10 Must-Try Dishes in Italy That Aren't Pizza
By Krisanne Fordham, CNTraveler.com
Pizza, spaghetti, and gelato are delicious—but they only scratch the surface of Italy’s diverse culinary offerings. With countless regional dishes and an impressive panoply of street food, it’s a disservice to limit yourself to the typical tourist diet. Here are 10 terrific, lesser-known Italian dishes you need to try on your next trip.
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Bigoli
You though spaghetti was good? Wait until you try bigoli, the signature pasta of the Veneto region. Unlike smooth, thin spaghetti, bigoli noodles are thick, coarse and tubular (each has a hole in the middle, similar to bucatini) and are traditionally handmade from buckwheat flour and duck eggs. Bigoli is generally served with a simple sauce of dry red wine, vegetables, and roasted wild duck—which clings better to the dense, rough noodles—and then garnished with parsley and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
Try it at: Osteria al Diavolo e L’ACquasanta, Venice
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Ribollita
Ribollita is traditionally considered cucina povera, or poor man’s food, invented by servants who would collect their master’s unfinished bread and vegetables and boil it in water for their own dinner (the word ribollita in Italian literally means “reboiled”). You could never tell by tasting it—with bread to thicken the soup, it feels as rich and hearty as a chili. Despite its humble beginnings, ribollita is proudly considered one of Tuscany’s most important (and delicious) dishes.
Try it at: Trattoria Antichi Cancelli, Florence
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Risi e bisi
Risi e bisi, or “rice and peas,” may not sound like Italy’s most sophisticated dish, but it’s surprisingly flavorful. As the name suggests, it consists only of rice and peas, cooked with stock and seasonings much like a traditional risotto, except without the constant stirring in order to achieve a slightly soupier consistency. The result is a clean, exquisitely balanced dish that—in typical Venetian fashion—allows its main ingredients to shine.
Try it at: Ristorante Da Bisiolo, Mogliano
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Tortellini en Brodo
For many families in northern Italy, specifically Emilia-Romagna, tortellini en brodo is a staple dish, particularly during the holidays. Unlike typical tortellini, served in a heavy cream sauce, these float naked in a simple, homemade chicken broth (kind of like the Italian version of wonton soup, except filled with veal and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese). It’s topped with a light sprinkling of grated Parmesan—and that’s it. You’ll never want to eat tortellini any other way.
Try it at: Gioia Mia, Rome
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Canederli
Like Tuscany’s ribollita, the canederli from Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige region is made using leftover bread; this time, it’s mixed with eggs and milk to create a golf ball-sized dumpling similar to the German knödel. Often, speck (smoked, raw ham typical of northeastern Italian cuisine), cheese, and spices are added for extra flavor before the canederli are boiled in beef or chicken broth. Whether you have them served “dry” with melted butter, or in a shallow pool of broth, canederli are the perfect winter comfort food.
Try it at: Osteria La Spleuza Cucina & Pizza, Monclassico
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Osso buco alla Milanese
If there’s one meat dish you must try in Italy, let it be osso bucco and not chicken parmigiana (which isn’t actually Italian). You can’t go wrong with veal shanks braised slowly in white wine and vegetables, served with a tangy, garlicky gremolata. (Many modern variations of osso bucco include tomatoes, but authentic Milanese osso bucco is cooked without). Don’t forget to scoop out the rich, buttery marrow from inside the veal bones—it’s the best part of the dish.
Try it at: Antica Trattoria della Pesa, Milan
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Cacciucco
Not a fish person? Cacciucco will change that. The spicy, zesty seafood stew is native to Livorno, historically made by fishmongers using the day’s unsold catch—which might include shellfish, monkfish, squid, or octopus. The fish is cooked in a rich tomato and chile-based broth flavored with sage and garlic, and served with crusty bread (necessary for sopping up the remaining broth from your bowl). It’s so good that Italian immigrants in San Francisco created their own Italian-American version, cioppino, using Pacific Ocean seafood and with the addition of wine.
Try it at: Trattoria Da Galileo, Livorno
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Focaccia di recco
This dish is one of the top reasons we love Liguria, right up there with Portofino and the Cinque Terre. Hailing from the Genovese town of Recco, it’s one of the region’s tastiest yet simplest specialties: essentially just a thin sheet of baked focaccia with a creamy layer of crescenza cheese in the middle. It’s like grilled cheese, but better, if that’s even possible.
Try it at: Focacceria Genovese, Genoa
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Bottarga
Bottarga isn’t so much a dish as it is an ingredient: it’s salted, cured mullet roe and is a delicacy of both Sardinia and Sicily (widely known as “the caviar of the south”). Because of its rich, briny, salty flavor, it’s used in many Southern Italian dishes: grated over linguine, shaved atop bitter greens, or sliced with buttered bread or crostini. It’s so good, you’ll want to smuggle some back in your suitcase.
Try it at: Maffei’s, Taormina
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Torrone
The origins of torrone are somewhat blurry—some say it originated in Lombardy, some insist it was created in Sicily. It doesn’t really matter; what’s important is that you eat it. It’s a creamy, sticky, nougat-like candy made with honey, egg whites, toasted nuts, and citrus zest, sold in thick slabs at cafes and sweet shops across Italy. Normally, we’d say that nothing beats the original, but one modern variation comes dipped in chocolate.
Try it at: L’arte del Cioccolato Torrone Cannolo, Modica
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