In fact, many people travel to Italy just for the food, and tourists along the whole peninsular won't ever go a minute hungry during their stay.
Italians are very passionate about their food, and have many unspoken rules when it comes to eating.
Food is at the centre of Italian culture, and meals are considered as a way to unite, form friendships and spend time with loved ones.
Therefore, meals in Italy are to be eaten at a leisurely pace, so don’t be surprised if a Sunday lunch with Italian friends turns into an hours long session of relaxation, laughter and enjoying several delicious courses.
Italians eat a lot later than we do in Australia.
Lunch is usually served after 1:00 pm, while dinner won’t typically be served until 8:00 pm at the earliest.
There are no strict guidelines, however, and dining times tend to vary slightly depending on the region and the season in question.
If you're a guest at any meal in Italy, it's polite to wait until the host or the most important person at the table sits down and begins eating before you do.
While here in Australia, the host typically sits at the “head” of the table, in Italy the hosts tend to occupy the middle of the longer sides of the table.
Lunch is traditionally the main meal of the day in Italy, and can consist of five courses.
Meals are usually enjoyed with wine or mineral water, and beer is often consumed with pizza.
Certain wine is paired with different dishes, and red wine usually accompanies red meat dishes, while white wine is common with seafood.
“Antipasti” (appetisers) are served first, and usually consist of cold cuts, olives and local specialties. Don’t get too excited, you still have a lot to fit in yet.
The “Primo” (first course) arrives next, and is commonly a serving of soup, pasta or risotto.
The “Secondo” (main course) is the hero of the whole meal, and is usually a meat, poultry or seafood dish depending on the region and season.
The “Contorni” (sides) accompany the meal, and if you can fit them in, you’ll find cooked vegetables or salad.
Nobody’s ever too full for dessert, and Italians are big on their sweets.
A typical Italian dessert could include fruit, cheese or pastries and cakes, and is usually accompanied with a “digestivo” or a coffee…espresso of course.
While we’re on the topic of coffee, Italians never drink a cappuccino after 11 am…and if you’re spotted slurping on a fluffy capp during the afternoon, you'll immediately stand out from the crowd.
Take-away coffee is also not on the cards…Italians always stop to enjoy their caffeine hit even during work hours.
If you stop for a coffee at an Italian “bar”, you will find a row of Italians standing at the counter sipping on their drinks, and maybe even eating a snack.
In Italy coffee is consumed “a piedi”, and if you’re desperate to rest your feet while you perk yourself up with a coffee, know you'll be charged extra for sitting at a table.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
There are many rules surrounding pasta, and it’s crucial that you're familiar with them if you want to enjoy the true Italian experience.
Pasta comes in all shapes and sizes in Italy, and each distinct type of pasta goes well with specific sauces.
For example, smaller pastas, such as rigatoni and penne are served with olive sauces, while longer pasta such as spaghetti is paired with shellfish.
Speaking of spaghetti, you should never cut your spaghetti.
Instead, you should master the Italian art of “twirling” your spaghetti onto your fork in a delicate manner.
While Australians love to pile grated cheese onto all pasta dishes, Italians never add parmesan or other grated cheeses to seafood dishes…even seafood based pasta.
Traditionally, pasta and bread aren’t served together in Italy, and bread is eaten without butter.
Bread can be eaten at the end of a meal, and the “scarpetta” refers to when a piece of bread is used to scrape up the remaining sauce of a meal, usually a custom only practiced in the home.
The motto “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” couldn’t be more wrong in Italy, and a morning feed is usually a quick and light occasion.
An Italian breakfast usually consists of a coffee or hot drink and pastries, such as a croissant.
“Fette biscottate” (dried toast) and jam or sweet biscuits are also popular, and are dipped in a hot drink to tide Italians over until lunch.
Don’t expect to find typically heavy Australian breakfasts, such as eggs and bacon in Italy unless you’re staying at a very “Americanised” hotel.
In fact, if Italians were to find you cooking up some eggs in the morning they'd be utterly shocked.
But not to worry, it'll only be a few hours before the real feast begins.
