Italian gastronomy is among the most influential and most imitated cuisines in the world — and one of the most misunderstood outside Italy's borders. There is no such thing as a single Italian cuisine: there are as many cuisines as there are regions, provinces and villages. Roman pasta all'amatriciana has nothing in common with Bolognese tagliatelle al ragù; a Neapolitan pizza (a soft, blistered base built on San Marzano tomato, buffalo mozzarella and a wood-fired blast of heat) is a completely different creature from the thin, crackly pizza romana baked in trays the next region over.
The founding principle is the quality of the raw materials: a tomato grown under the Campanian sun, an olive cold-pressed in Sicily, a cheese matured in the cellars of the Po Valley, a ham cured on the hills around Parma. This philosophy of cucina povera, peasant cooking raised to an art, has produced dishes of disarming simplicity and remarkable depth. A plate of cacio e pepe — pasta, pecorino, black pepper — is one of the most technical things you can attempt in a home kitchen, and one of the cheapest things you can order in a Roman trattoria.
The national hits are easy to list and endlessly varied in execution: pasta in every shape (spaghetti, rigatoni, orecchiette, pappardelle — each region has its own), risotto from Milan and the Dolomites, Neapolitan pizza (now UNESCO-listed), prosciutto di Parma and San Daniele, mozzarella di bufala campana, Parmigiano Reggiano matured 24 to 36 months, and white truffles from Alba in autumn. Italy boasts more than 450 DOP cheeses — Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano, Gorgonzola, Taleggio — enough to fill a fortnight of cheeseboards on their own.
Italian wines are among the most diverse and decorated on earth. Piedmont's Barolo and Barbaresco, Tuscany's Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico, the Veneto's Amarone della Valpolicella, the Prosecco hills of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, and Sicily's Nero d'Avola each have their devoted following. Every meal is an excuse to try a local grape variety you have never heard of before. Coffee is its own institution: in Italy you take it standing at the counter, short and unsweetened or with a single spoon of sugar — never in a large paper cup to go, and (locals are firm on this) never a cappuccino after eleven in the morning.
Read also
- Central Italy: Rome and Florence — The historic heart of Italy, from ancient Rome to Renaissance Florence and the rolling hills of Tuscany.
- Northern Italy: Venice and the Cinque Terre — The Venetian lagoon, cliffside Ligurian villages and the gastronomic powerhouses of the Po Valley.
- Rome, the Eternal City — The Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Vatican and dolce vita in Italy's capital.
- Florence, cradle of the Renaissance — The Uffizi, Brunelleschi's Dome and the Chianti hills on the city's doorstep.
- Venice, La Serenissima — Canals, Gothic palaces and an atmosphere found nowhere else in the world.