Food Guide- Italy

There is no single way to define Italian cuisine. This is because there is no such thing as Italian food that is typical to all regions of the country. Italy was unified only less than two centuries ago. Therefore, Italy’s regions are culturally very different from one another. These differences are reflected in the food as well. In fact, competition over whose food is the best is the biggest hostility between the regions. The biggest battle for instance evolved over the question of where Italian’s most famous and one of the world’s best desserts was invented: Tiramisu. Be aware that if you take sides or compare one region’s dish with that of another region, this might be considered as an insult by the locals. Each region uses local ingredients and created their own delicacies. What is common for the food in all regions is the fact that they all use the best and the freshest ingredients that render the food extremely delicious – and some would even say to the best food around the globe.

During your cruise in Italy, a talented chef specialized in Italian food will accompany you on the yacht. It is very likely that the chef’s choices will be according to the region, in which you are sailing or where the chef is from. In any case, you can make sure that every meal you will eat on board will be another culinary festival. Moreover, no matter where you are sailing in Italy, the cruise destinations will include some major cities and traditional towns, where locals compete over making their food more delicious.

We prepared a checklist for you, organized by regions, so that you will not miss the “must-eat” dishes of the country. Enjoy everything this fascinating cuisine has to offer! Buon Appetito!

➔ If you are planning to bring some Italian delicacies for your loved ones back home, Calabria is a good place to purchase some food that you can pack into your bags. Because of the heat and the dryness of the region, Calabrians traditionally care a lot about preserving their food. Therefore, vegetables and meat in oil, cold cuts and dried food dominate the region’s cuisine. Among all the cold cuts that you can try on one of the amazing platters, make sure that you tried nduja, guanciale, soppressata di Calabria and capocollo di Calabria. Moreover, and just like in all the other regions of Italy, bread is an important part of the culinary culture here. Enjoy the large selection of bread types, including pane di Cerhiara, pane Pizzata, pane di Margone and sguta on a daily basis. Also, if you are a cheese enthusiast, you will feel like

you reached paradise when sailing on the coasts of Calabria. Traditional cheeses include caciocavallo Silano, pecorino del Pollino, pecorino del Monte Poro, ricotta affumicata Crotonese, giuncata and ricottone salate. Lastly, we recommend you to taste the red Tropea onion, which is very typical for the region.

➔ Welcome to the hometown of Pizza! Pizza was invented in the biggest city of Campania: in Naples in 1830, from where it spread around the world. You can taste the best pizza in the world in Campania; however, what this region has to offer food-wise is not limited to pizza. The Campanian cuisine is characterized by with fresh and high quality seafood and fresh vegetables prepared dishes. If you had enough Neapolitan pizza, you have to try the risotto alla pescatora (risotto with seafood), spaghetti con le vongole (spaghetti with clams), pesce all’Acqua pazza (simmered fish with garlic, tomatoes and parsley), fritto misto di mare (deliciously fried seafood) and polpo affogato (boiled octopus with tomatoes and hot peppers in olive oil). If you are vegetarian, you are also at the right place here. The locals of Campania are called mangiafoglie, meaning “leaf eaters” due to the large range of dishes prepared with the fresh vegetables of the fertile lands of Campania. These include cianfotta (cold eggplant and zucchini stew),  peperoni imbottiti (stuffed bell peppers) and parmigiana di melanzane (fried eggplant baked with  tomatoes, basil and mozzarella) and more.

➔ Lazio, the home of the Italian capital Rome, offers delicious Roman dishes that are characterized by a lot of olive oil, local herbs and garlic. In addition to proletarian dishes also many dishes of Jewish origin, such as salt cod, are consumed a lot here. Pasta should be tasted in Roman restaurants, where they serve mostly larger cut pasta. Especially, spaghetti alla carbonara, gnocchi alla romana and pasta with arrabbiata sauce are originally from here. But we need to warn you: once you tasted them here at its place of origin, you may not be satisfied eating these dishes anywhere outside of Lazio. As Rome does not have a coast by the sea, the capital itself won’t be among your sailing destinations. But don’t worry, dishes with Roman artichokes will be available all over Lazio. Moreover, Lazio’s meat dishes are highly recommended and very tasty. They also tend to be heavily flavoured. Lastly, if you want to bring some olive oil back home, we recommend you to pack bottles of olive oil from this beautiful region before your sailing holiday will end without you making sure to have this amazing taste at home too.

➔ Liguria is one of the most important foody regions of Italy. Ligurians made the best out of what the land and the sea gave them by using them for their numerous delicious dishes. Seafood and fish constitute a big part of the Ligurian cuisine. The must taste dishes from the sea include cappon magro (salad with seafood, fish, shellfish and vegetables), frittatata di gianchetti  (the whitebait omelette), pasta with mussels and white wine, sgombretti with pea sauce, buridda (fish soup), dried cod, zuppa di datteri (a shellfish soup) and zimino. However, even if you are not into seafood too much, you will find a wide range of delicacies. For example, although the weather will be hot, we recommend you not to miss having some original minestrone soup. The region also offers original types of pasta including pansoti, trofie, trenette and Genovese ravioli. If there is any time of your sailing holiday and space in your stomach left, do not miss the regional delicacies of cima Genovese (stuffed veal breast) and mesciua (tripe stew). Are you looking for some street snack? The paniccia and farinata will come to your rescue and satisfaction. Lastly, do not forget to pack some pesto genovese and pesto bianco into your luggage, so you will not forget the taste of Liguria, even after heading back home.

➔ Puglia’s rich and delicious cuisine caters all tastes. From seafood to meat dishes, there is something unforgettable to taste for everybody. Due to abundance of durum wheat, pasta and bread have traditionally an important position in Puglia’s cuisine.

Feel free to ask your chef, if you want to try your meat dish with the special smoke of these ovens. Similar to other coastal regions of Italy, in Puglia, seafood and fish is part of many dishes. Sea bass, anchovies, red mullet, cuttlefish and mussels are ingredients that are used for many typical and mouthwatering dishes. Since Italy, and in particular Puglia, is considered a paradise for cheese lovers, you should not finish your cruise in Puglia without tasting the local cheese of pampanella, burrata di Andria, fallone di Gravina, burrita, cacioricotta, fallone di Gravina and caciofiore. Enjoy the sunset with a glass of local wine and a cheese platter with all these delicate cheeses.

The Tuscan cuisine is famous for making something spectacular out of very simple ingredients. For example, people in Tuscany are very proud of their delicious bread and particularly of fettunta (Tuscan bruschetta), which is the typical starter here. As bread is highly appreciated, throwing left-over bread is considered as a very bad act here. Thus, Tuscans invented the delicious dish panzanella (salad with bread leftovers and fresh vegetables).

If you are sailing in this region, do not let the hot weather prevent you from tasting the delicious and filling soups, that are special to the region. The must-try soups in Tuscany are ribollita (a tuscan vegetable and bread soup) and pappa al pomodoro (a tomato and bread soup).

Like every region of Italy, Tuscany has its own pasta called pappardelle. This pasta is typically served with a wild boar sauce. If you are a meat enthusiast, you will find the queen of meat dishes in Tuscany: bistecca alla fiorentina (t-bone steak). Lastly, we recommend you to enjoy a glass of the famous chianti wine alongside the delicious Tuscan dishes.

➔ Sicily’s rich cuisine is the result of its varied landscape and long history. On this magical island, you can taste flavours of the Greek, Arabian, North African and French cuisines - all in one plate. First of all and despite Sicily’s uniqueness, you are still sailing in Italy and should hence of course taste some pasta and pizza. However, it is the best to taste regional specialities. Thus, we recommend you to try pasta alla Norma (short pasta with eggplants, tomatoes and ricotta cheese) and pasta con le serde (pasta with sardines). As for the pizza, Sicily has its own pizza called sfincione. Although this pizza remind more of an American pizza pie, it is no less mouthwatering than a typical Italian pizza. Sicilians are very much into the aubergine. One of the most fantastic dishes made up of this vegetable is caponata.

Also soups are consumed a lot in Sicily - throughout the whole year. Do not forget to taste one of their bests: cuscusu (fish soup).

It can get very hot in Sicily during the summer. But don’t worry. The inhabitants of the island found their sweet way to cool off their bodies. Do it as the locals and enjoy some granita (kind of sorbet that can come in various flavours including watermelon, almond and coffee). Other sweets you may want to try are cannoli (a pastry filled with ricotta cheese and candied fruits) and cassata (cream cake).

➔ Welcome to the culinary heaven of Sardinia. With every bite you take, you will feel a different flavour of a different culture that used to inhabit the island throughout its long history. Sardinia offers such a high number of traditional dishes to its visitors that one is required to stay here for months in order to explore them all. Assuming that your sailing holiday is unfortunately not long enough to taste every speciality the island has to offer, you may start with the must try ones that we will present you in the following.

Let’s start with pasta. Malloreddus is the typical pasta in Sardinia and is made of semolina and saffron and sauced with shells, sausage and tomatoes. Other very important pasta dishes for Sardinians are spaghittus cun cancioffa e bottariga (spaghetti with dried fish eggs and artichokes), sa fregula (small semolina pasta), and culurgiones (potato and mint stuffed ravioli).

If you are a seafood enthusiast, you should not forget to taste Malloreddus. And if you are sailing with a talented chef in the boat, you are lucky. Ask your chef for suckling pork cooked on spit. This dish is prepared in a very special way in Sardinia. If you would like to finish your meals with a sweet taste, you will find a large choice of sweets in Sardinia. Among those, we recommend you to taste sebadas, pan’e saba and andamarettus.