Food and Wine

• Sicilia Food and Wine ( 4 Articles )
  

  Sicilian cooking has an unmistakable fascination, made of sun-filled aromas and flavours. Eastern flavours and aromas
  predominate in many recipes: couscous Trapanese style, cassata, and granita show Arab inspirations. Very tasty dishes are obtained from the simple cooking of the fishermen, exalting the typical products of the sea, such as swordfish rolls. Contrasting sweet and salty tastes are found combined in the caponata, where the colours and aromas of the vegetables are combined with the sourness of vinegar. And to thoroughly understand the intoxicating Sicilian gastronomical culture, you must taste the sweets, from the sublime ricotta cheese in cannoli to the festive colours of almond paste. Not to be forgotten are the wines, not only the liqueur-like Marsala, Moscato, and Malvasia (malmsey) of international fame, but also the robust table wines that are emerging on the Italian oenological scene.

• Calabria Food and Wine ( 2 Articles )
  

  Between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, Calabrian cooking offers flavourful and spicy dishes and robust wines. In the province of Reggio Calabria, fish-based dishes are excellent: codfish and piscistoccu, swordfish “alla ghiotta”, nannata and fravagghia. Among the first-course pasta dishes are the characteristic maccaruni i’ casa, while frittole are made of pluck and the fatty parts of pork. Fish triumphs in Vibo Valentia, where Pizzo is renowned for tuna fish, and in Catanzaro, where other dishes include the pork-based murseddu, dishes with aubergine and potatoes, and dairy products such as butirri, with a heart of butter. For wines, the province of Crotone is the place of production of the famous Cirò, famed as the wine offered to the winning athletes at Olympia.

• Puglia Food and Wine ( 2 Articles )
  Genuine country cooking is the basis of cuisine in Apulia: vegetables, legumes and other greens are combined with homemade pasta. Typical dishes are recchietèdd à il casèdde (orecchiette pasta with tomato, ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese browned in the oven), cavatelli with turnip tops, pureed broad beans with wild chicory. The meat dishes include the traditional roast on an open fire and another typical dish, tièlla of roast lamb with potatoes and lampascioni, while u cutturidd is a mixture of meat broth with wild vegetables and eggs. The most popular dessert is almond paste but there are also the famous fried chiacchiere. Among the most famous DOC wines is Castel del Monte, Moscato di Trani and the reds from Barletta and Canosa.
• Campania Food and Wine ( 1 Article )
  

  Tomatoes are the main ingredients of dishes from Campania. We find them in pizza, on pasta like spaghetti, vermicelli (long thin pasta), macaroni, lasagne and fusilli (short, twisted pasta), as well as on steak pizzaiola. Then there is the sartù, a large rice cake, and vegetable soup. There is no shortage of fish dishes either, among which is the unique, mixed fried dish of meat, chitterlings, fish and vegetables. Then there is the famous and excellent buffalo mozzarella, produced in the valleys of Volturno and Sele. The sweets, moreover, are tempting: flaky pastry sfogliatelle, pastiera with ricotta cheese (an oatmeal tart), zeppole (tiny doughnuts), babà. The renowned oil from the Sorrento peninsula is a true speciality of the region, as are the citrus fruits, especially lemons, and the delicate wines not only from the Amalfi Coast, like the red Gragnano from Sorrento, but also from the slopes of the Vesuvius, like the Lacryma Christi. Other wines from the volcanic soil include Fiano d’Avellino, Greco di Tufo and, from Ischia, Biancolella Frassitelli, Per ‘e Palummo and Pietratorcia.

• Marche Food and Wine ( 1 Article )
  

  The ancient duchy of Federico da Montefeltro offers a variety of tasty dishes and precious produce of the land, starting with the prized white truffle found in abundance in the high Apennines above Pesaro and the boast of Sant’Angelo in Vado, where the national truffle fair is held each year. On the border between Marches and Romagna, the typical shapes of pasta are cappelletti, ravioli, lasagne and the local macaroni, fine strings of pasta called capelli d’angelo, “angel’s hair”. Do not miss the cheeses, including the caciotta from Urbino, or the Carpegna ham, which was awarded a label of certified origin in 1996. The wide range of smells and savours is enhanced by the fragrant and genuine wines carefully produced from the Sangiovese and Trebbiano grapes.

• Toscana Food and Wine ( 2 Articles )
  From the Apuan Alps to the coast of Tuscany there are recipes that have been handed down through the centuries. At Lucca, you can taste the farinate (dipped in flour), spelt from Garfagnana, soup alla frantoiana, pigeon risotto, and for dessert, buccellato, necci and torta co' becchi. At Colonnata, close to the famous marble quarries, they still make the famous lard, the energy-giving food once enjoyed by the miners, who ate it with bread, raw onion and tomatoes. The small town of Montecarlo is renowned for its white wine of that name. At Leghorn, the specialities are fish-based: caciucco (fish soup), black rice with squid, tomato pappa, cee alla salvia, dried cod Leghorn style, Arab couscous.