What to eat and drink in Italy

14.08.2024 - 11:09 / lonelyplanet.com

Aug 13, 2024 • 9 min read

One of the world's most revered cuisines, Italy's wealth of revered regional dishes mirrors the nation's extraordinary geographic and cultural diversity.

The common thread is an indelible link between food and the locals' sense of identity. From the quality of Italy's produce to the reverence for tradition, eating here is all about passion, pride and godere la vita (enjoying life). And devouring these treats is an essential part of any Italian sojourn.

The Italian term for "pride of place" is campanilismo. It's rooted in the clashes among medieval city-states involving castle sieges and battles, which have been replaced by competition in producing specialty foods and wines.

With such incredible raw material crafted into so many exquisite dishes (and so little time!), fine-tune your culinary radar with the following edible musts. Let your tastebuds lead you around Italy with our guide to what to eat and drink when you get there.

Of course, this delicious mainstay is available and exquisite all over the country, and the experience of sampling all of the regional variations makes any trip worthwhile. In Rome , carb up with spaghetti alla carbonara (no cream involved), bucatini all'amatriciana (with bacon, tomato, chili and pecorino cheese) and spaghetti cacio e pepe (with pecorino cheese and black pepper). 

In Bologna , tagliatelle al ragù (pasta with white wine, tomato, oregano, beef and pork belly) is your classic bolognese . The city is also famous for soothing tortellini in brodo (pasta stuffed with ground meats in a thin meat broth).

The town of Gragnano on the Amalfi Coast  produces prized pasta perfect for spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clam sauce). Or, in Sicily , go wild with pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines, pine nuts, raisins and wild fennel).

Uncork a bottle of Sagrantino di Montefalco red and grate a black truffle from Norcia over fresh tagliatelle (ribbon pasta) or strozzapreti (an elongated pasta literally meaning "priest-strangler").

Sardinian pasta classics include culurgiones (pasta pockets stuffed with potato and casu de fitta cheese), fregola (granular pasta similar to couscous) and malloreddus (a gnocchi-pasta hybrid).

Where to try it: Da Enzo or Cesare al Casaletto in Rome; Il Santo Bevitore in Florence; Il Portalano in Sardinia.

"Pizza by the slice" is the perfect piazza-side nibble, and there's no better place to sample it than Naples, the home of superlative street food. In addition to mainstays (wood-fired crusts topped with prosciutto, basil or mushrooms), creative spins include slider-like annarella  (pizza-dough buns filled with artichoke prepared three ways – boiled, creamed and fried, and provola