reddy2go2

I am a first-time visitor to Italy...have read about and eaten plenty of Italian food in the US ..but would love to hear about your favorite foods/restaurants/meals in Rome/Florence/Venice. What is it that I cannot possibly miss?

Marsha

Florence: Trattoria Pizzeria Vecchio Carlino on Viale Fratelli Rosselli. My husband ordered a seafood pasta dish: a large bowl of spaghetti filled with mussels, shrimp and squid. Excellent!

jetsetj

Gelato comes to mind.

San Crispino in Rome
Via Panetteria,42, near the Trevi Fountain
http://www.ilgelatodisancrispino.it/panetteria

Giolitti.
Via Uffici dei Vicario 40.
Near the Pantheon in Rome.

Gelateria: Vivoli in Florence
Location: Via Isola delle Stinche 7 50122 Florence; it’s roughly a block northwest of the Piazza Santa Croce
Open: Tuesday-Sunday, 09:00-01:00 (closed in August and January-early February)
More Information: http://www.vivoli.it/

in Venice try Nico's and Il Doge

here is a good link..
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/...lato-shops.htm

crefloors

Calves liver with polenta in Venice...a specialty there. Just delicious. It's sauted in olive oil, not sure about garlic, fresh sage and capers. It was served with fried polenta. It is nothing like the dry old gaggy shoe leather that your mom used to make you eat.

I found a recipe on Epicurious after I got home...I ran across some calves liver at the grocery store...and it was just like the liver I had in Venice. I haven't made it in quite a long time because calves liver is almost impossible to find where I am and beef liver is just not the same at all.

tuscanlifeedit

I'll probably add to this if the thread stays near the top (does that still happen, the topping thing?) but right now, late at night, I can think of my favorite in Florence, which is Pallotino, where we have had several meals. My favorite dish there is the Papa al pomodoro (forgive me spelling erros; it's late and I don't have Italian spell check) and it is scrumptious. I've had it two nights in a row. My husband loves their lasagna.

As for gelato, in Rome, at, I think, Kristina's recommendation, I had the orange/chocolate at Frigadarium. Oh my.

Ok, in Rome you guys suggested a place in the center with the best eggplant parmigiana. I never order that, but did because there were so many recs. It was the best. Does anyone know the name of this place? I think I've read about it here a half dozen times.

tuscanlifeedit

Alright, I'm already adding.

In Venice, I always avoided Alla Madonna because I thought it was a tourist restaurant. Ok, what in Venice isn't? Anyway, at the rec of a client, and finding myself in front of the place at 6:30, we went in and had a very very good meal. Great grilled fish. Decent prices.

Uma

Wonderful, fresh fish creatively prepared at Alle Testiere in
Venice.

My pistachio gelato and hubby's chocolate/orange at Vivoli in Florence.

People watching on Piazza Navona in Rome, sharing tartufo from
Tre Scalini.

Sipping prosecco and wild strawberries in Piazza San Marco, listening to the "dueling bands."

A lovely dinner at Cantinetta Antinori in Florence - chianina beef filets and the best glass of red wine I have ever tasted(from the Antinori vineyards).

Again in Florence, a complimentary appetizer platter as big as our table at La Giostra, served by "the Prince."

The antipasto buffet and wonderful pastas at La Piazzetta, near the Colosseum in Rome.

Sitting outdoors at Da Baffetto in Rome, sharing our pizzas with two very fun loving British women on holiday.

ira

Hi red,

Our second meal at Alla Madonna.

We asked for our original waiter and let him order for us.

It was better and cheaper than the 1st time.

JulieVikmanis

Tuscanlifeedit, I had a similar hate/love thing with Ala Madonna. Regardless of (or because of) how many guidebooks recommended it, DH refused to go. It wasn't on water, etc, etc. and then we finally went and he loved it most of all. I had the sardines in soar and went nuts over them.

Uma, we had a wonderful but sleepy meal at Alla Testiere--sleepy because we were exhausted from walking and could only book the last seating. But our favorite memory from there, good as the food was, was of the waiter saying after we'd all 4 ordered pasta courses--"four pastas, three fires, one will wait."

But of all my favorite (and some not so favorite) food memories in these wonderful cities, the one that stands out is our first visit to Corte Sconda in Venice--even before the NYTimes popularized it. They just kept coming and coming and coming with the wonderful plates of fish and seafood and the bubbly new wine. We couldn't say stop. So good. So much fun. Perfect in every way.

summer0260

Veal salitimbocca at Bramante, Via del Pace, Rome

dina4

florence:
1. the wedding cake dessert at Trattoria Sostanza (the meal was incredible too)
2. 2 amazing dinners at Il Cingiale Bianco (I am sure i messed up that spelling)

rome:
Pierluigi: we told them to take care of us and the food (all incredible) kept coming and coming. Julie, it was the same as your experience -- we couldn't say stop! It was like that movie, Big Night.

venice:
Alla Madonna -- great lunch, but mostly memorable as a food experience as my first meal ever IN Italy!!

great thread, btw.
but it's making me hungry!

dina

bfrac

My favorite restaurants in Venice are Vini da Gigio, Al Paradiso, Ristorante Riviera, Gatto Nero (Burano). Here is my trip report focused on restaurants and descriptions http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ly-make-it.cfm.

In Rome we loved the pizza anywhere we ate it. It was the best of our entire trip. I'm afraid I didn't keep details of the restaurants in Rome and Florence, that was before I discovered Fodors and trip reports.

suze

I know this will sound silly but I loved the sandwiches premade and on display in glass cases at various small cafes around Venice (hardboiled eggs/tomatoe, grilled vegetables, etc.). I also liked having a glass of cold white wine at the stand up bars along the sidewalks.

althom1122

I couldn't tell you the name of the place or even how to find it, but in Florence, my daughter and I stumbled across a tiny pizza place (four tables). One guy did everything: took orders, made the pizza, ran the cash register, bused the tables. He offered two kinds of pizza - and nothing else except drinks. BEST pizza either of us ever had in our lives.

ekscrunchy

Not very Venetian, but I cannot help but mention the lardo di Colonnata at Ai Gondolieri, a meat restaurant in Dorsoduro. That was the first time I sampled lardo and I gushed so much that they brought me a large plate piled high with slices and grilled bread.

Alle Testiere is excellent!

I need to go back to Venice!

http://www.lardodicolonnata.org/ENGLISH/

dina4

ekscrunchy, what's lardo?

ekscrunchy

Dina: Lardo is cured pig fat. I know that you need time to recover from gagging, but it is incredibly delicious. The finest comes from the town of Colonnata in Tuscany. To get an idea, think of prosciutto without the meat. Sort of... I used to see this for sale in Tuscany and wonder who would eat that kind of thing. Until I tasted it.

I am not saying that was the best thing I tasted in Venice,but I remember it because it was so unusual to meat the time.

Look:


http://www.buonitalia.com/index.cfm/...desc/Lardo.htm

lowcountrycarol

The artisanal Gorgonzola cheese served with fig jam at La Tartaruga in Rome...outstanding. The meals I have eaten there have been great.

dina4

ekscrunchy, i didn't actually gag until you explained the proscuito without the meat. i love italian food so much, but not sure i could handle the texture of that. still, would love to TRY it...
thanks.
dina

ekscrunchy

Dina: Forget the prosciutto comparison. Believe me, the lardo is scrumptious and does not even have an odd texture. Come to think of it, neither did the pajata in Rome! And I was leery of trying THAT!! You probably think that I would eat absolutely anything (!!), but honestly, not at all weird.