IMO, lasagna, antipasto, bruschetta

Where in Italy? Regionality is very important as far as food goes.

pizza, veal, seafood, risotto, bruschetta, and of course, gelato!

We'll be visiting the Amalfi coast, Rome, Tuscany/Florence and Venice.

Frito misto (Amalfi, Venice)... pasta with wild boar sauce (Tuscany). Individual thin crusted pizza in Rome.

Also try a slice of pizza with shredded potatoes on it. Found it at a fast food pizza restaurant in Rome.

Rome - pizza, gelato and granita, Jewish-style artichokes, pasta

Tuscany - bistecca fiorentina, salamis, boar sauces for pasta, porcini

Venice - polenta and all kinds of seafood, fegato alla veneziana (liver and onions but delicious)

Cannoli with fresh ricotta filling. Yum, Yum.

Every bakery has it hidden somewhere. You need to ask for it.

I learned after a few trips that the bakery owners keep fresh ricotta filling in their fridge somewhere inside and the cannoli shells also somewhere hidden.

So, when you ask, they bring it out freshly prepared for you. Believe me you will not be disappointed at all.

I missed it for several days not knowing why I could not see any cannoli at any bakery. But a couple days before leaving I asked one shop where I can get it and he told me he has it inside!!!

Thus, I found everyone seems to have it, so at least try it once and Hope you will love the taste.

Also enjoy variety of Pizzas as they come with wonderful, appetizing toppings and always are so delicious.

Depends on what you enjoy. In Venice Ilove risottos -but you must get in a good place - so i's creamy and not runny.

Any good pasta.

Veal is often excellent.

Artichokes in Rome.

Fish on Amalfi coast.

I don't get eating all this pizza - we have pizza just as good at home - and it's boring since it's ordered somuch.

There is nothing in North America comparable to good pizza al taglio in Rome.

in Rome, try to get a taste of "fiori fritti" - deep-fried courgette [zucchini] flowers, served as a "primo".

in venice - risotto alle seppie [cuttlefish] is one of our faves, but you don't have to mind having black teeth, as it is made with the ink!

gnocchi with walnut sauce on the Ligurian coast
Linguine alle vongole anywhere on any coast
Langoustini
risotto in Venice
black squid ink pasta in Venice
ragú of wild boar in Tuscany
carcioffi in Rome
saltimbocca in Rome


Oh heavens, this is making me want to go back to Italy...

Panna cotta.

Let's see...

Brunello, Sagrantino di Montefalco, Orvieto Classico
Gelato - all flavors
Insalta caprese
Everything else!

Enjoy! You'll still loose weight from all the walking. I always do, good thing.

Oh, Oh!!! Anything with truffles!!!

- Pasta with finely-shaved percorino over it

- Pasta with finely-shaved truffles over it

- Annhig's suggestion of the deep-fried squash flowers--heavenly

- Bresoala Carpaccio

- Focaccia from a local bakery--it may have onions, olives, and/or peppers added into the dough and the exterior is brushed with olive oil and has kosher/coarse salt on it


You SHOULD already know about gelato, granita, bellinis, and wines, LOL!

Buon Viaggio e Buon Appetito,
BC

Cuttlefish and black squid ink pasta?? really??? I don't know if I'm that daring--doesn't sound too appealing to me. What does it taste like? chicken?? ha, ha!!

<<Pasta with finely-shaved percorino over it>>

Is that the caffeinated variety, BC?

Amalfi Coast -- grilled swordfish, sea bass, mullet brushed with lemon and olive oil.

Rome -- artichokes, pasta caccio e pepe, braised baby lamb.

Tuscany -- Pappardelle sulla lepre (hare) or di cinghiale (boar).

Oops, sorry, that's eight.

venice-squid ink pasta

florence-ribollita (a soup), pasta with wild boar (cinghiale), bistecca alla fiorentina (a thick steak from a special breed of white cattle, I am not a real carnivore, especially when the steak is not well done, but this was unbelievably delicious!)

rome-everything was good! real pasta alla carbonara, not the stuff typically found in the U.S.

I went in November...anything with mushrooms or truffles was good

for a sweet treat I love panforte...I think it would be a nice gift to bring home too

<<for a sweet treat I love panforte>>

Not me. It's the equivalent of fruitcake and I hate it. Lives about 100 years, though, so that's good.

Gelato

Pecorino giovane

Arancia rossa-oj made from blood oranges

Papa al pomodoro

Ricciarelli in Siena!

Since you are going in October my list would include:

Black truffles
Porcini mushrooms
Cinghiale (wild boar)
Trippa alla Fiorentina (tripe simmered with tomatoes)
Zucca Gialla (a form of pumpkin/squash)

Anytime of year:

Bistecca alla Fiorentina in Florence

Polenta alle seppie, risotto alle seppie, linguine alle seppie in Venice - every day for me

Whatever bread grabs my attention when I poke my head into a small bakery, generally led there by my nose

An afternoon cafe macchiato

How do people like their polenta? Soft or set and grilled?
Polenta alle seppie was my top dish in Venice, especially as there are no seppie in England.

Polenta was eaten by those who could not afford pasta or bread. Children would be sent to school with wedges of toasted polenta. Of course, it has now been "discovered" by restaurants around the world.

polenta dishes vary according to the region or sub-region. But depending upon the area and time of year you will find polenta uncia (with local cheese and butter), con brasato (braised steak or meat), con funghi (mushrooms - porcini), all'asinella (donkey meat), usei (small birds - thrushes etc), seppia nera (squid ink), baccala (dried cod) con salsicce o luganighe (saugages) etc etc

Hate polenta, love bresaola

alihutch - the Valtellina is famous for its bresaola and its polenta.

What is also wonderful is pizzocheri which is best in the Chiavenna valley which leads up to the Splugen pass.

After your pizzocheri or polenta uncia you go for a very long walk and then you return to the same restaurant and late afternoon you sit down and eat some cutizza ....

I've had pizzocheri, but cooked by our friends in Laglio...nearly all my time in Italy is spent on Lake Como

and I really liked pizzocheri

StCirq, you caught me, sorry! (Guess I needed an espresso at the time I was writing my post!)

I'm with you, BTW, on the panforte. It could be good for a doorstop if exposed to air for about 24 hours.

I like my polenta grilled, but I've eaten it a variety of ways, and not had any problems with any of the ways in which it had been prepared.

BC

Linguine with clams. (Breakfast)

Linguine with clams. (Lunch)

Linguine with clams. (Dinner)

<<Also try a slice of pizza with shredded potatoes on it.>>

You just brought back memories from when I was 20! I was in Rome and had pizza with potato and sausage and to this day I've said it was the best pizza I ever had. I'm going back to Rome next summer and will try to find it again to see if I still feel that way. Thanks for the memory!

"Polenta was eaten by those who could not afford pasta or bread. Children would be sent to school with wedges of toasted polenta."

My father would never eat polenta for this reason. His parents were born in Sicily and they came to America a few years before he was born. They were poor and his mother made polenta often for meals. She would let it firm up in a pan then cut it into wedges with a string and fry it in a pan, adding whatever she had around on top or packing the wedge for the kid's lunches.

When he grew up and had a choice, he never ate it again. He was an awesome cook but I could never get him to make polenta for me.

You've all whetted my appetite--for the most part. Can't get past the black squid ink pasta.

I leave on Monday, so keep the ideas coming.

Thanks!

>>"Polenta was eaten by those who could not afford pasta or bread.<<
That's not really true, but I don't have the energy to debate it. Polenta was a staple for a lot of people in Italy, just the way potatoes were a staple for a lot of people in Ireland.

The thing about food in Italy is that when you get something that's made just right, it's memorable. It almost doesn't matter what the particular food is.

Marlene:
Gelato; saltimbocca alla romana,baba al rhum or baba al limoncello,olives(they usually are to die for); bread; prosciutto or cullatello(a special kind of prosciutto).Have a nice trip and let us know what was your preferred food!!!

Ahhhh!!!; add panna cotta to my list!!

Who cares what you have to eat - YOU'RE IN ITALY. It's fabulous - have a GREAT time.

I respectfully disagree about pizza in the US.

Granted most pizza in the US is awful(chain fake piza, frozen "pizza") or awful local places that don;t even use real or fresh ingredients. But there are quite a few places where there is truly excellent pizza made with the best fresh ingredients and people who know exactly what they're doing.

There are two places inmy neighborhood alone that have pizza as good as any I have tasted in Italy. (Not surprising,s ince the owners are FROM Italy).

I also think there is some exquisite pizza to be had in the USA. For every really good one, though, there are probably a thousand bad ones.

k9korps - Polenta as a staple. Whilst not the case in all of Italy it was very much so in certain areas - Valtellina, the valleys above Bergamo etc. To this day it is still an important part of their diet as is butter which is used much less elsewhere in Italy. To illustrate - my diet is so Mediterranean that I buy less than a kilo (2.2 lbs) of butter in a whole year!

Coda alla Vaccinara (Oxtail)(Rome)
Roast Pork (Tuscany)
Pesto (Cinque Terre)
Pasta with Black Ink (Cuttlefish) (Venice)
Black Truffle Risotto
Fiochetti di formaggio (Ravioli stuffed with pears)

Sorry - more than 5!

Mozarella, tomatoes and basil in Amalfi,fish in Amalfi Tripa Romana in Rome. anywhere with squid ink pasta, lamb in Rome, coffe and pastry at the bar for breakfast-anywhere

Had terimisu in Rome and I thought I died and went to heaven and the angels had made it.. it was as light as light could be. Going back in two weeks and I'm going to order it wherever I eat..

Amalfi coasti - ice cold limoncello sipped under the glorious sun
Rome - fried artichokes, spaghetti all'amatriciana, everything you can buy at Volpetti (Via Marmorata), coffee at Tazza d'oro
Tuscany/Florence - bistecca alla fiorentina, Cantucci dipped in vin santo, Brunello
and Venice - risotto alle seppie (you'll like it!), all other types of risotto, too. Everything tastes better with Venice as your backdrop. : )
Enjoy!

Caprese salad, and gelato (though the gelato in Croatia is better than in Italy !)

Ravioli (or other pasta) filled with pumpkin served in a butter/sage sauce. Opened my eyes to the wonders of fresh sage.
Chicken liver pate for appetizer.

My palate is probably not as sophisticated as some....but oh the bread and olive oil (just tasted so good over there!)...loved the breadsticks too. And yes loved me some Brunello....I am doing a flashback of the feel and taste going down the throat!! Exquisite.

Marlene: The answer to your question depends very much on where you will be in Italy. The foods are vastly different from region to region.

Are you going on your own or with a tour group? If on your own, be more adventurous and eat what strikes your fancy. Even a simple eggplant dish tastes excellent in Italy. If you're with a tour group, it's usually set menus and you can choose. Nevertheless, Italy has a lot to offer when it comes to foods. Surprise yourself!!!

I still dream about a dish I had back in 2001--truffles in a milky sauce over pasta. I always look for it on menus and haven't found it again.

"How do people like their polenta?"

As far away as possible - I cannot believe that the Italians, creators of some of the greatest foods in the world, could be responsible for Polenta.

Well, there is polenta and then there is..polenta. A polenta I had in the Lake Como a few years ago was just about my favorite dish of the week...

I used to dislike polenta myself (I thought the Mexicans had the Italians beat as for as corn went), but last year I made a few batches and now I'm hooked. Try it with a pork ragu, or under a ratatouille spiked with a bit of sausage. Chill the leftover polenta, then cut it into strips the next day and crisp them in a bit of olive oil. Or try a variation on the Southern classic and serve with shrimp and prosciutto. You might find you've been missing something.

In the Amalfi coast and in Venice: spaghetti alla vongole, with a zillion baby clams so small that the shells are no bigger than your thumbnail and the clam is no bigger than your pinky nail - completely illegal in the US and fabulous.

In Tuscany and Umbria - Parpadelle with wild boar sauce (also damn close to impossible to find in the US),and gnocchi with black truffles

I don't see how some people can be so dismissive of polenta, it's like disdaining potatoes in Ireland. In some areas of the north, pasta was not commonly eaten until fairly recently, and polenta can be be as rich (with the addition of butter and parmesan) or as austere as required. And it goes well with a wide range of sauces - I like to serve two together, a sausage tomato sauce and a mushroom one.

Capelletti pasta in Emiglia-Romanga.

Limoncello pasta in Amalfi

Gnocchi di Zucca anywhere.

Pecorino or Parmesian cheese with a splash of aged balsamic vinegar.

Just got back today from Italy. We stayed in a tiny town near Orvieto. The local albergo had a restaurant that was wonderful. Think a Sunday special of suckling pig roasted in the wood oven, with perfectly roasted wedges of small potatoes! OMG!

anyway, what's good in Italy?

Ravioli with such thin pasta you can see the filling!
olive oil
Red wine
Porcini mushrooms
Truffles (tartufi)
In Bologna, a special pasta called gramigna with a sauce of sausage braised in white wine and then in tomato.
Parmigiano reggiano. The real thing from Parma
Pecorino cheese (sheep's milk) from anywhere in Tuscany
Pecorino with truffles!
pecorino with fresh pear
Pecorino with prosciutto
prosciutto di Parma
Balsamic vinegar from Modena--the older the better. But it costs an arm and a leg.
prosciutto and melon
Prosciutto and figs
Gnocchi with butter and sage in Bologna at Meloncello trattoria

I love the gelato.

The marvelous crostini in Tuscany and Prosecco wine in Venice.

roma- carciofi fritti ("alla giudecca")- seasonal , suppli', tramezzini di vitello e radicchio, pasta carbonara!!!, pizza con scamorza (an amazing smoked cheese)

napoli- GELATO, PIZZA, as much as you can.

sicilia- GO CRAZY WITH SEAFOOD. GET EVERYTHING. pane con la minza (MMM), cannoli (duh), arancini, sfincione, spiedini, panelle... god i love it there soooo much.

<<Ravioli (or other pasta) filled with pumpkin served in a butter/sage sauce>>

anyone know what this is called in Italian? I'd love to try it when I'm there in 6 WEEKS! (sorry for yelling...got a little excited!!! LOL)

From North to South

Pizzocheri eaten at Chiavenna

Tortelli di Zucca eaten in Mantova

Sbricciolona (a very crumbly finnocchiona) eaten at San Donato in the Florentine hills

Antipasti crudi in Pescara - especially raw scampi

Untreated burrata eaten directly from the source in the Salento (travelling just a few miles it changes flavour and even goes off)

Linguine with Pesto in Liguria.

I've had grilled polenta with a mushroom ragout that elevated
the mush to a sublime level.