“If you go to Italy, you must try the _______,” gushes your just-got-back-from-Italy friend. It’s not as simple as it seems. Italy has at least 35 different pasta types, 20 distinct regions, and hundreds of regional dialects. This is just the shapes of pasta, not the sauce. The culture and cuisine of this country are anything but homogenous.
This is why recommending a single Italian dish that you must try would be a mistake. I’d never recommend you order pesto in Puglia If you’re in Liguria, I recommend that you order homemade orecchiette. These dishes are not local specialties and haven’t been perfected by generations of residents. Pizza in Venice? Most likely a no. But spaghetti con vongole? Yes, I do.
The regional dishes of Italy are largely determined by the produce, livestock or game that is available in a particular area. It’s no surprise that basil thrives in Italy. Liguria’s coastal microclimateThe star ingredient in Genovese Pesto is. Puglia’s Orecchiette Pasta is made with durum flour, a wheat variety grown in southern Italy. This pasta is often paired up with another Puglian product: turnip-greens. It’s better to order seafood or fish in Venice than a mushroom-and-sausage pizza.
In Umbria you can find pasta with wild boar and seasonal dishes with truffles, but in Rome, the best pasta is carbonara. carciofi alla giudìaThe deep-fried artichokes are a symbol of the Jewish community in Rome.
Doing some research before your trip will help you find out what dishes are “must-tries” in each area. You can also search online for specialties of the cities and regions that you plan to visit. Search for lists of “best places to eat X in X”, but you’ll probably find that they are all recycled. Your hotel website or local tourism sites may have tips on where and what to eat. Your taxi driver, concierge, or tour guide will be glad to give you their opinion on the best foods to eat.
Bring your sense of adventure and appetite for new flavors and foods if you are visiting multiple destinations in Italy. Just remember: it’s not all pizza, pasta and gelato—though admittedly, we do those quite well.
