This July, my husband and I spent our honeymoon touring north/central Italy for two whole magical weeks. I could go on and on highlighting the amazing sights, but right now I'm going to focus solely on the food. After all, Italy is synonymous with creating some of the best dishes in the world, and the Italian cuisine most definitely did not disappoint! I would like to highlight some of my favorites.
Venice
The city on water is known for cicchetti, or small plates, served at bars all over Venice. Made from local ingredients, such as meats, cheeses, fish, and tomatoes, these plates are meant to be shared as a mid-day snack or as an appetizer. We bought enough to have a light lunch. The best part is that they are cheap, costing about one to three euro per person.
 |
Cicchetti from All' Arco
|
Cortina
Cortina is a small, mountain ski town located in Northeast Italy in the heart of the Dolomite Mountain range. Although wintertime is the town's busy season, Cortina is a lovely get-away in the hot summer months as well; a place where we could get in some breathtaking hikes and soak in the cool mountain air. Although Cortina does serve the traditional Italian staples, such as pizza and pasta, there is also a heavy Austrian/German influence here, so we also wanted to get a taste of this cuisine. We greatly enjoyed our meal at the sports bar, Hacker Schorr, where we dined on German sausages, fries, sauerkraut and local Dolomiti beer.
Bologna
 |
| Balsamic vinegar tasting in Modena |
Bologna is famous for housing one of the oldest universities in the world, and is also known as the "gastronomic capital" of Italy. Naturally, this is where we chose to go on our food tour, hosted by then Italian Days company. This was a day-long tour in which a tour van would drop us off at multiple food production venues in the Italian countryside. We toured a parmigiano reggiano factory, a balsamic vinegar factory in Modena, and a prosciutto factory, sampling foods and drinking wine along the way. The tour ended in a countryside restaurant called Agrilurismo Mastrosasso, where we had a five-course meal and unlimited wine produced from grapes harvested on-site. We left this tour in a major food coma.
 |
| Jazz in the parmigiana reggiano factory |
Florence
 |
| The favorite meal! |
The Renaissance city is known for its mellow cheeses, beans, and especially for their grilled meats. Perhaps my favorite dish in all of Italy was served in Florence at a restaurant called Braciere Maletesta; a traditional beef, pear, and peppercorn stew. The spicy bite of the peppercorn and the sweetness of the pear created an amazing texture and flavor combination, which perfectly complimented the beef.
Cinque Terre
Located on the west coast of Italy, Cinque Terre is where we went heavy on the seafood. We loved all the fresh seafood pasta.
 |
| Fresh catch of the day |
 |
| Squid ink pasta |
 |
| Seafood pasta from Gambero Rosso restaurant in Vernazza, Cinque Terre |
...and a trip to Italy is not complete without its famous gelato (which I may or may not had every single day of our trip!). My favorite gelato was in Vernazza, Cinque Terre, and was actually owned by our Airbnb host, Sonia. Gelateria Artigianale sources most ingredients locally, and I was especially fond of the honey-flavored gelato.
 |
| This picture was actually taken in Varenna, on Lake Como. The sunset was too pretty not to post! |
Cortina is a small, mountain ski town located in Northeast Italy in the heart of the Dolomite Mountain range. Although wintertime is the town's busy season, Cortina is a lovely get-away in the hot summer months as well; a place where we could get in some breathtaking hikes and soak in the cool mountain air. Although Cortina does serve the traditional Italian staples, such as pizza and pasta, there is also a heavy Austrian/German influence here, so we also wanted to get a taste of this cuisine. We greatly enjoyed our meal at the sports bar, Hacker Schorr, where we dined on German sausages, fries, sauerkraut and local Dolomiti beer.
Comments
Post a Comment