Cuisine

Italian

A set of fiercely regional cuisines united by pasta, bread, olive oil, cheese, cured meats and the idea of letting a few excellent seasonal ingredients speak for themselves.

Flavour character: Ingredient-led and restrained: olive oil or butter, garlic, herbs, umami from aged cheeses, cured pork and anchovy, bright acidity from tomato, lemon and wine.

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Mouth-watering spaghetti carbonara with creamy sauce and crispy bacon bits served in a bowl.

Regional cuisines

Emilia-RomagnaItaly's richest food region: fresh egg pasta, Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, traditional balsamic vinegar and the slow meat ragù of Bologna.
Roman and LazioRome's thrifty, bold cooking: the four classic pastas built on pecorino romano and guanciale, offal ('fifth quarter') dishes, artichokes and Roman-Jewish fried foods.
Neapolitan and CampanianThe cooking of Naples and Campania: pizza, buffalo mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes, dried pasta from Gragnano, seafood and Baroque pastries.
SicilianThe island's layered cooking, marked by Greek, Arab, Norman and Spanish rule: sweet-sour agrodolce, citrus, almonds, pistachios, eggplant, seafood and lavish pastries.

History

Italy was a patchwork of states until unification in 1861, so its cooking stayed regional; Pellegrino Artusi's 1891 cookbook was one of the first to collect recipes from across the new nation. Arab rule in Sicily is commonly credited with introducing or popularising sugar cane, citrus, rice and dried pasta in the south. Tomatoes reached Italy from the Americas in the 16th century, and Antonio Latini printed a Spanish-style tomato sauce in Naples in the 1690s, but tomato sauces became widespread only in the 19th century. Emigration from 1880 to 1920 spread Italian (largely southern) cooking to the Americas.

Well documented

Geography and influences

A mountainous peninsula with the Alps and the Po plain in the north, the Apennine spine down the middle and long coasts and islands in the south.

Ancient Roman and Etruscan cooking
Arab Sicily
Renaissance courts
Spanish and Austrian rule in parts of Italy
Columbian exchange crops (tomato, maize, potato, chilli)

Regional variations

North (Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto): Butter, rice, polenta, stuffed pasta, braised meats and alpine cheeses.
Centre (Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio): Olive oil, bread soups, beans, grilled meats, pecorino and Roman pastas.
South (Campania, Puglia, Calabria): Dried pasta, tomatoes, chilli, vegetables, mozzarella and seafood.
Islands (Sicily, Sardinia): Arab-influenced sweet-sour dishes and citrus in Sicily; pecorino, bread and roast suckling pig in Sardinia.

Festive and seasonal food

Panettone and pandoro at Christmas
The Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve (southern Italian and Italian-American)
Colomba and pastiera at Easter
Lentils with cotechino or zampone at New Year
Chiacchiere at Carnival

Signature dishes

Not on the site yet: Bistecca alla fiorentina, Tortellini in brodo, Polenta, Saltimbocca alla romana, Cannoli

Spices

Sauces, chutneys and condiments

Key ingredients

Staples, breads and grains

Pasta (fresh egg pasta in the north, dried durum pasta in the south) · Bread · Olive oil · Tomatoes · Cheeses (Parmigiano, pecorino, mozzarella) · Cured pork · Rice and polenta in the north · Pulses · Dried and fresh pasta · Risotto rice · Polenta · Focaccia · Ciabatta and pane toscano · Pizza · Farro

Techniques

Worth double-checking

Arab Sicily's role in introducing dried pasta is commonly cited (al-Idrisi describes pasta-making near Palermo in 1154) but the full story is debated.