A 5-star gastronomic trip to Italy, the destination of luxury in Europe
Written on : 09 April 2020 By : Emma Di Gesaro
Travelling allows you to discover several aspects of the country you are in, including culture, population, traditions and gastronomy. In some countries, the various aspects are intertwined, as in Italy, where gastronomy is part of a tradition and even their way of life. Sit back and enjoy a gastronomic trip which Villanovo will take you on.
In Italy, pasta is the staple dish, cooked in all sauces and in all forms, this widely spread dish requires ingredients accessible to all: flour, egg and water. Travelling to small Italian villages at the end of the summer, you will have the opportunity to see the inhabitants preparing their homemade tomato sauce in order to stock up for the winter, a real tradition. We all know that a pasta dish is a quick and easy meal to cook, but we must not forget that such a simple dish can actually hide subtle recipes where quality ingredients are the key to a delicious dish.
If you go to a restaurant in Italy, you will see that local customers do not eat pasta, but pizza, as pasta is a more family-friendly dish that can easily be eaten at home. However, some restaurants do offer pasta with high-quality recipes such as pasta with truffles or pasta cooked directly in the Parmesan cheese wheel, which is a delicacy. Travelling in Southern Italy, you can enjoy delicious pasta with local seafood such as spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams) or linguine with squid ink, which are more widely eaten than simple recipes.
If you're having lunch in a restaurant in Italy, you're likely to have a shared appetizer, or a board of cold cuts, followed by a pizza, pasta or meat dish. Note that in the Italian tradition, when families come together to enjoy a meal as a group, the menu is quite comprehensive. The meal starts with a simple pasta dish made with tomatoes or vegetables from the garden, then comes the meat and the side dishes: vegetables, breaded eggplant, salad, etc... then the locally produced cheese and the dessert is made with local fruit or pastries: it is important to be prepared to taste all this because each dish is even more delicious than the previous one.
You will notice a big difference when you eat Italian products directly in Italy and don't forget to try the delicious cold cuts: mortadella, Parma ham or even truffle sausage for the refined palate, and much more! If you are staying in a beautiful villa in Tuscany or in the Italian lakes, don't hesitate to go to the city markets to buy local products!
One of the most popular dishes in the world is pizza. Wherever you go, you will have the opportunity to eat one. The first pizza was born in 1780 by Raffaele Esposito who created the first "Margherita" in honour of the Queen of Italy, Margaret. Then the pizza became the "snack" of the workers because the inhabitants rolled it and it was, therefore, convenient to eat: no need for cutlery. Pizza was also considered "the dish of the poor" because it was very economical to make and at the time the water used to wash the dishes was expensive. Today it is a world-famous product and cooked much differently from one region to another in Italy, for example, the Neapolitan pizza offers a more airy, delicious crust that melts in the mouth with a much thinner pizza dough than in the south. Each type of pizza is excellent and it is wonderful to taste the different methods of cooking across the country.
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