Six Italian cities as gastronomic destinations

However, the task is not easy. Italian cuisine is incredibly diverse precisely because of its diversity, so below we present a selection: six Italian cities and the culinary experiences associated with them, which we definitely recommend you try. On your next holiday in Italy, let this list serve as a loose guide, an inspiring selection, and a resource to encourage exploration!

Genoa: Pesto

Spicy, fresh, refreshingly flavorful. A good pesto evokes the image of summer even in this unfriendly autumn weather. The green treasure of Ligurian cuisine still plays an important role in the coastal city, where we can find it in its original form in many restaurants. The recipe is simple, but everything depends on the quality of the ingredients. Fresh basil, olive oil, pine nuts and garlic are combined in the mortar, and the twisted pasta called trofie provides the perfect backdrop for the final result.

If you want to taste it in a truly authentic place, visit the restaurant Il Genovese. This establishment opened its doors in 1912 under the name Raggio. It is a typical sciamadda, or small restaurant, where a wood-burning stove still stands in the kitchen. Today, the owner is Roberto Panizza, a chef who is also one of the spiritual fathers of the World Pesto Championship, held every two years. Chefs and cooks come from all over the world to take up mortars and pestles and prove that they make the best pesto in the world.

Turin: Agnolotti

Slow Food, a movement that celebrates local cuisine and home cooking, has now become a global movement. It started in 1986 in the Piedmontese town of Bra. A decade later, the movement found its perfect home in Turin, about sixty kilometers north, where it has been hosting the Salone del Gusto, a biennial fair for small producers. The city is the perfect host, offering visitors excellent quality places to eat – whether they are looking for coffee, pasta, meat products or even baked goods. It is difficult to single out a star dish from the wide selection, but the local favorite is agnolotti, or meat-filled ravioli. It is worth trying it at Pastificio Defilippis, where you can also buy fresh pasta to take home. But it is also worth stopping by Fratelli Bruzzone Trattoria, where it is served with butter and sage, according to a centuries-old recipe.

Parma: Culatello di Zibello

It is no coincidence that Parma's cuisine was included in the UNESCO Creative Cities network of values. The region is home to culinary giants such as Parmigiano Reggiano or the country's most famous ham, prosciutto di Parma. However, alongside the king of hams, there is also a less famous but even more special local meat product. This is culatello di Zibello, a sweet-cured ham specialty made from the thighs of locally bred pigs, which dates back more than two hundred and fifty years. Today, it can only be made according to strict protection of origin rules, but the strictness is justified, after all, it is an unusual meat product. Culatello di Zibello has earned the honorable nickname re dei salumi, or king of cold cuts. In Parma, for example, we can find it at the Osteria di Fornio restaurant, where it is served with tagliolini pasta.

Bari: Orecchiette

The capital of Puglia has its own attractions. There is a 12th-century castle, a basilica with holy relics, but also the Arco Basso alley, where local grandmothers sit all day at tables set up on the street, kneading orecchiette pasta. This pasta, whose Italian name means little ears, has been handmade in Bari homes for centuries, and it is no exaggeration to say that the pasta has become a symbol of the city. You can buy it fresh and in large batches from the pasta-making women, but you can also find it in many restaurants. There is, for example, the Terranima restaurant, where it is accompanied by garlic and anchovies.

Treviso: Red Radicchio

There’s an Italian word for bittersweet, amarognolo. There’s no better way to experience this flavor than with radicchio, a chicory grown around Treviso, an hour’s drive north of Venice. Restaurants here serve it in a variety of ways, but the morte migliore (a more recent Italian term, literally “best death,” actually refers to the most ideal use of an ingredient) is shallot risotto with white wine and radicchio. For example, Toni del Spin serves it this way. While you’re in the area, it’s worth visiting the nearby towns of Valdobbiadene and Conegliano. This is the birthplace of prosecco, with glera plantations and cellars producing delicious bubbles as far as the eye can see.

Perugia: Truffles

Umbria is the green heart of Italy. The region is famous for its truffles, which thrive in the oak, beech and chestnut forests. The black and rare white varieties can be found around the towns of Norcia and Spoleto, but for the full experience, it's worth visiting Perugia, an hour north. Join the themed tours of Let's Cook in Umbria, where you can tour the countryside with a truffle-hunting dog and sample the forest's bounty in specially designed restaurants.