Summary of Italy

  1. Tours by regions
    1. Emilia Romagna
      1. Cities and landscapes 
        1. Bologna
        2. Modena
        3. Rimini
        4. Dozza
      2. Spas and thermal water springs
        1. Monterenzio
        2. Salvarola
        3. Monticelli
      3. Traditional dishes Emilia Romagna
        1. Tortellini, are small pasta filled with a paste made with ground meat, cheese and spices. The traditional tortellini, the ones made in are very small 
        2. Parma ham
        3. Aceto balsamico di modena. Aceto means vinegar in Italian. The aceto balsamico di Modena is handmade / artisanal by tradition. It is made from the boiled mosto (the base for wine before fermentation)The best places to buy the balsamic vinegar are the traditional delis that you will find in the centres of the cities of Emilia Romagna, modena in paticular and in the capital of the region   Bologna
        4. Crescentine e Tigelle. If you happen to be near Bologna and you have a couple of hours for lunch or dinner you may want to invest them to drive up to one of the famous hills of bologna and step into trattoria. Read more.
      4. Drinks
        1. Cocktails – Spritz
        2. Wine – Sangiovese di Romagna
        3. Pignoletto
      5. Shopping and Brands
        1. Shoes
        2. Clothing
        3. Famous brands from Emilia Romagna
      6. Restaurants
        1. Bologna
          1. Pane e panelle
          2. Trattoria da Gianni
          3. Al cappone
          4. Agriturismo a Oca
    2. Tuscany
      1. Cities and landscapes 
        1. Florence
        2. Siena
        3. San Giminiano 
        4. Bolgheri
      2. Spas and thermal water springs
        1. Terme di Firenze
        2. Grotta Giusti
        3. Terme di Saturnia
        4. San Casciano
      3. Traditional dishes Tuscany
        1. Antipasti Bistecca alla fiorentina (Steak Fiorentina style)
        2. Lampredotto
        3. Ribollita
        4. Finocchiona
        5. Salt free bread 
        6. Tuscan cured ham
      4. Wines
        1. Chianti
        2. Brunello di Montalcino
        3. Rosso toscano 
        4. Bolgheri
      5. Shopping and Brands
        1. Shoes
        2. Clothing
        3. Famous brands from Emilia Romagna
      6. Restaurants
        1. Firenze
          1. Il latini
          2. Enoteca ristorante pane e vino
          3. Trattoria Santo Spirito
    3. Lombardy
      1. Spas and thermal water springs
      2. Cities and landscapes
      3. Traditional dishes from Lombardy
      4. Drinks
        1. Wine – Sangue di Giuda
        2. Wine – Bonarda 
        3. Wine – Riesling
        4. Cocktails – negroni
        5. Cocktails – moito
      5. Shopping and Brands
        1. Dolce & Gabbana
        2. Armani
        3. Missoni
        4. Prada
      6. Restaurants
        1. Milano
          1. Non solo lesso
          2. .  
          3. Shambala
          4. Quintosole. Quitosole is a traditional italian restaurant located in the south limit of the city of Milan. It is located in a ex farm house and it has also a separate cantina (wine warehouse) with a selection of Italian wines to drink on the spot or to take away. The menu changes by season in order to adapt it to the right season of the ingredients that are locally grown. You can choose your dishes from the menu a la carte or you can choose the tasting manu which we thought was rich of flavor and generous portions. The tasting menu is in general a good choice to try a little bit of everything and the price is reasonable. Also the ambience is soft and feels natural and sort of old fashion.
          5. Premiata pizzeria. Premiata Pizzeria is a Pizzeria restaurant located at the heart of the navigli area of Milan, is at the beginning of the naviglio pavese. In this pizzeria you can eat the pizza that is similar to the one that you would it in Naples which is were the pizza was born. But if you don’t like pizza you can choose among many other traditional italian dishes. The quality of the food is good and the prices are fair. The plus of this pizzeria is that if you want to have a walk after dinner you are already at the heart of a pedestrian area rich of bars and some shops are open at night as well.
          6. Trattoria toscana
          7. Le scimmie
      7. Agriturismi
      8. Bars, cafes and clubs
        1. Milan is famous in Italy for it’s aspirational and socially engaging  culture. Since the 80’ Milan has been know as the “Milan to drink” in Italian “Milano da bere” which was the payoff of a famous advertising for a drink. From that moment on “Milan to drink” has meant to those who live in Milan that you are not living the city unless you go out at least once a week for an aperitivo in one of the many bars that offer a happy hour rich with free food and quality cocktails.   
          1. Old fashion cafe’ is good choice (I would say unmissible) if you want to experience the real Milan evening/night life. It is located at the border of the castle’s park (parco sempione), very near the cadorna tube stop. 
          2. Papas and beer is a mexican restaurant very near the centre of Milan. It’s in
  1. Food & Wine and other Italian Drinks
    1. Structure of the dinner in Italy
      1. Starters
      2. Main courses – primi
      3. Main courses – secondi
      4. At the restaurant: 
        1. What to order – how to order
        2. About service in Italy
        3. Booking??
        4. Menus??
      5. Breakfast
    2. Wines
      1. About Italian wines: history of a recent success
      2. Quick guide to wine tasting 
      3. Top ten italian wines
      4. Aperitivi 
      5. White wine
      6. Red wines
    3. After dinner drinks 
      1. After dinners
        1. Limoncello
        2. Mirto
        3. Montenegro
        4. Grappa
        5. Liquore di liquirizia
        6. Liquore al caffe
        7. Averna
  1. Pre dinner spirits
    1. Martini
    2. Aperol
  2. Cocktails
    1. Spritz
    2. Negroni
    3. Bellini
    4. Rossini
    5. Vodka martini
  1. Restaurants, Trattorie, Osterie and Agriturismi
    1. Intro
      1. Obiously is impossible to list here all the restaurants in Italy and that would defeat the purpose of this collection.
    2. Restaurants
    3. Trattorie
    4. Osterie
    5. Agriturismi
  2. Health & Wellness
    1. Italy’s spa and thermal water springs
      1. Tuscany
      2. Lombardy
      3. etc
  3. Culture
    1. Dining out
      1. Hours
      2. Different types of restaurants
      3. The aperitivo (Happy hours)
      4. Structure of lunch and dinner
      5. Tip
    2. Basic words
      1. Greetings
      2. Food must know terms
      3. Scams
    3. Gestures
      1. xxx
  4. Drinks

Mirto is an after dinner drink produced in Sardegna, it is made from blueberry. The taste is slightly sweet and aromatic. It is served in very small glasses of the size of a shot) but is not a shooter. The serving temperature is below zero so it must be served from the freezer.

Limoncello is a typical after pizza drink originally from Naples area. It is made from lemons, alcohol and sugar. It is generally drunk after dinner and it especially goes down really well after a pizza. It is served in very small glasses of the size of a shot) but is not a shooter. The serving temperature is below zero so it must be served from the freezer.

Grappa

Grappa is aromatic liquor distilled from the solide remains of grape, generally leftovers of the wine making process. It contains between 37.5 and 60 % of alcohol and it’s name it’s protected by the European Union as product of Italy. 

Amaro Montenegro

Amaro Montenegro is probably the most popular liquor in Italy. It was invented more then a hundred years ago by an aristocrat man from  Bologna, who took inspiration from a drink discovered in Montenegro during his travel.  

Liquore al caffe

The coffee liquor is great served after dinner but also at later. It is made by mixing coffee with alcohol and sugar. It can be prepared also at home as the recipe is really simple.

Al less

Al less is a small restaurant in walking distance from the centre of Milan. 

It takes is name from ‘lesso’ which means boiled meat. This restaurant is different from any other restaurant I have been to. At the centre of the dining room there is a table full plats each one with a different appetizers. Guests can help themself from this table to create their own antpasto (entree).

For the main courses you can choose between pasta, including ravioli and meat. My recommendation is to choose the lesso, which is a selection of 5 different cuts of meat served with little cups of sauces to go with the meat.     

ITALIAN WINE

Italy has a great variety of wines and the quality of it’s wines is now internationally recognized. Italian wines have become really popular in the last ten years due to improvments in the control of the quality of the wines and the certification of the origin of it’s most important wines like brunello di montalcino, barbaresco e barolo.

The main certification of the origin of the wines are DOC, DOCG and IGT. Doc means Denomination of the origing is controlled, DOCG means Denomination of the Origin Controlled and Garanteed and IGT means Typical Indication of Geography which equals the french Vin de payes. 

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Emilia Romagna

Emilia Romagna is famous for 2 red wines: Sangiovese di Romagna e Lambrusco dell’Emilia. And two whites Pignoletto e Trebbiano

More wines >>

Tuscany

One of the most internationally recocgnized wines from Italy is the chianti. The chianti is a mix of sangiovese grape (min 80%) and other red grapes. Less famous but even more important is the Brunello di Montalcino

More on Tuscany >>

Lombardia

Lombardia is famous more for the dome of Milan and for fashion then for the wines, but you will be surprised to discover some earthy red wine like Bonarda, some sparkling white wine like Cuvée Imperiale Brut and finally the sweet red Sangue di Giuda.

Wine tasting

TOP: At the base of a wine tasting come into play four of the five senses

A TYPICAL ARTICLE

Critical content

  • Where to buy
  • Set expectations right
  • How to avoid surprises
  • How to make it at home
  • Origin – history
  • How to serve
  • how to get there

Italian menu structure

Antipasti

The antipasti “entree” in British English or Starters are a key component of every italian lunch and dinner at the restaurant. Some typical starters are Bruschette, Mixed cured meats platter, prawn coctail of mixed marinated seafood.

Primi

The Primo, plurale primi, is a main course generally made with some kind of pasta: spaghetti, ravioli, tortellini served with a variety of sauces made with meat, fish or vegeterian like tomato. You can also find a good selection of soups. 

Secondi

The second main course in Italy is generally meat or fish and it is the most  important course of the lunch because and generally the tastiest. It doesn’t necessarily mean that is very rich. Italians generally take either a primo or  a secondo at the restaurant.