Food / Wine

When visiting Italy have you ever had a restaurant meal that was so delicious that you wished you could take it with you? As a member of Buon Ricordo, you can literally take the dish home as a souvenir!

In Italy, dishes are usually served on separate plates in a specific order. Here are the main components of a typical Italian menu, in the order they are served.

If spaghetti and meatballs with a glass of red wine from a straw-covered flask is the closest you've come to authentic Italian cuisine, then these quick, step-by-step instructions will help you order like a native when traveling to Italy.

The starting place for exploring Italian Food, from your About SiteGuide Kyle Phillips.

An Italian tour company conducts specialized small-group food tours to Italy. Itineraries include artisanal cheese-making demonstrations, visits to Italian wineries and olive oil press facilities, pastry-making exhibits, and meals at local restaurants.

If learning Italian were as common as ordering a pizza, then the Italian language would have the largest number of speakers in the world.

Restaurants in Italy include the autogrill, or roadside snack bar; the osteria, an informal place; the trattoria, which is a medium-priced, often family-run eating establishment; and the paninoteca, a place where sandwiches and salads are often available.

The starting place for exploring Wine, from your About.com SiteGuide Stacy Slinkard.

Official Website of wine producer Marchesi Antinori. The family has been in the business since Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Florentine Guild of Vintners in 1385.

News and information on wine, travel, and tourism from the geographical region that produces Chianti Classico (and it doesn't come in a straw flask anymore).

Everything about la cucina italiana: recipes, regional menus, healthy eating, diets, and a special vegetarian section. Send a postcard and check the food horoscopes too. [English and Italian]

Look no further for trecce nere (squid ink) pasta, gnocchi, or foglie autunno (autumn leaves) pasta. The Big Parmesan also has an excellent selection of sauces and olive oils.

The online bilingual version of the print magazine devoted to food, wine, and travel.

Italian wine terms and jargon.

Glossary of Italian gastronomic terms, from <i>abbacchio</i> to <i>zucchero</i>.

From the National Pasta Association, everything about pasta including recipes, nutrition data, historical information, and FAQs.

Provides online recipes, information about Italian food, wine, travel, and culture, and the opportunity to participate in culinary events and trips to Italy. Regularly updated articles and an online store featuring cookbooks, magazines, cooking tools, olive oils and other products.

Receive two handcrafted wines from a leading Italian winemaker along with a newsletter on the region, the winery, the wines, and the foods which the wines complement.

Used in sauce preparation, Marsala reduces to a rich velvety texture with an aromatic aroma.

The corporate Web site for purveyors of premium select extra virgin olive oil. Download recipes, shop for olive oil and gifts, and learn how the soil, climate, fruit, and harvest are integral to the high standards of Lucini olive oil. Includes information on the Lucini product line and the town of Loro Ciuffenna, where the olives are grown.

Food guide for recipes, menus, and tips from chefs.

Located in Valdobbiadene, a few miles north of Venice, the world's only source of wine from the Prosecco grape.

Located in Rome, the museum is the only one of its kind in the world. Contains exhibitions on the history of pasta, the machinery used in manufacture, and documentation on the evolution of pasta from an economic and industrial point of view.

Explore the history of olive trees, healthy recipes and the Mediterranean lifestyle diet at the official site of Bertolli Olive Oil.

Makers of the famous fish bottle for white wine and one of the remaining companies to manufacture Chianti in a straw flask.

Online pizzeria with recipes, pizza-making secrets, events, a guide to pizza-making schools, marketplace, and notes from the experts.

Comprehensive information provided by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) includes an overview, vintage chart, appellations, and notes on starting a wine cellar.

Official home site of prosecco, the sparkling white wine. Has resources on the production area, wines, and Consorzio di Tutela del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene.

Corporate site for the Ruffino estate in Tuscany. Contains news, harvest information, history, and hints on conducting a wine tasting.

History, description, recipes and more for the dessert whose name translates from an Italian dialect as "pick me up."

Article on Italian wines and their passion-enhancing, aphrodisiacal qualities. In the author's own words, «Bevete, andate e moltiplicatevi!». [in Italian]