Italy

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Italian Dishes

For many people, the food is the main reason why they choose to visit Italy. Even though there are Italian eateries all over the world, and it's hard to imagine that someone has never eaten pizza or spaghetti, when you come to Italy you discover the Italian cuisine anew. Here, the dishes are prepared from fresh ingredients and served right away, which makes for their unique taste. Lasagne, Tortellini, and Risotto taste the way they should only in Italy; not to mention exquisite Italian desserts such as Zabaglione, Panna Cotta and Tiramisu. They're truly heavenly delights.


Italy's premiere dessert, tiramisu, is a culinary work of art made of ladyfingers soaked with espresso and topped with a Mascarpone and Marsala wine cream. In Italian, the name of the dessert translates as “cheer-me-up”, which refers to the... more
The scrumptious Panna Cotta is a kind of pudding made of cream, milk and sugar simmered together and mixed with gelatin. Though the name of this dessert literally means ”cooked cream”, it's only heated long enough to dissolve the sugar. When... more
Zabaglione is a very light custard cream made of eggs, sugar, Marsala wine, and optionally, Mascarpone cream. It's believed to have been developed in Venice, during the period of the city's domination over the entire Adriatic. The early version of... more
A culinary staple of the Italian north, polenta has spread under various names into cuisines of such countries as Argentina, Mexico, Serbia, and Switzerland. In its most traditional form, it's made from cornmeal boiled for a very long time. Polenta... more
In Italian, straciatella means 'torn-apart'. Though around the world the term invariably evokes associations with the popular ice-cream flavour, within Italy it's mostly used in reference to a dish of a quite different category. Straciatella... more
One of the best known Italian soups, minestrone is a rich and filling broth or cream made of vegetables and, depending on the region, pasta or rice. The dish emerged as one of the basic meals of Italian cucina povera, which is the “cuisine of... more
A great favourite of all healthy food buffs around the world, Caprese-style salad is simple yet delicious. Made of slices of fresh mozzarella, plum tomatoes and basil, it reproduces the colours of Italy's national flag. The recipe actually involves... more
Risotto is one of the favourite dishes of northern Italy and a pillar of cuisine of Milan. Rice was brought to Italy in the 10th Century, most probably by Arab conquerors of Sicily. Five centuries later, the plant was welcomed in the north of the... more
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