Must have food in Italy!

With such a variety of delicious foods to try in Italy, we found ourselves constantly eating. We took all our meals very seriously and planned ahead for each of them! The good news is, most of the food are made fresh, with real ingredients. They are not frozen, preserved or from cans that were packaged years ago. Pizza is the first thing that came to our mind when we thought of Italian food, but we realized there are many more to add to that must-have list when we got there!

Things to know:

• There is a “coperto” which is a small fee for dining in any restaurant. It ranged from 1 Euro per person to…
• A typical Italian 5 course meal includes the following:
  • “Aperitivo” a lighter snack or Anti-pasto, a heavier starter or appetizer
  • Primo, the first course, usually heavier than the Anti-pasto, but no meat
  • Secondo, which is the meat dish (meat or fish)
  • Contorno, which is a side dish, usually of vegetables.
  • Dolce, the dessert

I will link the restaurants to their google map search so it’s easier to locate and save!

Keep reading to see all the must-haves on our list!

Pasta

The first day we landed in Rome, we went out for lunch with a local priest we knew there. Although we were near the Colosseum, picking a restaurant nearby was not a good idea (see why below). So, we walked about five minutes to a local street with so many more great options.
We choose to eat at La Vacca M’Briaca and had the typical Italian 5 course meal there. For the primo, we ordered different types of pastas for each of us and it filled us up. The prices were very reasonable for individual plates, however after the 5 course meal, the total was much more than we expected!
We had lasagna from many different restaurants and all of them were delicious. I would go back to Italy just for the lasagna.

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Tip: Don’t eat near any major attractions. They will be much more expensive and will taste more American. If you see signs in English or menus posted on the windows, that is to attract tourists. A waiter standing outside with the menu is also not normal for local restaurants in Italy. If you want something authentic, check out the places away from the touristy spots.

One of our favorite restaurants in Florence was called Bondi, owned by a sweet old lady, Maria. We got there around 11am for a brunch, right before our train to Venice. We had all our luggage and she allowed us to place all of it to the corner. She agreed to open the wine bottle we had on us and even offered glasses for it. (This is not common, so we were very happy about this!) Each of us ordered a dish and each one was better than the next. We chatted with Maria and took some pictures with her in the restaurant.

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Bondi also owns a dessert shop a block away from this restaurant, I Gelati del Bondi Firenze. So after our lunch at Bondi, we carried all our luggage down the block and got some gelato! Maria even walked with us to show us and introduced us to her family there. That brings me to the next must-have on the list, GELATO!

Gelato

When it comes to Gelato, luggage or not, we made sure we got some. We had a minimum of 2 gelatos per day in all the cities we visited and Florence was no different. My favorite was chocolate and dark chocolate.. the others were brave enough to try different ones each time. The price ranges for gelatos depending on where you are. If you are in a touristy area, it can go up to 5,6 EUR per cone. However if you are away from tourist attractions, it can be as low as 1.5-2 EUR.

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Right before going to the Vatican, we stopped at Gelateria Millennium, a Gelato shop on the way from the Cipro train station to the entrance of the Vatican. We didn’t need a reason or time to eat Gelato… we bought one each chance we had, until we felt guilty. Then our guilt would pass and into another gelato store we would go!

Chocolate

There were also several chocolate shops and factories in Italy. We visited a few and had plenty of samples, mainly in Venice. We even bought a couple of different kinds to take home as souvenirs. Our favorites were the dark chocolate with pepper and pistachio flavored (hubby’s fav).

Limoncello

Limoncello is a popular drink in Italy with a lemon flavor. It’s a mixer (we found out later) and is mixed into drinks and drank after meals. They also had limoncello flavored candy at the chocolate store and it was heavenly. Once we got back to Texas, I started looking around for something similar and we found one! I use this mixer for my Iced Tea and I love it! They also have a variety of limoncello covered chocoloate and almonds, but they can be a little pricey.

Tiramisu

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Besides all the gelato, we also had a good share of tiramisu cake for dessert (or sometimes, snack)!

Wine

I could not recall the number of wine bottles we had during the trip. We started ordering a whole bottle for the table for the first half of the trip. A few days into our trip, we went to a supermarket and found wine bottles that were half the price than the restaurants! Most restaurants won’t let you open your own bottle, but it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Macorons

I love macarons and can easily down a box if no one is watching. Though we did not indulge in macarons a whole lot in Italy, we still tried a few flavors. My favorites are lemon, chocolate, strawberry…heck I love all of them!

Seafood/Meat

I topped every pizza and sandwich with Salami and I loved it. It was fresh and so delicious. We went to a small, yet popular panini shop in Florence, named Osteria All’antico Vinaio. The line was ridiculously long, but it was worth it. Besides the bread being harder than we are used to in the US, the panini was tasty and filling.

We also had a fancier dinner night at La Cocotte Restaurant, in Florence. The men had steak and the ladies tried a variety of soups, pastas and sides. The restaurant had exceptional service and limoncello drinks after our meals, on the house!

Pizza

Last but not least, PIZZA! We were all able to eat a whole pizza pie because of how real and fresh it was. Now, the pie isn’t as big as the one we are used to in the US, but it also isn’t as salty and stuffing either.
If you are near Piazza de Popolo or the Spanish steps in Rome, a great place to check out is PizzaRe! We had to wait about 30 minutes to be seated, but it was well worth it. The pizza pies are reasonable priced and can be shared by two people. We also got a wine bottle to go with the pizza to celebrate our first night in Italy!
(Prices: Pizza-10EUR and up per pie, Wine- 16EUR, Coperto-1 EUR)

Another spot we enjoyed was Spontini, in Venice. The atmosphere was good and the service was great. The server didn’t even need to jot down what we all wanted; he took all our orders and got them all right. The olives on this pizza were fresh and tasted great. Their pasta and dessert were also very delicious!
(Prices: Combo of 2 slices of pizza, a drink and desert- 11.90EUR, Lasagna- 6EUR)

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What else?

Before we left Italy, we bought several food related items at the supermarkets and outdoor markets. One of the favorite things we bought (and a lot of) is the Pesto sauce. We went to Nino & Friends in Venice, where they had a variety of samples of Pesto sauces, limoncello flavored candy and other chocolate bars. We loved the natural pesto taste and couldn’t resist getting some pesto jars to take back. They also have some kits that include more than one pesto jar and a cream that goes well with wine and crackers!
(Prices: Single pesto Jar: 16EUR, Chocolate bars: 65EUR/kg)

We bought some fresh olives and everyone who tried it back home loved it. My husband also bought olive oil infused with red pepper from the local market. We tried using it recently and it was much more flavorful than regular olive oil.
If it was possible, we would have brought back a big tub of gelato or even a huge slab of fresh salami 😉

Check out the itinerary for our trip to Italy HERE!

Images in this blog post are provided by: @ebabu07, @aashimaj, @mathew88 & @sneha42390