Josephine

Can't wait and cant weight! I plan to really "ciao" down over there. Ha Ha !!!Whats the food like? Will I have manigotti and pasta fagioli there? Grazie!!!!

Nancy

Josephine, you will have the best soups you have ever tasted, try all the Tuscan soups! All the pasta will be good, but you will have smaller portions as it will only be a part of the meal before the entree.

Maria

I acutally lose weight when I go to Italy!

jgj

Recent Italian research says that only 5% of Italian restaurants in the US are intitled to be called Italiano!...

xx

That MANY?????????<BR>I always eat more and lose , too!

Carol

You can't go wrong eating in Italy. You'll be surprised how fresh and flavorful everything is. Between the walking you do over there and the fresh food, you probably won't have to worry about gaining weight. Buon appetito!

Bec

Just got back from Italy 3 weeks ago. I lost weight! I ate way more than ususal, but you walk SO much that you actually loose weight. If you're going to Florence you must get the soup at Cibreo Trattoria (there's 3 Cibreo's all with the same menu, only difference is the prices). In Rome you have to try the Tartufo (dessert) at Piazza Novona

carol

Everything is great: The markets, the rotisseries, the trattorias...Fresh seafood can be a bit daunting at times though. Having read about &quot;frito misto&quot;, my mouth watered just waiting for my plate of deep fried &quot;mixed&quot; seafood in Venice. My stomach did a few flip-flops when the plate came with little fish and octopii with heads intact and eyeballs staring out from the batter. Now I find them delicious, but it was a bit of a shocker the first time! For my sister it was seeing the rabbits and chickens (dead) hanging in the markets with the feet and heads still on...couldn't eat chicken for a while after that. Don't miss out on the gelato (ice cream), at least once a day!

StCirq

There is hardly any comparison between Italian food in the USA and the real thing, really. In America, sauces tend to dominate the pasta - in Italy, it's the opposite. And the variety of food is amazing. The seafood is incredible - don't pass up any opportunity to have pasta with clams - they are the sweetest clams on earth, and the dish is pure inspiration. I always lose weight in Italy, walking all day and eating fresh seafood dishes at night - it's heaven.

rar

Just remember a few things..<BR><BR>-salad comes AFTER and not before the main courses<BR>-coffee comes after as well, not before<BR>-dishes are generally smaller, since people tend to order more than one<BR>-the whole &quot;four course meal&quot; thing is hardly done anymore, most meals are basically an antipasto/primo and a secondo (not that you cant splurge!) ... in fact I think anyone who comes here really should have a 4 course meal once (antipasto, primo, secondo, dolce)

zootsi

They really do eat a lot of pasta and pizza! However the pasta dishes are much more varied that what is offered here - for example fresh linguene with tomato sauce, wild boar, wild mushrooms and sausage! There are also meat courses offered, but usually the pasta, salad, bread and wine (of course!) are more than enough.

Carol

Oh, and I meant to add they don't snack over there like we do here (except for an afternoon gelato or cappucino). So when you sit down to eat there, you may actually consume fewer calories in many courses then you might doing fast food drive throughs here. So enjoy your meals without guilt!

BritChick

I can't say I have extensive experience of Italian food in the USA though I have visited the US many many times and probably been to the main tourist destinations only of around 35 states.<BR><BR>My main experience of Italian food in the US compared with Italy is that it's OTT on the flavours and the balance of sauces etc to pasta.<BR><BR>Tomato sauces in particular are too concentrated and overwhelm other ingredients.<BR><BR>Often sauces etc in US make it difficult to really taste the subtle flavours of ingredients, meat, pasta, vegetables.<BR><BR>So at first you may find the genuine Italian food bland for your tastes. Infact what you get is the incredible pleasure of really tasting the delicate flavours of fresh ingredients.<BR><BR>I adore Italian food in Italy, and can't get enough of it.<BR><BR>I hope you'll find it the same.

nina

Carol, We had the exact same experience in Venice, only my husband ordered it! Another case of &quot;Not what we expected&quot;. It was like eating from the family aquarium. They should post a warning in the Venice guidebooks &quot;Beware the Frito Misto&quot;.<BR><BR>Oh well, the cat that climbed in through the open restaurant window enjoyed the little fishes, and we just ordered more food!<BR>

Alice Twain

Josephine:<BR><BR>I am Itlaian, I live in italy and I do not have the slightet idea of what &quot;manigotti&quot; is!!! As for minestrone, there is not ONE minestrone in italy. I mean, thera re several kinds, all different. Probably the most famous is &quot;minestrone alla milanese&quot;, which is a soup of beans, cabbage, other vegetables and rice. If you go to Bologna, have a dish of &quot;tortellini in drodo&quot;, pasta filled with a meast &quot;cream&quot; and boiled in meat stock. With different names and slightly different shapes they are made in the whole Emilia Romagna area. Also, have a taste of passatelli, a pasta.like mixture of bread, egg and parmigiano Reggiano. Sometimes they are served like pastasciutta with some different sauces, but if you really wnat to taste them at their best you have to try them with meat stock. Tuscany is famous for soups. The most famous are ribolita (actually, it used to be a way of rpcessing leftovers!) and acqua cotta (usually erved with egg). In Rome do forget a taste of stracciatella (somewhat similar to passatelli, but with a very different texture). In the Naples area check out pasta fagioli e cozze,a very unusual soup of beans and seafood.<BR><BR>Carol: Itlaians have cappuccino for breakfast, not in the afternoon. if you see someone having a cup of cappucino in the afternoon, it is usually a tourist (or some toher &quot;kind&quot; of foreigner).

rar

I wouldnt say the cappucino thing is a rule, I see plenty of Italians havin them in the afternoons.. perhaps not as commonly though.<BR><BR>Ma chi possa essere sicuro

Carol

I enjoyed many delicious cups of cappucino in the afternoon with Italian friends while we were at the University of Pisa. But we were all students, which probably explains the unconventional time of day. Whatever time of day, enjoy it guilt-free!

CoachBoy

Cappucino in the afternoon is probably OK...<BR><BR>Whatever you do, don't order a cappucino after dinner. That is a major culinary mistake, at least in the eyes of the Italians. <BR><BR>Order an espresso. If you want some milk, make it a machiatto (with a dollop of foam).<BR><BR>CoachBoy

sarah

Italian food is so much better in Italy. I think the difference is in the fresher ingredients used, especially tomatoes. Try the penne arrabiata, pizza margherita (especially in Naples), and i really loved the panini (sandwiches) everywhere, even at the autogrills along the autostrada. My favorite dessert was cannelloni. Cappuchino is really good too. I actually lost 5 lbs. on my vacation even though I ate all those carbs because of all the walking!

Alice Twain

The only Itlaian people who usually indulge in a cappuccino in the afternoon are the students (the pennyles ones) and even than only if thea afternoon is extremely cold.