Foods
Italian foods, explained properly
What each one actually is, what it tastes like, how to say it, how it compares to the thing you already know, and what to use when you cannot find it.
Cheese
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IGPBurrataIt began as a way of using offcuts: leftover shreds of pasta filata, drowned in cream and sealed inside…
MozzarellaThe name is a verb before it is a cheese: mozzare means to lop off, which is what the cheesemaker does…
DOPAsiagoOne name covers two cheeses nobody would mistake for each other at the counter.
DOPGorgonzolaThe green veining is the product, not a flaw anyone tolerates: it grows from a mould added to the milk…
DOPGrana PadanoNine months is the floor the specification sets before a wheel may carry the name.
DOPParmigiano ReggianoThree ingredients and no additives of any kind are permitted: raw cow's milk, salt and calf rennet, from…
DOPPecorino RomanoPecorino Romano DOP is a hard, dry-salted sheep's milk cheese aged at least five months, made in…
RicottaRicotta is not a cheese. It is a dairy product made from whey, the liquid left over after cheese has…
DOPProvoloneProvolone is a stretched-curd cow's milk cheese from northern Italy, rope-tied and hung to age in shapes…
ScamorzaScamorza is cow's-milk pasta filata that has been tied off into a pear shape and hung to dry for one to…
Casu MarzuCasu marzu is a Sardinian sheep's cheese whose ripening is carried on by the larvae of the cheese fly.
DOPTaleggioTaleggio DOP is a square, washed-rind cow's milk cheese from the Bergamo Alps, aged at least 35 days.
Ricotta SalataRicotta salata is sheep's milk ricotta that has been salted, pressed and aged for at least three months…
DOPCaciocavalloCaciocavallo is a stretched-curd cow's milk cheese from southern Italy, aged in a distinctive gourd…
DOPFontinaFontina is the DOP mountain cheese of Italy's Aosta Valley: raw whole milk from a single milking, wheels…
DOPBuffalo MozzarellaMozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is made from the whole raw milk of Italian Mediterranean water buffalo…
DOPPecorino SardoPecorino Sardo DOP is Sardinia's table cheese: whole sheep's milk, calf rennet, two official types.
DOPPecorino ToscanoPecorino Toscano DOP is the mild one. Whole sheep's milk, calf rennet, a brief salting: soft-paste…
RobiolaRobiola is a family of soft young cheeses from north-west Italy rather than a single cheese.
DOPFiore SardoFiore Sardo DOP is the shepherd's pecorino of Sardinia: raw sheep's milk, lamb rennet paste, an uncooked…
DOPMontasioMontasio DOP is Friuli's cheese: cow's milk, semi-cooked curd, wheels of 6 to 8 kilos and an ageing…
DOPSquacquerone di RomagnaSquacquerone di Romagna DOP is a fresh cow's milk cheese so soft it cannot hold a shape: it takes the…
DOPBittoBitto DOP can only be made between 1 June and 30 September, on high summer pasture, in a dismantlable…Caciocavallo PodolicoCaciocavallo Podolico is made from the milk of semi-wild Podolica cattle, a rustic grey breed that…
DOPCanestrato PuglieseCanestrato Pugliese DOP is a hard sheep's milk cheese from the Tavoliere plain of northern Puglia…
DOPQuartirolo LombardoQuartirolo Lombardo is named after quartirola, the fourth grass cut of the year in September: it was…DOPRagusanoRagusano is a ten-to-sixteen-kilo rectangular block of raw-milk pasta filata cheese from the Iblei…DOPToma PiemonteseIn Piedmont, toma is not a cheese: it is a category. Dozens of different valley cheeses go by that name…DOPCastelmagnoCastelmagno DOP is a crumbly, sharp alpine cheese made in just three villages of the Valle Grana in…
Provola dei NebrodiProvola dei Nebrodi is a raw cow's milk pasta filata cheese from the mountains of north-eastern Sicily…
DOPPuzzone di MoenaPuzzone di Moena means 'the big stinker of Moena', and the name is earned honestly: the rind is washed…
DOPValtellina CaseraValtellina Casera is made from partially skimmed milk for a specific reason: the cream went to butter…DOPSalva CremascoSalva Cremasco is a square, washed-rind Lombard cheese whose name means 'it saves': it was invented to…DOPCasciotta d'UrbinoCasciotta d'Urbino is a two-milk cheese: 70 to 80 per cent sheep's milk, the rest cow's, a ratio written…
DOPFormai de MutFormai de Mut means mountain cheese in the Bergamo dialect, and it is the alpine cheese almost nobody…
DOPPecorino CrotonesePecorino Crotonese DOP comes from the flocks that summer on the Sila plateau and winter in the clay…
DOPStrachituntStrachitunt means 'round stracchino' in the Bergamo dialect, and behind that modest name sits the…MarzolinoMarzolino is the fresh Tuscan sheep's cheese made from the first spring milk: marzo is March, and that…
DOPOssolanoOssolano DOP comes from the Ossola valleys, the most alpine corner of Piedmont, wedged between…
DOPRascheraRaschera is one of very few Italian cheeses made in two shapes, square and round: the square one exists…
Girgentana Goat CheeseThe Girgentana is the corkscrew-horned goat of Agrigento, in south-western Sicily: white, spiral-horned…
DOPPiacentinu EnnesePiacentinu Ennese is the only Italian cheese whose specification requires saffron: the paste is egg-yolk…
DOPVastedda del BeliceVastedda della Valle del Belìce is the only stretched-curd sheep's milk cheese in the world.Cured meats
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IGPMortadellaThe white cubes are not just any fat: they are jowl, the firmest part of the pig, and they stay whole…DOPPancettaPancetta is Italian cured pork belly: salt, pepper and warm spices, dried for months, never smoked.
PATGuancialeGuanciale is cured pork jowl: unsmoked, rubbed with salt and pepper, aged for one to three months.
DOPSoppressataSoppressata is a coarse-ground dry salami from southern Italy, pressed flat between boards while it…
PAT'Nduja'Nduja is a soft, spreadable Calabrian pork salume that is up to 40% chilli.
IGPSpeck Alto Adige IGPA little salt, a little smoke, plenty of air: the South Tyrolean saying describes a method rather than a…
DOPProsciutto di ParmaProsciutto di Parma DOP is Italian ham made from three things only: pork, sea salt and at least 400 days.
IGPPorchettaSix to eight hours in a wood oven to reach two opposite textures in one piece of meat: skin that…
IGPBresaolaOne lean muscle from the hind leg, dry-cured with salt, pepper, juniper and cinnamon, then left in the…
CapocolloCapocollo is the pork neck muscle, salted whole and aged in casing.
SalsicciaCoarsely ground pork, salt, pepper, wine and usually garlic, packed into natural hog casing and sold raw.
DOPProsciutto di San DanieleProsciutto di San Daniele DOP is made in one town in Friuli from two ingredients: pork leg and sea salt.
IGPFinocchionaFinocchiona is Tuscany's fennel salami: coarsely ground pork seasoned with wild fennel seeds and…
IGPChianina BeefChianina is the largest cattle breed in the world: porcelain-white, bulls over 1,700 kg, from the Chiana…
IGPLardo di ColonnataLardo di Colonnata IGP is cured pork back fat, aged at least six months inside vats carved from Carrara…Salame MilanoSalame Milano is the salami most of the world pictures when it hears the word: large diameter, mild…Salame NapoliSalame Napoli is long, narrow and smoked: five centimetres across, half a metre long, chilli in the mix…
IGPCotechinoCotechino is a large fresh pork sausage from Emilia-Romagna, made with pork meat, fat and rind, and…
DOPProsciutto ToscanoProsciutto Toscano DOP is the savoury one. It is salted harder than Parma ham and rubbed with pepper…
IGPZamponeZampone Modena IGP is spiced pork and rind forcemeat stuffed into a boned pig's trotter: same filling as…
DOPCulatello di ZibelloCulatello di Zibello is the heart muscle of a pork leg, boned out, sewn into a pig's bladder, tied by…
LonzinoLonzino is whole pork loin, dry-salted and air-cured for two to four months: the leanest cut on the…Sardinian Suckling PigSardinian suckling pig (porceddu, or porcheddu depending on the village) is a four to six kilo milk-fed…
IGPSalame FelinoSalame Felino IGP comes from a village of four thousand people in the hills above Parma.
DOPCinta Senese PorkCinta Senese is the black pig with a white belt across its shoulders, raised semi-wild in the oak woods…
DOPCoppa PiacentinaCoppa Piacentina is dry-cured pork neck from the province of Piacenza, seasoned with cloves, cinnamon…
IGPProsciutto di Norcia IGPProsciutto di Norcia IGP is Italy's mountain dry-cured ham, aged for at least twelve months between 400…
DOPPancetta PiacentinaPancetta Piacentina is pork belly dry-cured with cloves and nutmeg, rolled tightly on itself, cased and…
IGPSardinian LambAgnello di Sardegna IGP is milk-fed lamb from the Sarda dairy sheep, slaughtered young and sold in three…
IGPCiauscoloCiauscolo is the Italian salami you spread with a knife. From Le Marche, IGP since 2009, ground three…Podolica BeefPodolica is the grey, lyre-horned cattle breed that lives outdoors year-round in the southern Italian…Salsiccia di FegatoSalsiccia di fegato is Italian pork liver sausage: coarsely chopped liver, pork fat, salt and spices in…DOPSoppressa VicentinaSoppressa Vicentina is a large, coarse-grained Veneto salami made from heavy pigs born and raised in the…Salame d'Oca di MortaraGoose salami from Mortara began in the Jewish communities of the Lombard rice plains as a cured sausage…
DOPSalame di VarziSalame di Varzi is a DOP salami from the Staffora valley in Lombardy's Oltrepò Pavese.PATTesta in CassettaTesta in cassetta is pig's head simmered until tender, boned while hot, seasoned with spices and pressed…Piedmontese Fattened OxBue grasso is a castrated Piedmontese ox, fattened slowly for three or four years to well over a…
PATMocettaMocetta is an Alpine cured meat from Valle d'Aosta: a lean leg muscle dry-salted with juniper, sage and…
Spalla CrudaSpalla cruda is the pig's shoulder cured the way culatello is cured, in the foggy lowlands north of…
Mortadella di CampotostoMortadella di Campotosto is a small, air-dried, lightly smoked salume from the Laga mountains of…Presidio Slow FoodViolino di CapraViolino di capra is a goat leg cured like a ham in the natural rock cellars of Valchiavenna, in the…
Presidio Slow FoodPitinaPitina is a smoked, cured meatball from the Friulian Dolomites: minced game or mutton bound with pork…
Salsiccia di BraSalsiccia di Bra is the only Italian sausage made from veal instead of pork.Pasta and bread
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BucatiniBucatini are thick spaghetti with a hole running through the middle.GnocchiGnocchi are small boiled dumplings, in their modern form made of potato bound with a little flour.FocacciaTwo centimetres tall, dimpled with the fingertips, flooded with a brine of water, salt and olive oil…
TortelliniTortellini are tiny ring-shaped egg pasta parcels filled with pork, prosciutto, mortadella and…
PATAranciniArancini are deep-fried Sicilian rice balls: saffron rice moulded around a filling of meat ragù and…
SpaghettiA solid round strand of durum semolina and water, 1.7 to 2.0mm across. It looks like the most neutral…
OrecchietteOrecchiette are Puglia's handmade pasta: semolina and water, no egg, dragged with a knife and flipped…
PATAgnolottiAgnolotti are Piedmont's stuffed pasta: thin egg dough around a filling of roasted meat, not ricotta.
FusilliTwo different pastas share this name. The industrial spiral is solid and holds sauce on its outside…
PaccheriPaccheri are large smooth tubes of durum wheat pasta from Campania: 4-5 cm long, 3-4 cm across, with a…
RigatoniWide ridged tubes of durum semolina, cut straight across. The ridges and the square cut are engineering…
StrozzapretiStrozzapreti are hand-rolled Romagnolo pasta: strips of semolina-and-water dough twisted between the…
MaccheroniThe most misunderstood name in Italian pasta. In Naples it means dried semolina pasta in general, in…
STGNeapolitan PizzaNeapolitan pizza has been an EU-registered Traditional Speciality Guaranteed since 2010: four…
PappardelleRibbons of egg pasta two to three centimetres wide, the widest pasta you still eat twirled on a fork.
IGPPiadina RomagnolaNo yeast and no waiting: flour, water, salt and lard, rolled thin and cooked dry on a hot plate for two…
GrissiniGrissini are Turin's breadsticks: bread reduced to almost pure crust, dried in the oven until it snaps.
Pinsa RomanaIt is not pizza, and the difference starts with the flour: wheat, rice and soy blended together…
TaralliTaralli are small, crunchy savoury rings from Puglia in southern Italy, made from just flour, dry white…
PanzerottiThe oven never comes into it. A hand-sized half-moon of pizza dough, tomato and mozzarella sealed…
Pizza al TaglioPizza al taglio is Roman pizza by the slab: a very wet dough baked in an oiled rectangular pan, sold by…
TortelloniSeven-centimetre squares of egg pasta filled with ricotta and parsley, folded into a little hat.
CappellettiCappelletti are Emilia-Romagna's filled egg pasta, folded into the shape of a little hat and served in…
TrofieTrofie are the pasta that pesto was made for: short, tapered twists of flour and water, rolled one by…
SchiacciataThe name is the gesture: schiacciare means to squash, which is what the baker's fingertips do to the…
FarinataFarinata is a paper-thin chickpea flour pancake baked in a copper pan in a blistering wood oven.
MalloreddusThe ridges are not decoration: they hold sauce on a shape that would otherwise be smooth and slippery.
SupplìSupplì are Rome's fried rice croquettes: rice cooked in tomato sauce, moulded around a plug of…
PiciPici are fat, hand-rolled spaghetti from southern Tuscany, made from nothing but flour and water.
IGPCulurgionesCulurgiones are Sardinian filled pasta: potato, pecorino and mint sealed inside a semolina wrapper by…
Pane carasauBaked twice because it had to survive months in a shepherd's saddlebag: a paper-thin disc of durum…
DOPPane di AltamuraPane di Altamura is a durum-wheat sourdough from the Murgia plateau in Puglia, and in 2003 it became the…
IGPPizzoccheriBuckwheat rather than wheat, which is where the dark colour and the nutty taste come from.
SfincioneSfincione is Palermo's thick, spongy street focaccia: slow-cooked onion and tomato sauce, anchovies…
TajarinTajarin are the Piedmontese answer to tagliolini: hand-cut egg noodles barely a millimetre and a half…
Panelle (Sicilian Chickpea Fritters)Panelle are Sicilian chickpea fritters: a chickpea-flour batter cooked like polenta, spread paper-thin…
CanederliIn the mountains nobody ever threw bread away, and canederli are the proof: stale white bread soaked in…
Gnocco FrittoEat it within a minute of the pan, because once it deflates it is over: a diamond of leavened dough…
IGPPane di MateraPane di Matera is a durum-wheat sourdough from Basilicata, IGP since 2008, leavened with a mother…Polenta TaragnaPolenta taragna is the dark alpine polenta of Lombardy: cornmeal cut with buckwheat flour, stirred for…
CasoncelliCasoncelli are Bergamo's stuffed pasta: beef and salami filling laced with crushed amaretti and raisins…
TigelleTigelle are small round breads from the Modena Apennines, cooked between two hot plates and served warm…
Torta di Ceci (Cecina)Chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt, baked in a wide copper pan in a fierce wood oven.Michetta (Rosetta Roll)The michetta is Milan's hollow bread roll: five petals around a small central dome, and nothing at all…Puccia SalentinaPuccia is the round wood-fired bread of Salento, in the heel of Italy: a flat, soft loaf about the size…
IGPPane di Genzano (Genzano Bread)Pane di Genzano is a sourdough loaf from the Alban Hills south of Rome, baked in a wood oven on a bed of…
Pizza di Scarola (Neapolitan Escarole Pie)Pizza di scarola is Naples's Christmas Eve pie: bread dough wrapped around escarole stewed with Gaeta…
IGPCoppia FerrareseCoppia ferrarese is a twisted, four-horned bread from Ferrara made with lard in the dough.Crescia Sfogliata (Urbino Layered Flatbread)Crescia sfogliata is the layered griddle flatbread of Urbino, in the Marche hills.Sweets
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TiramisuNothing here goes near an oven. Savoiardi dipped in cold espresso, raw egg yolk whipped with mascarpone…
PATCannoliIt has to be filled when you order it, and anywhere that fills them in advance has already lost: the…
PanettonePanettone is Milan's Christmas bread: a tall, domed sourdough cake with butter, egg yolk, sultanas and…
GelatoGelato is not ice cream translated. It carries less fat (4-8% against 10-18%), holds far less air…
ZeppoleZeppole are Naples' feast-day pastry for Saint Joseph on 19 March: a piped choux ring, fried or baked…
PizzellePizzelle are thin anise-scented Italian waffle cookies pressed between two engraved iron plates.
AmarettiAmaretti are flourless almond cookies whose bitter edge comes from apricot kernels, not almonds.
GranitaSicilian granita is churned, not crushed. Water, sugar and one flavouring (lemon, mulberry, almond…
SfogliatellaThe sfogliatella is Naples' hardest pastry to make and its easiest to recognise: a shatteringly crisp…TorroneHoney and sugar go over a water bath and stay there for hours, sometimes twelve, while someone keeps…
IGPCantucciCantucci are hard, twice-baked Tuscan almond biscuits. A log of dough is baked, sliced on the diagonal…
PandoroPandoro is Verona's Christmas cake: a tall eight-pointed star, at least 20% butter, no candied fruit at…
BabàBabà is a yeasted, egg-and-butter-rich cake baked in a mushroom shape, dried out, then soaked in warm…
BonetBonet is the baked custard of Piedmont's Langhe hills: eggs, milk, bitter cocoa, crushed amaretti and…
IGPPanfortePanforte is a dense, chewy Sienese disc of candied fruit, almonds, honey and spices, only 2-3 cm thick…
StruffoliStruffoli are tiny balls of fried dough tumbled in warm honey, heaped into a ring and scattered with…CrostataA crumbly pasta frolla shell, thick preserve inside, a lattice of strips over the top.
PATMaritozzoIn Rome this is breakfast at seven in the morning and nobody finds it odd: a soft, lightly sweet bun…
Cassata SicilianaCassata siciliana is a layered Palermo cake: sponge soaked in liqueur, sweetened sheep's-milk ricotta…Colomba (Italian Easter Cake)Colomba is Italy's Easter cake: the same slow-leavened, butter-rich dough as panettone, baked in the…
IGPRicciarelliRicciarelli are Siena's almond biscuits: sweet almond paste, sugar and egg white, shaped into soft…
SeadasSeadas are large fried pastries filled with fresh, tangy sheep's cheese and covered in warm honey.PATMostaccioliDiamond-shaped spiced biscuits under a shell of dark chocolate, soft inside and heavy with cinnamon…
PATPanpepatoHoney, whole nuts, candied peel, cocoa and black pepper pressed into a dense disc and cut into thin…
SbrisolonaSbrisolona is the crumbly almond and cornmeal cake of Mantua, and the only Italian cake you are supposed…
PATCartellatePaper-thin ribbons of dough, pinched into pockets and wound into roses, deep-fried and steeped in…
Confetti di SulmonaA whole Pizzuta d'Avola almond coated in nothing but sugar and water: no starch, no flour, no gelatine.
PastieraPastiera is the Easter tart of Naples: a shortcrust case filled with sheep's-milk ricotta, wheat berries…
CassatellaA cassatella is a fried Sicilian turnover: thin wine-based pastry folded around sweetened sheep's-milk…PATPandolce GenoveseGenoa's Christmas cake: sultanas, pine nuts, candied citron and fennel seeds.PATParrozzoA dome of ground almonds and semolina under a shell of dark chocolate, invented in Pescara in 1920 by…
IGPTorrone di BagnaraThe only Italian nougat with a European denomination: IGP since 2014.
PATGubanaA long strip of enriched leavened dough rolled around walnuts, raisins, pine nuts and grappa, then…
Cotognata (Quince Paste)Cotognata is quince pulp cooked with sugar and then air-dried for days in moulds until it sets into a…PATTorcolo di San CostanzoPerugia's own ring cake: a lightly sweetened yeasted dough with candied citron, raisins, pine nuts and…Oil and preserves
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GiardinieraGiardiniera means two very different jars. In Italy it is a mild mix of vegetables pickled in wine…
DOPBalsamic VinegarTwo different products share the name. Traditional Balsamic Vinegar DOP is cooked grape must aged at…
LimoncelloLimoncello is made from lemon peel steeped in alcohol, never from the juice.
SaffronOne kilo takes between 150,000 and 200,000 flowers, and every flower gives up three stigmas that have to…
Pesto GenoveseHeat never touches this sauce, and by the rule neither does a blender: basil pounded in a marble mortar…
MostardaMostarda is candied fruit suspended in sugar syrup and spiked with mustard essence.
Extra Virgin Olive OilTwo exams have to be passed, and one of them is carried out by people.
Mostarda di CremonaWhole candied fruit suspended in clear syrup and charged with mustard essence.Castelbuono MannaManna is the sap of the manna ash, drawn out through cuts made in the trunk in high summer and left to…Strawberry Tree HoneyStrawberry tree honey is bitter, and the bitterness is the product rather than a fault: it is one of the…Fish and seafood
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PATBottargaFifteen grams a head is enough, and that is not meanness: bottarga is the salted, pressed, air-dried roe…
BaccalàBaccalà is North Atlantic cod preserved in salt. It is not the same thing as stoccafisso, which is the…SardinesSardines are not small anchovies. They are a different species with a different snout, a different mouth…
Bluefin TunaAtlantic bluefin, Thunnus thynnus, is the fish Sicily and Sardinia built their tonnare around, with a…Cantabrian AnchoviesCantabrian anchovies are caught in the Bay of Biscay in spring, cured under salt for six to eighteen…
DOPColatura di Alici (Italian Anchovy Sauce)Colatura di alici is the amber liquid that drains from anchovies packed in salt in chestnut barrels at…
StoccafissoStoccafisso is cod air-dried on wooden racks in the Norwegian Lofoten Islands, with no salt at all…
Mazara Red PrawnsMazara red prawns are trawled between 400 and 700 metres down in the Strait of Sicily, where the water…Presidio Slow FoodComacchio EelIn the lagoons of Comacchio, eels have been caught for centuries with lavorieri, chevron-shaped brick…
PATTaranto MusselsTaranto mussels are farmed in the Mar Piccolo, a near-enclosed lagoon where freshwater springs called…Presidio Slow FoodMenaica AnchoviesMenaica anchovies are ordinary Mediterranean anchovies caught in an extraordinary way: in a wide-mesh…Presidio Slow FoodPortonovo Wild MusselsMoscioli are wild mussels that settle on the rocks of the Conero headland, south of Ancona, and grow…Vegetables and fruit
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DOPSan Marzano TomatoesSan Marzano is a long, thin-skinned plum tomato grown in the volcanic plain between Naples and Salerno…DOPBergamotBergamot is the most geographically concentrated citrus on earth: around 90 per cent of world production…
Carnaroli RiceCarnaroli is the risotto rice with the highest amylose content: it sheds enough starch to build a creamy…ChestnutsFor a thousand years the Apennines made bread from them rather than dessert: Castanea sativa was the…
White truffleThe Italian white truffle, Tuber magnatum Pico, is the most expensive of Italy's truffles: in 2025 the…
DOPBronte PistachioBronte pistachios grow on the lava fields of Etna, are picked by hand in odd-numbered years only, and…IGPSicilian Blood OrangeSicilian blood oranges are three cultivars, Tarocco, Moro and Sanguinello, plus one piece of chemistry…
PuntarelleInside a head of jagged-leaf Catalonian chicory sits the part Rome actually pays for: the hollow inner…
IGPTreviso RadicchioTreviso radicchio comes in two forms that are effectively different vegetables.
IGPPiedmont HazelnutNocciola Piemonte IGP is a single cultivar, the Tonda Gentile Trilobata of the Langhe hills: round…
IGPTropea Red OnionTropea red onions are grown on a narrow strip of sand along Calabria's Tyrrhenian coast, and they are…
IGPSorrento LemonThe Sorrento lemon is a rifiorente femminello grown under chestnut-pole pergolas on the cliffs south of…FriarielliAround Naples this turnip never reaches the root stage, because what matters grows above it.
IGPCastelluccio LentilsCastelluccio lentils grow at 1,400 metres on the Pian Grande, a treeless karst plateau inside the…
IGPRomanesco ArtichokeThe Romanesco is Rome's artichoke: round, large and completely spineless.
IGPGarfagnana FarroFarro della Garfagnana IGP is emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccum: the grain the Romans called far, still…Peperone CruscoPeperone crusco is a sweet Basilicata pepper, sun-dried on strings and then flash-fried for two or three…DOPPiennolo TomatoPiennolo tomatoes grow on the volcanic ash of Vesuvius with no irrigation at all, are cut in whole…
DOPVal di Non AppleVal di Non apples are three varieties (Golden Delicious, Renetta Canada and Red Delicious) grown between…
DOPBassano White AsparagusBassano white asparagus is white because it never sees daylight: the spear grows inside a ridge of soil…
IGPPaestum ArtichokeThe Paestum artichoke is round, tightly closed, completely spineless and dimpled at the tip: it takes a…Cicerchia (Grass Pea)The grass pea is the oldest and most awkward legume in Italy.
IGPLamon BeansLamon beans are mountain-grown borlotti with a skin so thin it disappears in the mouth and flesh that…
Sulmona Red GarlicSulmona red garlic is white on the outside and red underneath: the colour is in the skins wrapping each…Citron of Santa Maria del CedroYou do not eat the flesh of a citron: there is barely any and it is fiercely sour.Zolfino BeanThe zolfino is a small, round, sulphur-yellow bean with a skin so thin it dissolves as it cooks.
DOPCilento White FigThe Cilento white fig is a Dottato fig dried in the sun on cane racks in the hills south of Salerno.
Acquaviva Red OnionThe Acquaviva red onion is wide, flat as a discus and sweet enough to eat raw in thick slices with…IGPSila PotatoSila potatoes are grown above 1,000 metres on the granite plateau in the middle of Calabria.IGPCanicattì Table GrapeCanicattì grapes are Italia grapes: big oval berries, thick skin, crunch, and a clear muscat perfume.
Fiolaro BroccoliFiolaro broccoli is not grown for its head but for the fioi, the side shoots that sprout along the stem.
DOPRotonda Red EggplantThe Rotonda red eggplant looks exactly like a ribbed tomato and is not the eggplant you know: it is…Trevi Black CeleryTrevi black celery is not black: it is a dark, almost blue-green.Wine
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DOPProseccoProsecco is made from Glera grapes by the Martinotti tank method, not the traditional bottle method used…
DOPChianti ClassicoChianti Classico is the Black Rooster wine: at least 80 per cent Sangiovese from nine communes between…
DOPBaroloBarolo is one hundred per cent Nebbiolo from eleven villages in the Langhe hills of Piedmont, aged at…
DOPBrunello di MontalcinoBrunello di Montalcino is pure Sangiovese aged five years, at least two of them in oak, made only in the…
DOPAmarone della ValpolicellaAmarone is made from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella dried on racks for 100 to 120 days until they…
DOPLambruscoLambrusco is not one wine but a family of Emilian grape varieties.DOPVino Nobile di MontepulcianoVino Nobile di Montepulciano is a Tuscan red made from at least 70 per cent Sangiovese, known locally as…
DOPVin SantoVin Santo is Tuscany's dried-grape wine: Trebbiano and Malvasia laid on reed mats or hung from the…