My Rome food walking tour: how to experience Roman food like a local

Walking Rome Food Tour - Italina "pasticcini"

Amazing off the beaten path Rome food walking tour in Testaccio, one of Rome most food rich neighborhoods, with Savor Italy Tours. How it went and why I strongly suggest it.

As an Italy travel blogger, I recently got in touch with the owner of Savor Italy tours.  She invited me to join their Rome food walking tour so that I could write about it.

Savor Italy tour have been providing food tours, wine tours, pizza tours and cooking classes for the last years in Rome and in Venice. They are a very well reputed Rome food tour operator, with a top ranking on Tripadvisor, so I happily accepted.

I took their Rome food walking tour last week: this post is about how it went. As a disclaimer, I was invited (so I didn’t pay for the tour). That said, the opinions in this post are 100% mine and haven’t been influenced by anybody.

I must admit that I was a little bit biased when I accepted. After 45 years in Italy, I wondered what else I could learn about Italian food. I also thought that I would taste some pretty common street food, a little bit of “pizza al taglio”, some supplì or arancini, and that would be it.

Well, I was absolutely wrong, and the tour turned out to be really instructive.

I discovered a local neighborhood I didn’t know before, tasted some amazing local delicacies I couldn’t have found on my own, spent a really nice time with my guide… and probably added 1 kg or so to my waistline!

Stay with me to know how it went…

Continue reading “My Rome food walking tour: how to experience Roman food like a local”

The ultimate guide to Italian Pasta dishes: know what to order by region

Top 25  delicious Italian pasta dishes you should taste, beyond Spaghetti Bolognese,  described by by region with pictures and map

What is the most popular and famous Italian pasta dish? What are the traditional Italian pasta dishes one must absolutely try? What is the name of the traditional pasta dish I want to order?

These are very common questions, and this post is aimed at giving an answer to them, in an easy and funny way.

Buon appetito!

Continue reading “The ultimate guide to Italian Pasta dishes: know what to order by region”

How Italians drink coffee: the ultimate guide

Italian coffee

The ultimate infographic guide about how to order and to drink coffee the way Italians do! Have your coffee like a local…

Coffee is Italian the national drink, and an unmissable daily ritual. Wherever you go in Italy, you can be 100% sure to find a church… and a bar serving coffee!

On average, Italians drink about four coffees a day, usually two at home, one at the bar and one at the office, mainly at three times of the day: breakfast, mid-morning and end of meal / dinner.

Italians are creative people. While Espresso is the main way Italians drink coffee, there are actually many different options to order a coffee in Italy. And, guess what? They are not the ones you will find at Starbucks!

This Infographic will help you choose among the different options. That will be your first step to drink coffee “like a local”.

Italian coffee

But what are the main factors that distinguish an Italian at the bar?

There are five golden rules to follow if you want to drink coffee like a local:

  1. Coffee in Italy has no timetables. It can be ordered at any time (day or night). Inviting someone to drink a coffee is the trigger to most social and networking activities in Italy.
  2. To invite someone to drink a coffee, just say “caffè?”, they will understand, no need to say more
  3. Stand at the counter. An espresso must be express! Because it is prepared quickly and just as quickly should be drunk: standing, at the counter!
  4. In Italy if you say “coffee”, you mean “espresso”! So you would never order “an espresso” but simply “a coffee”. If you want a variant, then you’ll need to specify
  5. You are “allowed” to some variants to your espresso: Long or narrow, spotted hot or cold stained, corrected, Moroccan (look at the infographic for more details).
  6. Cappuccino? Never, never, never after 10 am!!! Cappuccino is only for breakfast, to be eaten with a “cornetto” (in the South) or a “brioche” (in the North)… rigorously standing at the counter!
  7. Be loud! In the rush morning hour, the “barista” will handle an amazing amount of orders at the same time. Don’t expect much care, unless you shout your order with a loud tone and a male expression (if you are a male, of course..)
  8. Get the ticket at the cashier before you order, the barista will ask for it before serving you
  9. Fight to pay for your mate’s coffees. Italian do insist to offer the coffee, so do the same! Just say “faccio io” (I’ll do it) and rush to the cahier before anyone else can do it!

Enjoy your Italian coffee!

Credits to https://nationalpositions.com/ and to https://specialcoffee.it

 

Best aperitivo in Bologna: enjoy happy hour where locals do

Aperitivo in Bologna is taken very seriously. Here is a selection of Aperitivo bars popular with locals: enjoy appetizing drink, snack and perfect time out

After a whole day around the city it’s time to relax a little … and to taste one of the specialties Bologna is known for: the Aperitivo.

Aperitivo time starts around 6:00 PM, when the Bolognese finish their work and study activities, and can go on pretty late, often substituting the dinner: you may hardly still be hungry after a large cured meats and cheese “tagliere” and delicious “bruschette”.

Aperitivo in Bologna is an old and very popular tradition, just like in Milan and in Venice. On top of that, Bologna is a beautiful and lively town, so people just like to stay out, enjoy a drink and spend time with their friends.

You can literally find hundreds of great places to sip a glass of wine (or a cocktail, or a beer), chatting with friends and enjoying life.

Mentioning them all in this post is unfortunately not possible, so I’m just sharing my favorite places, the ones where I go when I’m in Bologna. Feel free to add your own in the comments!

Continue reading “Best aperitivo in Bologna: enjoy happy hour where locals do”

What to eat in Venice

Fritto misto con Polenta

A short food guide to decipher a Venetian menu and to discover what to eat in Venice, beyond Pizza and lasagne

Venice cuisine is among the most fascinating you could taste in Italy, and not only for its delicious taste.

Over centuries, Venice has built contacts both with the inland and with diverse and faraway countries: therefore, its culinary tradition presents a variety of dishes linked to the different origins of ingredients. This is why you can see in Venice dishes baccalà (dried salted cod) from the Baltic routs, precious spices from the caravans of Asia but also fresh vegetables from islands of the estuary and fish from the lagoon and the Adriatic sea.

Antipasti (starters):

Continue reading “What to eat in Venice”