Eating through Italy
When Drew and I first started dating, he made the comment to me that he did not like Italian food. Five years later he would have never guessed I would take him to the country of origin where all he had to eat was Italian food. He now has an addendum to his statement: he doesn’t like mediocre chain restaurant Italian food. I will admit one of the primary reasons that I, and many others, want to travel to Italy is for the food. I mean, how can you go wrong with pizza, pasta, and gelato!? Something I didn’t learn until I arrived in Italy were the different regional foods that were invented in particular areas of the country. Fortunately, we quickly caught on and were able to prioritize our orders and consume the freshest ingredients. Believe me, I am already planning to go to a different region and try even more local Italian cuisine. While we haven’t hit every spot we would like to in Italy, I was able to deep dive into some regional favorites and would like to share if you too are day dreaming of Italian food.
While the majority of Italy is surrounded by the sea, Rome is considered more inland even though it doesn’t take that long to travel to the ocean. The cuisine has certainly evolved over the past 2,000 years, but is equally delicious. When traveling to Rome, one thing you cannot miss out on is the cheesy deliciousness of carbonara. This dish was once referred to as “coal miner’s spaghetti”, but can now be found in the fanciest restaurants. Another delightful cheesy dish to try in the capitol city is cacio e pepe. While you won’t find mac n cheese or alfredo in really any part of Italy, this is a much better substitute that is very creamy and peppery. I found myself getting as much cacio e pepe a possible while in Rome, and hope to recreate this dish soon at home. If you ever get tired of cheese, as if that would happen, another must try is porchetta. This is a savory boneless pork roast our bike tour guide was raving about for us to consume. Considering there are festivals surrounding this meat dish, you really can’t go wrong.
One of the many plates of cacio e pepe I consumed for lunch while visiting Rome.
Another hot spot to travel in Italy is Naples and the Amalfi Coast. We enjoyed three glorious days in this area, and wish we even had just a bit more time to explore. Naples is notoriously the birthplace of pizza, so it is basically law that you consume as much as possible while visiting. Besides trying the traditional pizza, I highly recommend having a pizza frita, or fried pizza. Trust me, this is even better than the state fair version. Also try mozzarella bufala, or buffalo mozzarella. It is extremely fresh and some of the best mozzarella I have ever tasted. Naples also has a fantastic street food scene where you can grab cuoppo, which is a rolled cone of fried vegetables and seafood. With this dish, you can go as adventurous as you want, and we found ourselves having sardines, cuttlefish, and whole baby octopi. I am not going to lie, I had to close my eyes to finish a few of these delicacies. If this is a little too adventurous for your taste buds, you can always go with a sweet pastry like sfogliatelle or fiocco di neve , also known as “snowflakes”. I personally loved the “snowflakes” and tried them in several flavors like classic cream and chocolate.
We had to not look too close at our cuoppo in order to finish the whole fish and octopi. My personal favorite from this cone was the fried dough balls.
Florence is known as the capital of Tuscany and a hub for Renaissance art and architecture, which includes Michaelangelo’s David sculpture. The Tuscany region is not only well known for wine, but also truffles, mushrooms, tomatoes, and boar. I am personally a huge fan of mushrooms, and can’t wait to visit this region. For your pasta course, having pappardelle al cinghiale or tagliatelle funghi porcini e tartufo comes highly recommended. The former is a flat pasta with boar meat, and the latter is closer to a fettuccine noodle with porcini mushrooms and truffle. If you are still ravenous for your main course, bistecca alla fiorentina is quite the treat. This is a high quality t-bone steak that is packed full of flavor. If you still have room after the meal, gelato is an absolute must. While historians can not pinpoint exactly who invented this dessert, it was believed to come from Florence in the 16th century. We personally made a point to eat gelato every day in Italy and it was glorious.
Milan is a popular northern city that rivals Rome in its industry, finance, and fashion. While there are many avant garde restaurants, Milan has several comfort food dishes you do not want to skip out on. Minestrone Milanese is extremely popular as well as polenta, risotto, and ossobucco, which translates to meat with hole. Panettone, which is a popular cake around Christmas, is also native to Milan. Gorgonzola cheese also hails from the Lombardy region, and is personally one of my favorites. I would describe it as your loud Italian great aunt of the blue cheese that is served to us today.
We successfully completed our goal of eating gelato every day. My favorite flavor combination was the dark chocolate and sour cherry topped with fresh cream.
Venice is a big bucket list destination with its unique canals and layout of the city. It is no surprise that much of Venice’s cuisine is from the sea. Bigoli in salsa, or pasta with red sauce and sardines, is a fantastic dish to order as well as lasagnette con nero di seppia, or squid ink pasta. Around carnival time, frigole, which is fried dough, is often a delicacy that is sought after. I hope to one day make it to carnival and see all the beautiful renaissance outfits and theater performances.
Staying in the northern parts of Italy, the Cinque Terre area near Genoa has become extremely popular due to the colorful towns, beautiful water, and rugged cliff sides. Think real life Disney Pixar movie Luca. In this region, one of the most famous sauces is pesto. Pesto alla genovese is a fantastic dish to try as well as Pansoti, which is similar to ravioli. Focaccia with cheese is also native to the area as well as anything flavored with lemon. Bologna is also a lively city in the north that is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region. Here you can find passatelli, tortellini, and authentic parmigiano reggiano (apparently there is a lot of counterfeit parmesan out there). Prosciutto is also quite delicious in this area and so is bolognese lasagne. Obviously, you will not go hungry in this region.
Having lemon flavored dishes along the coast is a must during the summer in Italy. Limoncello and lemon sorbet were among some of our favorites.
Sicily is an island that is referred to as the “toe” of the boot of Italy. This large island surrounded by the Mediterranean is filled with Greek temples and active volcanoes. Popular pastas include pasta alla norma, pasta with eggplant, and pasta con le sarde, pasta with sardines. The infamous cannoli also hails from this region, but another great dessert option is granita, which is Sicilian ice. Sardinia is another large island in the Mediterranean with mountains, beaches, and bronze age ruins. Pecorino cheese, which is a salty sheep's cheese, is popular on top or within pasta dishes on this island. It’s a fantastic alternative to parmesan that I greatly enjoyed. Culurgione is a pasta filled with potato, pecorino, animal fat, garlic, and mint that is a must try. Malloreddus pasta, or “little Sicilian gnocchi”, is pretty popular and so is su porcheddu, roasted suckling pig. If you want to be more adventurous with your order, sea urchins, ricci di mare, are also a Sardinian delicacy.
While I only have hit some of the popular spots in Italy, keep in mind there are twenty regions with their own history and cuisine. For example, on our trip we were able to explore the smallest region, Molise, and try a type of spicy salami specific to that region. I am so happy I convinced Drew that Italian food is indeed fantastic, and hopefully in the future we can check a few more Italian regions off the list.
When in doubt, get the fresh catch of the day! However, you might get surprised with the fish head on a platter like we did during our seaside lunch.