron is also served along the coast. Thin spaghetti dressed with "vongole", or baby clams, is always good here as is spaghetti "allo scoglio",ie “on the rocks” dressed with seafood.
Other things to look out for are the "pecorino di San Leo", a cheese made from sheeps milk, "ricotta" (a kind of cottage cheese) from Urbino, "bazzott" (a local fresh cheese) from Fano, and the "olives ascolane", big white olives filled with a mixture of cheese, egg, nutmeg, white meat chopped and mixed with prosciutto, mortadella and salame, lemon peel and parsley, then dipped in beaten egg and bread crumbs and fried in oil. Delicious!
Food in Italy: More than pizza and spaghetti bolognese!
Food in Northeast Italy: Trentino-Alto Adige; the Veneto and Friuli.
Food in Northwest Italy: Lombardy; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Liguria.
Food in Central Italy: Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche.
Food in Rome and around: Rome; Lazio.
Food in Southern Italy: Naples and Campania; Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia; Basilicata and Calabria; Sicily and Sardinia.
Other Italy pages:
Italy travel is more than a Roman Holiday!
When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons
Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy
Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online
Book your hotel in Italy online
ITALY TRAVEL WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS
Did I leave anything out?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
Canederli are a speciality of Trentino-Adige
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 Dolomite mountains in the north and east to undulating hills covered with vineyards and fruit groves in the south. Germanic/Hungarian influences, especially in Alto Adige, show in the gnocchi (potato and flour dumplings), soups flavoured with caraway seeds, "speck" (a smoke-cured prosciutto), strudels and the use of sauerkraut and vinegar in their cooking. Hey, in Alto Adige street signs are even written in both German and Italian!
Dishes to look out for include "canederli", large balls made with stale bread, flour, milk, and eggs with liver, bacon, salame and sometimes green vegetables. "Canederli" are served as a soup, boiled in water or broth and placed in a tureen with boiling broth, or boiled and then served with goulash. They can also be prepared with dried prunes where the pitted prune is inserted in the canederli, dipped in crumbs, and boiled.
Desserts are important in cold climates – gotta get those calories! Try a cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, a piece of "strudel" or a slice of "zelten,"(a cake-like bread filled with dried fruits, walnuts and other goodies).
The basic element of the cuisine of Trentino (and Friuli) is "polenta", really just boiled corn (maize) meal, but there’s a whole raft of ways it can be served. Sometimes corn meal is mixed with flour from saracen corn, producing the famous "black polenta". In other areas the polenta is prepared with potatoes and local cheese served with cucumbers, pickles, or bean salad.
Trento has a famous produce market that’s worth a look. Apples from Val di Non and, it’s claimed, 250 varieties of wild mushrooms are sold, including porcini (I’d kill for these), chanterelles and chiodini. Best in summer and autumn.
Desserts in Trentino are similar to those of the Veneto. The "fregolotta" cake is a crisp and crunchy mixture of flour, sugar, and almonds. "Grostoli" are blended drinks made with flour, milk, eggs and grappa flavored with orange and lemon peel. Other desserts include lightly fried fruits, jams, pies, and cakes made from chestnuts covered with whipped cream. Yum!
With Yugoslavia on its eastern border and Austria to the north it’s not surprising to see their influences in the cuisine of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia. Spices such paprika, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cumin and horseradish; rice and polenta instead of pasta. If you’re into sausages, this is the place and if you like Goulash (beef stew made with red wine, tomatoes, paprika and plenty of onions) there’s no need to go to Hungary, you can get it here! Any carnivores should not miss the local "prosciutto di San Daniele" – cured raw ham from San Daniele.
Soups from Friuli are usually based on beans, greens, or pig’s ribs, with plenty of lard (not so great for vegetarians!). But I liked the salted cheeses such as "frico", a seasoned cheese which is cut in pieces and fried in butter – goes well with polenta.
Cooking from Trieste and Grado reflects the Venetian style of cooking seafood, with strong Austrian and Slavic influences. Specialties are "brodetto", a fish soup, made with pieces of various fish, and "mesta", a kind of polenta cooked in water and milk and eaten with fish.
Incidentally, Trieste has a tradition of so-called literary caffés, the last of which is the San Marco in Via Battisti (italian link).
One thing to remember is that Venice is not the Veneto. The cuisine of this region offers well prepared, simple, almost country food. Two well known dishes are "risi e bisi", a porridge-like risotto/soup made with fresh peas, rice and parmesan cheese, and often bits of bacon; and "pasta e fagioli", a stew-like concoction made of tomatoes, tiny pasta and beans.
Proximity to the Adriatic means seafood is a big item in the Veneto diet, all the usual suspects are available. If you want something a bit different, try "risotto alle seppie", it’s made with cuttlefish ink and the rice is black! "Sarde in saor" is a traditional Venetian dish of grilled fresh sardines with a light sweet and sour sauce, while "anguille in umido" comprises eels in a tomato, garlic and white wine sauce.
There are also a few good vegetarian treats in this area. Apart from being the place where the delectable dessert "tiramisu" was created, Treviso is famous for its radicchio rosso, delicate, slightly bitter red chicory, (try it grilled "radicchio alla griglia") as well as for its asiago cheese, which the region has been producing for over 1,000 years. The most common asparagus in Italy is green and comes from Ravenna, but it is the white asparagus of Bassano that is most prized, so much so that it has won official government recognition with a legal name of its own: Asparagi DOC di Bassano. Not to be missed.
Food in Italy:More than pizza and spaghetti bolognese!
Food in Northwest Italy: Lombardy; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Liguria.
Food in Central Italy: Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche.
Food in Rome and around: Rome; Lazio.
Food in Southern Italy: Naples and Campania; Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia; Basilicata and Calabria; Sicily and Sardinia.
Other Italy pages:
Italy travel is more than a Roman Holiday!
When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons
Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy
Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online
Book your hotel in Italy online
ITALY TRAVEL WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS
Anyone else have feelings about this?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
Pizza is a speciality of Southern Italy
The south of Italy, especially the far south, is a different country when compared to the north, and food in Southern Italy is similarly different. Pasta is usually bought in its dry state, as opposed to the fresh homemade pasta and polenta of the northern regions. Pizzas served hot from the wood burning oven and topped with an assortment of vegetables, seafood, meats and cheeses are a lot different to foccacia, the flatbread of the north. Olive oil, especially extra virgin, is used instead of butter. The cuisines of the South are earthier and more peasant-like, with stronger flavors and bolder combinations of foods, mirroring the extremes of the climate and environment, and perhaps the hot blood of the people.
Naples is the most important city in the Campania region. Neapolitan and Campanian specialities include octopus prepared in a variety of ways, spaghetti dishes using a tomato-based fish sauce (particularly clams or squid), and dishes using the indigenous buffalo milk mozzarella, including of course, pizza (and my favourite, "pizza siciliana": tomato, mozzarella, garlic, basil, anchovies and olives – n.b. pizza napoletana has no olives). Two well-known dishes are "Pasta Puttanesca", a spicy tomato sauced spaghetti flavored with lots of garlic and capers, Gaeta olives and anchovies, and the ubiquitous Parmigiana di Melanzane, or Eggplant Parmesan. But the basic food staple beginning from 650 (long before Marco Polo!) has always been pasta.
Naples is of course on the sea, and Neapolitans prepare many seafood dishes like "zuppa di vongole" (clam soup) or "spaghetti con le vongole in salsa bianca" (spaghetti with clams in white sauce) or "cozze in culla" which are simply tomatoes cut in half, the pulp scooped out, and filled with cozze (mussels). A mixture of capers, chopped parsley, oregano and bread crumbs are sprinkled on top before baking golden brown in the oven.
Another basic Neapolitan dish usually eaten at home is "minestra marinata," a soup that combines pork fat and boiled greens. The richness of the soup depends on the richness (or otherwise) of the family, and it was the basic daily meal until the arrival of pasta 13 centuries ago.
Abruzzo and Molise are famous for their cured spicy meats, lamb, mutton, and pasta. Pasta in Abruzzo is made using a chitarra, a rectangular device strung with thin metal wires like a guitar, hence the equipment’s name. Sheets of pasta are rolled over this to form strips. The region is known for strong flavours including peperoncino (hot red peppers) and saffron from the town of Vanelli, near Aquila.
The cuisine of Abruzzo can be divided into that of the sea and that of the mountains. The first has the classic "brodetto" as a principal dish. Other dishes include fried fish and fish sauces often served with pasta, as well as fresh-water fish, mountain trout, and river shrimp. In the mountains, lamb now dominates. A speciality is pork liver mortadella. There are two different kinds of this sausage, that of "fegato dolce" that means with liver sweetened with honey, cedar and candied fruits, and that made up of “fegato pazzo ” (crazy liver), which is prepared with chilly pepper.
Peperoncino is used to flavour many dishes, to start with try pasta with aglio, olio, and peperoncino (garlic, olive oil and hot red pepper), fiery enough to burn a hole in the stomach. "Penne all’arrabiata" is one of my favourites, although now regarded as a Roman dish, apparently. This first course is often followed with "agnello all’arrabbiata" (angry lamb) but two in a row can be heavy going for those not used to such hot dishes.
To top off the spicy meal guests are frequently offered a "digestive" called "Centerbe ("one hundred herbs") di Tocco Casauria" made with more than one hundred herbs from the Maiella and other mountains in Abruzzo. This is cooking with an extrovert personality!
The saffron from the town of Vanelli, near Aquila, has a different flavour from Spanish saffron. The first saffron bulbs were brought to Italy in 1400 by a Domenican friar named Santucci who brought them from Spain. It’s used in cheeses and vinegars, but also is a key component of a wonderful pasta sauce with zucchini blossoms.
Abruzzo is also known for its food festivals which honour saints or simply celebrate. Their non-stop eating and drinking event is called La Panarda which traditionally serves people 30-50 courses of food and can last for a day or longer!
Puglia (the "heel" of Italy’s "boot") is proud of its homemade pasta, often formed into unusual shapes like the "orecchiette" (little ears). Favourite dishes include "Maccheroni al forno" or baked maccheroni, made with little meat balls, sliced hardboiled eggs, pieces of artichoke, salame, and cheese, often surrounded with piecrust and baked in the oven. As for meat, beef tends to be used either for meat sauce or meatballs. The dominant meat in Puglia is lamb, served on a spit, roasted, stewed, or even fried.
A typical snack of this region is the "calzone" (big sock) which is made from a lump of dough spread with onions, black olives, capers, tomatoes, pecorino cheese, anchovies and parsley, closed and pinched around the edges, and baked in the oven. Cheese made from sheep’s milk is very popular including fresh ricotta, pecorino, and "burrata di Andria," which must be consumed within 24 hours to be properly appreciated.
Puglia has the longest coastline of any Italian region so seafood is both abundant and popular. Sea turtle, oysters, mussels, cuttlefish, and octopus are cooked in simple ways, sometimes even eaten raw in the markets. "Spaghettini allo Scoglio" (thin spaghetti with shrimp, scallops, baby octopus, cherry tomatoes, capers and oregano) and "pesce spada" (swordfish steak, grilled or pan-fried with lemon and oregano) are favourite dishes.
Home-grown yellow and white melons, sweet watermelons, and grapes often finish a meal in Puglia.
Sicily has a subtropical climate along all of its coast and a harsher, colder climate inland near rugged Mount Etna. Expect to eat lots of seafood and rich, filling pasta dishes that are often highly seasoned with strong black or green Sicilian olives or the staple of the south, the eggplant.
You must also be careful what you say when talking about Sicilian cuisine. The island may export oranges but "Arancini" (little oranges) in Sicily are fried balls made with rice, meat, and grated cheese; "quaglie" (quails) are eggplants opened and fried in oil so that they resemble the tail of a quail, and "minni di Vergine", or virgin’s breasts, are small mounds of pudding encased in pastry dough with candied-cherry nipples (I am not making this up).
As you travel round Sicily, you’ll notice the difference in cuisine between the east and the west. Arab influence was stronger in the western part of the island, so from Caltanisetta to Trapani the influence is Saracen, with strong flavours and contrasting combinations stimulating the palate. On the eastern side, from Messina to Siracusa, and Catania to Agrigento, the cuisine is more rustic and restrained, avoiding the sweet and sour and less generous with sugar in the sauces.
But if you’ve got a sweet tooth, this is the place for you! Amongst all the regions of Italy, Sicily takes the gold medal for its veritable cornucopia of sweets, fruits, and ice creams. The most well known of these is the Sicilian "Cassata" (a layered, cake, not an ice-cream!) and "cannoli" (a crisp pastry tube filled with sweetened ricotta cheese, candies and sometimes chocolate).
Sardinia has more sheep than people, and as you might guess, lamb and ewe’s milk (in the form of cheese that’s often made into pies and topped with honey) feature frequently on the menu, along with suckling pigs and of course, seafood.
"Bottarga" (pressed mullet roe or ‘poor man’s caviar’), is sliced paper thin and drizzled with Sardinian olive oil as an antipasto, or tossed onto "malloreddus", tiny ridged gnocchi, as a first course. Fregola, a semolina pasta shaped into pellets, is cooked in soups with cockles or herbs, or boiled and layered with pancetta, tomatoes, and pecorino.The lobsters of Alghero are boiled live and served with olive oil, salt, and a few drops of lemon. Sometimes a sauce with bits of lobster is served with pasta, or "spaghetti alla bottarga" which is the eggs of the female lobster, pressed and dried in the sun. "Carta da musica" a frisable bread, light and tasty, is often carried by the shepherds as a snack.
Sardinia has its own sweets based on almonds, orange and lime peel, cinammon, raisins, walnuts, and honey. These include papassine, rich with dried fruit and redolent with orange, and sebadas, large round ravioli that are filled with Pecorino and grated lemon or orange zest, then fried and drizzled with warm, slightly bitter honey from strawberry plants. Long-standing traditions mean that every special feast-day has its own typical dessert. "Torrone" (nougat) is a Sardinian speciality that can be made simply with nuts or flavoured with chocolate. Yum!
Food in Italy:More than pizza and spaghetti bolognese!
Food in Northeast Italy: Trentino-Alto Adige; the Veneto and Friuli.
Food in Northwest Italy: Lombardy; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Liguria.
Food in Central Italy: Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche.
Food in Rome and around: Rome; Lazio.
Other Italy pages:
Italy travel is more than a Roman Holiday!
When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons
Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy
Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online
Book your hotel in Italy online
http://www.travelsignposts.com/Italy/wp-admin/post-new.php?preview=true
ITALY TRAVEL WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS
What do you think? Please comment below to tell me.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 of the food of Northwest Italy.
The smallest region of Italy, mountainous Valle d’Aosta is famed for its Fontina cheese. Most milk produced in the area is used to produce this buttery, nutty cheese that’s been made here for nearly 700 years.
In Piedmont, if you’re feeling rich, try the renowned white truffles (trifola d’Alba); sniffed out by trained dogs, they’re supposedly an aphrodisiac! Southern Piedmont, near Asti and Alba, produces some of Italy’s greatest wines, we’ve all heard of Barolo and Barbaresco. Polenta is another regional specialty. Monasteri Bormida and Bubbi, two cities in the Asti district each year hold the festival of Il Polentone (“the big polenta”).
Antipasto is a hallmark of Piemonte cuisine; you could be faced with as many as two dozen varieties at city restaurants. The most famous antipasto dish is "bagna cauda", vegetables dipped fondue-style into a "hot bath" of oil, anchovies, and garlic – strong stuff!
If you’re around in Autumn, make sure you get to the Langhe district, where Barolo wine and truffles come from. After the grapes have been harvested the farmers go hunting for truffles with their specially trained dogs. The Barolo wine goes perfectly with specialities such as "taiarin," narrow tagliatelle enriched with aromatic truffles.
A Piemontese specialities is "agnolotti," pasta made with eggs stuffed beef, pork, or rabbit, flavoured with sausage, parmesan cheese, eggs and herbs. Piedmont is one of the most important rice-growing regions of Italy, and "Risotti" or rice dishes are another speciality, often covered with shaved truffles. In past times a "risotto" might compose the entire meal, enriched with "funghi porcini" (mushrooms), fondue, eels and frogs from the Po River, little birds on a spit, and other delicacies.
The secundi piatti served in Piedmont show French influence, for example, "brasato al Barolo" (braised beef with Barolo red wine). "Bollito misto" or boiled meats is served without any extras, except sometimes "mostarda" from Cremona, fruit preserved in syrup that gains quite a kick from a healthy jolt of powdered mustard seed. The rich assortment of meats includes pork, veal, turkey, beef and vegetables accompanied by pickled sauces and "salsa verde", a spicy green sauce made from parsley, garlic, breadcrumbs soaked in vinegar, hard-boiled eggs, olive oil and pepper.
Cheeses from the area include "Tome delle Langhe" and "Brus". The best "Tome" are soft inside with a thin pale yellow crust. Some farmers conserve them with oil and herbs. "Brus" is not advised for those with delicate stomachs, as it has a hell of a kick (it’s made with grappa, a lot of pounded black pepper and hot red pepper) – have some dessert wine handy as an antidote!
Turin didn’t just invent "grissinis" (breadsticks). Chocolate was produced there even before Switzerland, and chocolatiers Giroldi and Giuliano were already famous in 1700 where their shop in Via Doragrossa served hot chocolate to faithful customers. Their competitor, Peyrano, today uses nine different types of cocoa in their products which include bitter gianduiotti (made with almonds), pistacchio shells and other specialties. Baratti & Milano and Caffarel are other famous names.
South of these two regions on the coast is Liguria. Ligurians are known for their seafood dishes and their Pesto Genovese, a sauce made of a paste of fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, fresh Italian basil leaves, pine nuts and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
The trattorias along the Ligurian coast serve a typical fish soup called "ciuppin" which is served in two dishes, one containing a strongly flavoured broth with thick bread, in the other the fish, shrimps, and octopus that helped make the broth. Another speciality, "frutti del mare" (a seafood platter) are cooked simply with oil, parsley, garlic, pepper and white wine.
Zucchini, onions, eggplants, and green peppers are generally baked in the oven, enriched with bread crumbs, cheese, and flavours of garlic and herbs, especially marjoram. Tomato sauce isn’t used much here, instead they use "pesto".
Not all Ligurian dishes are simple, though. The renowned "cappon magro" is Genoa’s traditional Christmas Eve’s dinner speciality but you can have it anytime, though you usually have to reserve it in advance. It takes the form of a pyramid made up of six or seven types of both fish and vegetables cooked separately and then built layer by layer on a base of crackers and covered with a rich sauce based on olive oil and anchovies. The dish is elaborately decorated with slices of hard-boiled eggs, lobster medallions, large shrimps, oysters and other fruits of the sea.
Another one is "Torta pasqualina" (pasqualina cake), made with eighteen layers of light pasta spread with oil and stuffed with ricotta cheese, the season’s vegetables and whole eggs. They also make pies of artichokes, biete. onions and parmesan cheese, not to mention the renowned "torta marinara"(anchovy cake).
Liguria is not big on desserts, but there are candy and pastry shops, one of which, Romanengo, has been in Genoa’s Via Roma for 150 years. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor requested shipments of Romanengo’s marron glacés surrounded by candied violets wherever they were staying.
Go east and you hit the region of Lombardy and Milan. Yep, this is the home of Minestrone alla Milanese and Risotto alla Milanese, to name but two dishes everyone knows. Now how about Spaghetti Milanese, you’re asking. Well, they actually eat more polenta here, as they’ve been doing since the days of the Roman soldiers. Rice too. More rice is consumed in Lombardy than pasta, and cheese is invariably served at the end of the meal.
Cheese and first courses are really the strong points of the regional cooking: cold "minestrone" (vegetable soup), "polenta bergamasca agli accelletti," (corn bread with little game birds), "pizzocheri della Valtellina," "tortelli di zucca mantovani" (little pasta shapes stuffed with pumpkin), and primus inter pares, "risotto allo zafferano," (rice with saffron) prepared with meat broth, bone marrow from oxen, white wine, onion and Vialone rice which aquires a pasty shine as it swells with cooking.
Cuisine around lakes Garda, Maggiore, and Como, as well as d’Iseo and others is famous for its crispy bread and for "misoltino" (sardines from the lake), and areas near the Po river feature eel, catfish, and sometimes "storioni" (sturgeon).
On the meat side, "Ossobuco" (a braised veal stew) is a Milan favourite. "Costolette alla Milanese" are veal cutlets dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, fried in butter and served with lemon. Rich? You betcha! Brasaola, aged lean beef, is a specialty of the Valtellina area; have it sliced paper-thin on bruschetta with eggplant and mozzarella. The Brianza district is known for its choice beef cattle and dairy herds, the former seen as some of the best meats produced in Italy and the latter helping to make Gorgonzola and Bel Paese cheeses.
Lombardia is big on dairy products. Butter is often used instead of olive oil, cream is frequently used to enrich dishes. Local cheese specialties include "crescenza," "robiole", "mascarpone," "gorgonzola", "taleggio, "grana lodigiano," and "bel paese."
Lastly, don’t forget the dome-shape, plain or fruited "panettone" for which Milan has become famous…
What questions does this raise for you?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, that even the most demanding gourmet is delighted."
Well, I can go along with that. In Italy, food preparation is an art form, and the way it’s eaten a crucial part of culture. As you’ll see, the different regions each make a unique contribution to Italian cuisine, although nowadays you’ll find many renowned regional dishes have been exported to other areas of Italy. But first, some basics:
Eating the Italian Way:
Prima Colazione (breakfast) is quite different from American or English. It’s usually light: cappuccino (coffee and milk) and a brioche (sweet pastry), or simply espresso (black, short and strong coffee).
Pranzo (lunch) is the big meal except in the industrialized cities. It consists of antipasti (starter) a primo piatto (pasta, risotto, polenta, gnocchi or soup), a secondo piatto (seafood, meat, poultry, game, omelets or other cooked cheese or vegetable dishes) with contorno (vegetable or salad, often eaten afterwards), then maybe formaggio (cheese), frutta (fresh fruit), dolce (dessert). Finish with caffè (espresso, naturally) and a digestivo (a strong digestive liqueur), like grappa, amaro or sambuca.
Cena (dinner) is similar to lunch. Nowadays there is a tendency to have a light lunch, with dinner becoming the major meal.
Gelato (ice-cream) has hundreds of different flavours and can be enjoyed at anytime of the day as well as the granita (crushed ice with flavoured syrup).
Where to eat ?
Ristorante: There are thousands of ristoranti (restaurants): the most formal type of place to eat when one is not in a hurry, sometimes a little fancy and pricey and family-run; it should really be a fully-fledged restaurant providing complete menus (fixed price or à la carte) cooked by a professional kitchen staff and served by waiters, including a sommelier, experienced with foods and wines. But often it is not…
Trattoria: less formal than a ristorante, where local specialties are served; a neighborhood, small town or rural eating house, often family run, serving local foods and wines. Daily menus are often hand written or chalked on a blackboard or simply recited.
Osteria: used to be a modest wine house, often serving simple foods-like the similarly small and friendly taverna or locanda. These days the term Osteria (or hostaria), although harking back to simple unpretentiousness, is just as likely to refer to a trendy winebar serving food and (like locanda, taverna or trattoria) may apply to a quite sophisticated eating place.
Panineria, paninoteca : a sandwich bar, where a quick meal can be had at any time of the day;
Pizzeria: is not only for pizza lovers! Its specialty is baked by a pizzaiolo in a wood-fired oven to be eaten on the premises or taken out. No longer confined to pizza, it often provides other dishes, usually at lower prices than a ristorante.
Wine in Italy
"Italy is not only the largest producer of wines, but above all a producer of great wines.”
Its climate, soil and very old traditions of viticulture make Italy a natural wine growing nation. The wines are "as personal as a name, as different as the colours of the rainbow and as much a part of Italian life as almost 3,000 years of tradition can make them". The Etruscans of North-Central Italy, who created one of the peninsula’s earliest civilizations, left evidence of how to make wine. The Greeks who soon after established themselves in the South gave Italy the name Enotria (the land of wine).
Today, Italy is the world’s largest maker and exporter of wine. It produces approximately two billion gallons of wine annually, most of it consumed in Italy. Nearly four million acres of official, cultivated vineyards stretch from the Alps in the north to the hot, dusty hills of southern Sicily.
For centuries wine growing has taken up most of the labour of Italian farmers; this is still true today; a large part of the population is engaged in the vine and wine industry.
Of all the Italian wines, the best known and most appreciated is Chianti, named after the low mountain range in central Tuscany. Chianti wine dates back to 790 A.D. Other Italian drinks include aperitifs, blended principally over a base of the world-famous Piedmont Vermouth; dessert wines, such as Moscato, Marsala and Malvasia from Sicily and sparkling wines from Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany and the Islands. Italy also has some excellent beers and a great variety of effervescent mineral waters.
Food in Northeast Italy: Trentino-Alto Adige; the Veneto and Friuli.
Food in Northwest Italy: Lombardy; Valle D’Aosta and Piedmont; Liguria.
Food in Central Italy: Emilia Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; Le Marche.
Food in Rome and around: Rome; Lazio.
Food in Southern Italy: Naples and Campania; Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia; Basilicata and Calabria; Sicily and Sardinia.
Other Italy pages:
Italy travel is more than a Roman Holiday!
When to travel to Italy: weather and seasons
Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy
Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online
What's your next move, after having read this post?
