At some point during the past century, Italy became shorthand for the most memorable food experiences on the Mediterranean. You only have to set eyes on the finest examples of pizza, pasta, gelato and coffee, or regional hallmarks like cicchetti in Venice and cured meats in Tuscany, to learn the kitchen is the heart of all Italian life. And what about the truffles in Piedmont and the tiramisu in Treviso? The nduja in Calabria and the cannoli of Sicily? There’s first-rate food everywhere (and we haven’t even got to ham in Parma, spaghetti alla carbonara in Rome and the rest…), but we’ve narrowed it down to the best Italian cities for food and the dishes you can’t afford to miss.
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1. Modena
Best for balsamic vinegar
What is a meal in Italy without a pre-appetiser basket of ciabatta, rosemary focaccia, or Pane Toscano (Tuscan bread) served alongside a cruet stand? Olive oil is mandatory, of course, but the real joy is in dipping and dousing the bread in treacle-sweet black balsamic that explodes with flavour that can only be described as liquid magic. The slow-aged white grape must is the champagne of vinegars — the genuine article is only produced in Modena in Emilia Romagna, yet figures before almost every memorable Italian meal. And just think: what would a classic caprese be without its dribbly tang?
2. Modica
Best for chocolate
The story of Sicilian chocolate begins with the Spanish, who first brought cocoa beans to this hilltop town after learning the art from the Aztecs. The age-old techniques can be seen at Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, the oldest chocolate factory in Sicily, but bear in mind Modica chocolate is crunchier — drier, darker, more bitter — than what you might be used to. Also know that, in this part of Italy, chocolate is combined with minced beef without eyebrows raised. One staple of Modica is ’Mpanatigghi, moon-shaped biscuits filled with cocoa, fruits, almonds and butcher cuts.
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3. Florence
Best for steak
Tuscany’s capital regards itself as the birthplace of Italian gastronomy, and it’s hard to disagree when you wander past the mouthwatering stalls at the Mercato Centrale, Florence’s main indoor food market. While the olive is king, its prince is the bistecca alla fiorentina, the juicy T-bone steak traditionally made from Chianina beef. It’s often served with cannellini beans — another Tuscan staple. Robust chianti reds go perfectly with plates of pappardelle in a wild boar sauce. Check out the restaurants in the Sant’Ambrogio and Santa Croce districts, along with the neighbourhood haunts across the River Arno in Oltrarno or San Gimignano. As for dessert, ice-cream fans will be pleased to know that gelato was invented here, so you know you’ll get some of the best scoops in Italy.
4. Perugia
Best for chocolate
The birthplace of Italy’s best-loved edible souvenir (the star-sprinkled praline kisses, ‘baci’), the Umbrian capital also hosts the annual EuroChocolate festival. Each October, the city’s well-preserved medieval centre is given over to ten days of chocolate sculpture and cookery demonstrations — but tours of the mothership Perugina factory are possible year-round. This central Italian region is also famous for truffles of the dug-up-from-the-ground sort. Try them in pasta alla norcina — a creamy, comforting dish made using spiced local sausage — then head to Piazza IV Novembre for post-prandial strolling and people-watching. Perugia’s large student population means this is also a city well-served by cheap eats.
5. Lecce
Best for ‘cucina povera’
Translated literally as ‘poor kitchen’, historic hardship in the Puglia region gave rise to dishes dominantly made using local and seasonal ingredients — two culinary buzzwords now very much in vogue. Visitors rave about the vegetable-rich food in Italy’s ‘heel’ and Lecce is its most beautiful city, with an embarrassment of riches both when it comes to baroque architecture and atmospheric places to eat. Try dishes such as orecchiette con cime di rapa (ear-shaped pasta with turnip greens and anchovies) at traditional trattoria Alle due Corti, where you can also take a cookery class.
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6. Turin
Best for barolo
The Piedmont region feels more like nearby France with its Alpine backdrop. It certainly shares its neighbour’s love of fine wine — this is the home of Italy’s regal red, barolo. Its underrated capital Turin is no one-trick pony, mind. Begin your culinary tour with a glass of bicerin (layers of espresso, drinking chocolate and cream) at its namesake 18th-century café. Next, stroll one of Europe’s biggest outdoor markets, Porta Palazzo, before sitting down for a leisurely lunch — this is, after all, the region that gave us the ‘slow food’ movement. Rouse yourself once more for the aperitivo hour — the city seems at its most resolutely Italian when sipping homegrown vermouth.
7. Venice
Best for cicchetti
To get a true flavour of Venice, explore the city on a giro d’ombra — a Venetian version of a pub crawl. Throughout the city — but especially in San Polo and Cannaregio districts — you’ll find hole-in-the-wall bars called bacari, where you can fill up on tapas-like cicchetti. These delicious morsels of bread are covered in everything from prosciutto and gorgonzola to creamy salt cod called baccala, and a plate of these nibbles go beautifully with a glass of local wine. Whet your appetite further by browsing the food stalls at the Rialto Market, especially the atmospheric fish market by the Grand Canal.
8. Naples
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Best for pasta fritters
It’s not all about the pizza in Naples, but it’s a good place to start. San Marzano tomatoes, creamy mozzarella and basil go into the classic pizza napoletana — equally wonderful in a cosy trattoria or on the street. For more street food, the Pignasecca market tempts you with stalls offering deep-fried calamari, whitebait, artichokes and — in a peculiar Neapolitan way — pasta fritters called frittatine di pasta. Among the seafood restaurants of the classy Chiaia waterfront district, you’ll find another local speciality: spaghetti alle vongole (clams). Finish it off with limoncello made from lemons picked along the Amalfi Coast.
9. Rome
Best for carbonara
Roman cuisine — cucina romana — is surprisingly simple, considering the wealth of history and art that fills the Italian capital. One of Rome’s most famous dishes is spaghetti alla carbonara, which has all of about three ingredients — and cream isn’t one of them. Testaccio food market will give you an authentic taste of cucina romana among its 100 or so stalls, and you won’t want to miss the spectacle of the morning market at Campo de’ Fiori. Join the Romans for dinner in the laidback restaurants in the Trastevere district across the River Tiber, or in the underrated Monti area near the Centro Storico.
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10. Milan
Best for risotto
Italy’s fashion capital is one of the most fervent purveyors of that fine Italian tradition — aperitivo hour. For the price of a drink, you can help yourself to an astonishing number of free buffet snacks that bars set out from about 6pm till about 8pm. If you’re still hungry after that, don’t forget to try Milan’s beautifully simple risotto alla Milanese, or the heartier osso bucco, which is a dish of slow-cooked veal shanks. The district of Ticinese hums during aperitivo time, and from here you can work your way up to Moscova where you’ll find a dizzying range of places to eat.
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11. Bologna
Best for lambrusco
Bologna has some of Italy’s best food, but it’s curiously off the radar of many tourists. Yet this is where tortellini and tortelloni originated — not to mention tagliatelle al ragù, which bears little resemblance to pasta bolognese. Dive into the maze of medieval lanes of Quadrilatero off Piazza Maggiore, where market stalls and cafés are tucked under arches and offer a tantalising introduction to the city’s cuisine. To cut through the richness of the food, wash it down with lambrusco — fizzy red wine. And treat yourself to gelato — so good they even have a university devoted to teaching how to make it.
12. Genoa
Best for farinata
Liguria’s capital has given the world two excellent inventions: focaccia and pesto. In the narrow streets of the city’s Centro Storico, known as caruggi, there’s no shortage of tiny cafés where you can snack on focaccia (and the savoury chickpea pancake known as farinata); the area also teems with trattorias serving favourites such as pesto with trofie pasta, or the ravioli-like pansoti with walnut sauce. An Old Town highlight is the huge Mercato Orientale, whose Michelin-star worthy market stalls show off the best Ligurian olives, fresh pastas, meats and so much more.
13. Parma
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Best for ham
No one does ham and cheese quite like Parma — not when the ham is prosciutto di Parma and the cheese is parmigiano reggiano. Then there’s culatello di Zibello, a highly prized ham that’s made in only eight villages in the Po Valley near Parma. There’s something in the air and soil of the valley that produces these sublime flavours. In this cultured city — home of the Verdi Festival — they also take aperitivo time seriously. One of the best places to indulge in this ritual, during the early-evening stroll known as the passeggiata, is along Strada Farini just off Piazza Garibaldi.
14. Palermo
Best for a taste of Sicily
The island of Sicily, and particularly its capital, gives you an experience of street food like no other Italian city. Head to Palermo’s lively Kalsa quarter, where you can watch fish, prawns and calamari being grilled on giant barbecues. Look out for moreish Sicilian fried snacks, including arancini (fried risotto rice balls), panelle (chickpea fritters) and potato croquettes. A visit to the Mercato del Capo food market takes you to the heart of Sicilian food and reveals its many Arab influences, including the sultanas that go into the island’s signature dish, pasta con le sarde (spaghetti with sardines and fennel).
15. Cagliari
Best for seafood
The flavours of the surrounding rugged mountains and the Mediterranean coast mingle harmoniously in Sardinia’s capital. Seafood lovers can’t leave without trying bottarga — cured mullet roe that’s known as the poor man’s caviar. It is grated over spaghetti, and transports you instantly to the sea. The narrow streets of Cagliari’s old town, such as Via Sardegna, are filled with little restaurants serving other Sardinian specialities including malloreddus (shell-like pasta covered in a fennel-infused pork sauce) and the giant couscous-like fregula, which is gorgeous with clams.
Take me there
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