Italy is well known for its gastronomy, and some of the most famous food regularly appears on menus outside of Italy. Everyone has their favorite Italian dishes and here are a few I think you should try the next time you find yourself in Italy. Full disclosure, I'm a bit heavy on the sweets!
Pasta
What list of Italian food would be complete without pasta? But, when it comes to trying pasta in Italy, a general rule to follow is to make sure you try the regional variations on the menu. Below you will find a few types of pasta to try. This way you will really understand why pasta is so special to Italians. And you’ll also see the importance of using local ingredients to enhance these dishes.
Tortellini en Brodo
This is the way I grew up eating tortellini. A staple from the north of Italy, it is quite often eaten over the holidays. The tortellini is served in a simple broth as opposed to a creamy sauce. And it’s topped with some grated Parmesan. Like so many of Italy’s traditional dishes, it is simple, yet delicious.
Tagliatelle al ragù
This dish is native to Bologna. It is almost identical to what you may otherwise know as Spaghetti Bolognese. But in Italy, you will never find Spaghetti Bolognese on the menu and you will never ever find ragù served with spaghetti. Instead, it is only served with Tagliatelle. This pasta pairs much better with the sauce.
Focaccia di Recco
When it comes to Italian food to try when visiting Italy, you simply have to try some Focaccia di Recco. It is comfort food in a blanket! It’s a regional dish from Recco in the region of Genoa. As with many dishes mentioned, it’s simple. It’s made from a thin layer of focaccia baked with a layer of creamy crescenza cheese in the middle. Modest and so delicious.
Arancini
This is a dish of fried rice balls that are coated in breadcrumbs. The fillings have a variety of regional variations from ragù, mushrooms mozzarella, or even ham. It’s a classic Italian dish available all over the country.
Pizza
So, yeah, I have to mention pizza. Hands down the best place to eat pizza is in Naples. A Neapolitan pizza is the style of pizza that immigrants took with them to places like the US and it’s iconic in Italy too. In Italy, this style of pizza will be baked in a wood-fired oven. The dough and ingredients will pass the rules that govern traditional Neapolitan pizzas. The toppings will be far simpler and more sparse, thereby allowing the natural and local ingredients to shine through, and it might even be a bit soupy in the middle. To widen your experience of Italian food in Italy, try some other varieties from street vendors and small bakeries in Italy.
Gelato
And now for some sweets! The Italians did a great job of introducing gelato to the countries they emigrated to. But like many other Italian exports, gelato in Italy is a cut above what you find outside Italy.
Granita
Aside from gelato, granita is the best way to cool down during the heat of a Sicilian summer. Made with water, sugar, and fruit or nuts, it’s slowly frozen and stirred continuously, resulting in a consistency somewhere in between the creaminess of gelato and the granularity of sorbet. In past centuries, it was made with the snow that fell on Mount Etna and derives from the Arab sherbet made with rose water. Nowadays, you can find dozens of flavors, but the most traditional ones are almond, pistachio, coffee, and lemon. Sicilians start their day by dunking a brioche into granita for breakfast, but it can be eaten throughout the day.
Torrone
A nougat made with honey, egg whites and toasted nuts, is a heaven to the taste buds and a must-try when in Italy. The main difference between what we know as nougat is the sugar versus the Italian use of honey. Sardinia in the town of Tonara is the production capital of torrone. You’ll find it in many cafes and sweet shops around Italy.
Bonet
This rich, chocolate pudding is served throughout Piedmont, especially in the Langhe hills around Alba. Eaten with a spoon, it’s made like a crème caramel, with crumbled amaretti cookies, eggs, sugar, cocoa, milk, and rum. It’s sometimes served with hazelnuts, which grow in the region. The exact origins of bonet are unknown, but there are references it being served at noble banquets during the 13th century.
Pro Tip: Turin’s Farmacia del Cambio, an elegant bar/pasticceria inside a pharmacy that dates back to 1833, is one of the best places to try bonet, but you’ll also see it on menus across the region.
Sfogliatella
Found in bakeries and cafés around Naples and the Amalfi Coast, this flaky pastry is shaped a bit like a seashell or a lobster tail (there’s a version called coda d’aragosta, meaning lobster tail) and filled with ricotta scented with citrus peel and cinnamon. There are two types of dough; a smooth or a curly version. Legend has it that they were invented by a nun at the cloistered convent of Santa Rosa in the village of Conca dei Marini on the Amalfi Coast.
Panna Cotta
Literally translating to “cooked cream,” this soft, silky pudding is as simple as it gets. The main ingredients are heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and gelatin, which get blended and then set in a refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. Amazing, right? It’s believed to originate in Piedmont, though it didn’t enter the mainstream until the 1960s. Often garnished with a fruit coulis or perhaps fresh fruit, it can be found in restaurants and hotels across Italy.
Cannoli
One of Italy’s best-known desserts, cannoli or cannolo, if it isjust one. It originated in Sicily, but can be found all over the country and beyond. The tube-shaped dessert is made of fried pastry dough filled with whipped ricotta sweetened with sugar and candied orange. You’ll sometimes see versions featuring pistachios, chocolate chips, or candied cherries. Their origin can be traced back to the 10th or 11th century, when Arabs ruled Sicily.
Tiramisu
Perhaps the most iconic Italian dessert, tiramisu appears on menus at restaurants not only throughout Italy but also all over the world. An irresistible combination of layers of coffee-soaked savoiardi and mascarpone whipped with sugar and eggs, topped with cacao powder, it’s either served as slices like a cake or in individual glasses or cups. Its origins are hotly contested between the regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, although the Italian government has officially recognized it as a product of Friuli—a bit surprising, since its name translates to “pick-me-up” in the dialect of Veneto.
Pro tip:
Bar Pompi is the self-declared king of tiramisu and has versions flavored with strawberry, pistachio, or hazelnut as well as the classic tiramisu. It has six locations in Rome, including one near the Spanish Steps and another near the Trevi Fountain, plus a location in Florence.
Delizia al limone
Invented in 1978 by pastry chef Carmine Marzuillo, who worked at the hotel Parco dei Principi in Sorrento, this delightful little cake makes use of the lemons that the area is famous for. Shaped like a dome, it’s composed of sponge cake filled with lemon cream, soaked in limoncello, and topped with pale yellow icing. Usually eaten at the end of a meal, it can be found at restaurants and in pasticcerie all over the Campania region.
Maritozzo
A sweet that’s found almost exclusively in Rome, the maritozzo is a soft bun split down the middle and filled with whipped cream. Its origins can be traced all the way back to ancient Rome, but it became popular during the Middle Ages, when the church allowed it to be eaten during the fasting days of Lent. Its name derives from the word marito, which means husband, and during the 19th century, men would propose by hiding a ring in a maritozzo.
So next time you are in Italy, make sure to try one of these wonderful dishes. There are so many more but this is a wonderful place to start!
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