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 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!

Tour Routes in Italy

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

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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…

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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!

Tour Routes in Italy

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

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