Take this tour through the continental countryside -- but don't be surprised if you're starving by the time you reach Tuscany!

Regional Cuisine

Italian culture is synonymous with food, glorious food! From crusty loaves of bread covered with sweet tomatoes and silken basil to firm noodles bathed in tangy pesto and roughly grated cheese, the culinary pleasures of this land are innumerable. Authentic Italian recipes are handed down through generations and are reminiscent of a simpler time, when a meal was not merely a means to a nutritional end, but rather a chance to connect with family and friends. Standard pasta and pizza aside, Italian cuisine is surprisingly complex and dozens of regions have claimed legendary flavours and techniques for their own.

Are you craving some inspiration for a truly provincial meal? Take this tour through the continental countryside -- but don't be surprised if you're starving by the time you reach Tuscany!

Lombardy: Spanning Milan, the Alps and Lakes Garda, Como and Maggiore, this breathtaking territory boasts cuisine as rich as its scenery. Risotto and polenta are popular in this region, and a heavy hand is used when dousing the dishes with butter and cream. Lombardians also love to serve robust meat dishes and will masterfully roast a duck, goose or turkey until the skin crackles and the odour is sublime. Veal is also a menu staple. A traditional Lombardian meal is comprised of golden hued risotto alla Milanese (prepared with saffron) and braised veal shank, or osso bucco. Firm Grana Padano cheese and soft, ripe Gorgonzola round out many local dishes.

Sicily: Sicily is one of Italy's largest producers of organic food. Fresh herbs, vegetables and fruit are in rich abundance here, and Sicilian salads are to die for. Eggplant is locally adored, whether baked, fried, grilled, stuffed or stewed in peperonata. The region is also famous for its pastas, particularly an exotic dish called pasta con le sarde, made with sardines and wild fennel. Legend has it the Sicilians invented the inveterate meatball, which is suffused with tomato sauce and served as a main dish. Sicily is also home to Italy's greatest expanse of vineyards and produces a premium quality Marsala -- plus plenty of dry table wine with which to wash the regional delicacies down! Finally, Sicily is known for its plentiful blood oranges and supreme hauls of fresh fish.

Sardinia: Seafood is the name of the game on the Italian island of Sardinia, where a rugged coastline provides an endless supply of rock lobster, crab, anchovies, squid, clams and sardines. Spicy fish soups, called burrida and cassola, marry the flavours of the ocean with land-loving herbs and spices. Further inland, roasted meat takes over at the dinner table. A Sardinian tradition is to line a fire pit with branches of olive, rosemary and juniper, which produces tender cuts of herb redolent lamb, pork or beef. Like Sicily, Sardinia yields a great deal of organic produce, so sauces and soups of garden fresh tomatoes, artichokes, peas, eggplant and zucchini are always on simmer. Bread baking is an art on this island, and each Sardinian village has its own ancient recipe. The locality is also famed for its goat's milk cheese and provolone.

Liguria: This district extends along the Italian Riviera, from the central port of Genoa and west along the magical coastal villages of the Cinque Terre. Seafood dishes are prevalent here due to easy sea access, but Ligurian chefs also have a way with meat and a passion for pesto. The pesto characteristic of the region is made by combining equal parts grated pecorino and reggiano cheese with fresh basil, garlic and pine nuts or walnuts. It is traditionally served with slim trenette noodles or trofie spirals. When seasoning pastas and soups, Ligurian cooks favour a mix of wild herbs called preboggion: a satchel of borage, chervil, chicory and other seasonal greens. And Liguria even has its very own pizza pie: the pizza dell'Andrea is named after the heroic Admiral Andrea Doria and is topped with onions, garlic, tomatoes, black olives and anchovies or sardines.

Tuscany: Tuscany is famed for its simple yet elegant cuisine, which is a perfect match for this region's fabled backdrop of terraced vineyards, luscious olive groves and pastoral villas. Tuscans are devoted to seasonal ingredients: artichokes and asparagus in spring, tomatoes and zucchini in the summer months, greens and mushrooms in the fall and cabbage and chard in the winter. The locals also love bread, and bake up gigantic loaves of pillowy sourdough rubbed down with garlic and olive oil. The chefs of this district are known for concocting exceptional soups brimming with beans and flavoured with rosemary and sage, while homemade wide-ribbon papparadelle, rustic spaghetti, rice and polenta are heartier Tuscan diet essentials. Roasted game also plays a starring role on indigenous menus, as do grilled pork ribs (rostinciana), roast loin (arista) and spit-roasted livers wrapped in bay leaves (fegatelli).

 

Try it today:

Tuscan Grilled Veal Chops

Italian Bacon and Tomato Risotto

Spaghetti Al Limone

Beef Carpaccio with Pomegranate

Grilled Fish with Rosemary and