Italy Food Guide

Arancini

Sicilian rice balls filled with meat ragù, mozzarella, and peas, rolled in breadcrumbs and deep-fried until golden. They're a fixture of street food across southern Italy.

Lasagne alla Bolognese

Layered pasta from Bologna with meat ragù, béchamel sauce, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, baked until golden and bubbling. A Sunday family tradition across Italy.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina

A thick T-bone from Tuscany's Chianina cattle, grilled over hot coals, seasoned with just salt, pepper, and olive oil, and served rare so the meat speaks for itself.

Cacio e Pepe

A Roman pasta that looks simple but isn't: just black pepper, Pecorino Romano, and pasta water, emulsified by hand into a creamy, peppery sauce with no butter or oil. Getting the technique right is the whole trick.

Amatriciana

Classic Roman pasta with guanciale (cured pork jowl), pecorino cheese, tomatoes, and chili pepper. Originated in the town of Amatrice in Lazio region.

Caprese Salad

A plain Campanian salad of fresh mozzarella di bufala, ripe tomatoes, basil, extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt. The colors echo the Italian flag.

Ribollita

Tuscan bread soup made with cannellini beans, kale, carrots, and stale bread. Traditional peasant dish that tastes better reheated the next day (ribollita means 'reboiled').

Supplì

A Roman street snack: fried rice balls with tomato sauce and a mozzarella center that pulls into long strings when you bite in, hence the nickname 'telephone wires.' Lazio's answer to Sicily's arancini.

Parmigiana di Melanzane

A baked Southern Italian dish layering fried eggplant with tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Pure comfort food.

A creamy, molded dessert made with sweetened cream thickened with gelatin, often served with fruit or a sweet sauce.

Tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough filled with a sweet, creamy ricotta filling, often containing candied fruit or chocolate chips.

Naples' shell-shaped pastry, built from many crisp, flaky layers around a filling of sweetened ricotta, semolina, candied citrus peel, and cinnamon. It comes two ways: sfogliatella riccia, the curly layered kind, and sfogliatella frolla, made with shortcrust. Eat it warm from a Neapolitan bakery.

A warm custard whipped from egg yolks, sugar, and sweet wine, traditionally Marsala, until it turns light and mousse-like. It's served in stemmed glasses, often with fresh berries or ladyfingers. The dish has been part of Piedmont's repertoire for centuries.

Almond cookies from Saronno in Lombardy, crisp outside and chewy in the middle. They're made mostly from egg whites, sugar, and bitter almonds (or almond extract), happen to be gluten-free, and go well with espresso or a sweet wine like Vin Santo.

Milan's tall, dome-topped Christmas bread, studded with candied fruit, raisins, and citrus zest. The traditional method ferments the dough for 36 hours or more using a natural starter (lievito madre). Once strictly a holiday sweet, good artisanal panettone now sells year-round, in flavors like pistachio, chocolate-pear, and limoncello.

Twice-baked Tuscan almond cookies made for dipping in Vin Santo or coffee. The dry crunch comes from baking the dough, slicing it, then baking it again. Common flavors are almond, anise, and chocolate-hazelnut. Italians have been dunking them with their coffee for centuries.