Specialties

Almost every city and region has its own specialities, a brief list of which may include:

• Risotto – Aroborio rice that has been sautaed and cooked in a shallow pan with stock. The result is a very creamy and hearty dish. Meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, and cheeses are almost always added depending on the recipe and the locale. Many restaurants, families, towns, and regions will have a signature risotto or at least style of ristotto, in addition or in place of a signature pasta dish (risotto alla Milanese is famous Italian classic). It’s a typical dish in Lombardy and Piedmont.
• Arancini – Balls of rice with tomato sauce, eggs, and cheese that are deep fried. They are a southern Italian specialty, though are now quite common all over.
• Polenta – Yellow corn meal (yellow grits) that has been cooked with stock. It is normally served either creamy, or allowed to set up and then cut into shapes and fried or roasted. It is a very common dish in northern mountains restaurants, usually eaten with deer of boar meat.
• Gelato This is the Italian version of ice cream. The non-fruit flavors are usually made only with milk. Gelato made with water and without dairy ingredients is also known as sorbetto. It’s fresh as a sorbet, but tastier. There are many flavors, including coffee, chocolate, fruit, and tiramisù.
• Tiramisu Italian cake made with coffee, mascarpone, and ladyfingers (sometimes rum) with cocoa powder on the top. The name means “pick-me-up.”

Cheese and sausages In Italy you can find nearly 200 kinds of cheese, including the famous Parmigiano Reggiano, and 300 types of sausages.
If you want a real kick, then try to find one of the huge open markets, usually on Saturdays, to see all the types of cheeses and meats in action.

Restaurants

Italian restaurants and bars charge more (typically double) if you eat seated at a table rather than standing at the bar or taking your order to go. There is usually small, very small print on the menus to tell you this. Some menus may also indicate a coperto (cover charge) or servizio (service charge). Traditional meal includes (in order) antipasto (starter), primo (first dish – pasta or rice dishes), secondo (second dish – meat or fish dishes), served together with contorno (mostly vegetables), cheeses/fruit, dessert, coffee, spirits. Italians usually have all of them served and restaurants expect customers to follow this scheme; elegant or ancient restaurants usually refuse to make changes to proposed dishes (exceptions warmly granted for babies or unhealthy people) or to serve them in a different order, and they absolutely don’t serve cappuccino between primo and secondo. Sequence of dishes: When eating with a friend or a partner, agree whether you want primo (pasta or rice dishes) or secondo (meat dishes – if you want vegetables too look under contorni and order them as sides). When pizza is ordered, it is served as a primo (even if formally it is not considered as such), together with other primi. If you order a pasta/pizza and your friend has a steak you will get your pasta dish, and probably when you’ve finished eating the steak will arrive. It’s slightly frowned upon to ask them to bring primo and secondo dishes at the same time (or “funny” changes like having a secondo before a primo). They may well say yes…and then not do it. Bad luck if you’re doing the Atkins diet… Restaurants which propose diet food, very few, usually write it clearly in menus and even outside; others usually don’t have any dietetic resources, as Italians on a diet don’t go to the restaurant. Smoking: Italian restaurants are completely non-smoking or have a non-smoking area which is well separated from the smoking area; even if Italians have a friendly approach to laws and rules, this particular law is respected almost everywhere, though. Better anyway to precisely ask for an effective smoking or non-smoking area. When not available, it’s normal to step out the restaurant door to smoke, you will find many people doing so and this is often a good moment to meet new people too.
When pets are allowed (not a frequent case), never order ordinary dishes for them; in particular, never ever order meat for your pet, this would seriously upset waiters and other customers. In case of need, you might ask if the chef can kindly propose something (he usually can). Better to leave tips in cash (not on your credit card, however unlike in the United States, tips are generally a much smaller percent and less common, unless eating with a group. Pizza is a quick and convenient meal. In many large cities there are pizza shops that sell by the gram. When ordering, simply tell the attendant the type of pizza you would like (e.g. pizza margherita, pizza con patate (french fries), pizza al prosciutto (ham), etc.) and how much (“Vorrei due fette – two slices – per favore”). They will slice it, warm it in the oven, fold it in half, and wrap it in paper. Other shops also sell by the slice, similar to American pizza shops. Italians found this a sort of second class pizza, chosen only when you cannot eat a “real” pizza in a specialized restaurant (Pizzeria). Getting your meal on the run can save money–many sandwich shops charge an additional fee if you want to sit to eat your meal. Remember that italian pizzas have a thinner base of bread and less cheese than the foreign sold ones.

Drinks

Bars, like restaurants, are non-smoking. Italians enjoy going out during the evenings, so it’s normal to have a drink in a bar as pre-dinner. It is called Aperitivo. Within the last couple years, started by Milan, a lot of bars have started offering fixed-price cocktails at aperitivo hours (18 – 21) with free, and often a very good buffet meal. It’s now widely considered stylish to have this kind of aperitivo (called Happy Hour) instead of a structured meal before going out to dance or whatever. While safe to drink, the tap water in some paeninsular parts of Italy can be cloudy with a slight off taste. Most Italians prefer bottled water, which is served almost exclusively in restaurants. Make sure you let the waiter/waitress know you want regular water or else you could get frizzante (or fizzy club soda water) water. The exception to this is Rome where they have exceptional pride in their quality of water. This goes right back to the building of aqueducts channeling pure mountain water to all the citizens of Rome during Roman times. You can refill your drinking containers and bottles at any of the constant running taps and fountains dotted around the city, safe in the knowledge that you are getting excellent quality cool spring water – try it!

Wine

Italian wine is the most exported all over the world, and names like Barolo, Brunello and Chianti are known everywhere. In Italy the wine is a substantial topic, a sort of test which can ensure you respect or lack of attention from an entire restaurant staff. Doing your homework ensures that you will get better service, better wine and in the end may even pay less. Before reaching Italy, have a quick overview on most important regional types (of the region you are planning to go to). For example Barolo or in general nebbiolo in Piedmont, and Chianti or in general sangiovese in Tuscany. Italian cuisine varies greatly from region to region (sometimes also from town to town), and wine reflects this variety. So, for example, avoid asking for a bottle of Chianti if you’re not in central Tuscany. Italians have long traditions in matching wines with dishes and often every dish has an appropriate wine. The popular “color rule” (red wines with meat dishes, white wines with fish) can be happily broken when proposed by a sommelier or when you really know what you are doing: Italy has many strong white wines to serve with meat (a Sicilian or Tuscan chardonnay), as well as delicate red wines for fish (perhaps an Alto Adige pinot noir).
The vino della casa (house wine) can be an excellent drinking opportunity in small villages far from towns (especially in Tuscany), where it could be what the patron would really personally drink or even produce. It tends to be a safe choice in decent restaurants in cities as well. As a general rule, if the restaurant seems honest and not too geared for tourists, the house wine is usually not too bad.
Italians are justly proud of their wines and foreign wines are rarely served, but many foreign grapes like cabernet sauvignon are finding use.

Beer

Although wine is a traditional everyday product, beer is drunk as well, particularly when going out for a pizza with friends. Beer does not belong to the Italian tradition as wine does: even if pubs serving beer are very common they tend to have both little choice and quality. If you are looking for good beers you won’t find any problem, you just have to look around a little bit more. First of all, Italian beer market is dominated by international brands and their local belongings, which is fairly comfortable if you are a casual drinker, like most Italians are. Major Italian beers include Peroni, Moretti and Raffo. Instead, if you are serious about beer drinking, you’ll probably be better to find one of the many micro-breweries around the country. They often are run by local beer enthusiasts turned brewers, running small breweries with a pub attached. Their association is called Unionbirrai.