What to Eat in Every Region of Italy
Discover the unique Italian food that you’ll find on menus across the Boot
The beauty of Italy — and Italian food for that matter — is discovered in its different regions. Truly, every town in Italy has its own unique flair. Each region — sometimes each town — has its own dialect in addition to universal Italian. They have different traditions and cultural expectations. The rhythm of life shifts depending on where in Italy you find yourself.
As a result, the people’s diets are heavily influenced by their geography. Most of them lived farm-to-table before that was a thing for everyone else. Many grow their own fruits and vegetables. While people think of pizza, pasta, and gelato when they head to Italy — and that’s perfectly all right, there’s more nuance. Each region has distinct dishes worth sampling. To simplify matters for tourists and Italian natives a like, here is a list of the most famous dishes broken down by region:
Abruzzo
Spaghetti alla chitarra is the first dish to pop up on search when you look up the most famous food in the region. Chitarra means guitar and it refers to the tool used to make this type of square-shaped pasta. Other ingredients or foods that get attention include licorice of Atria, mortadella di Campotosto, and torrone (nougat), according to La Cucina Italiana.
