Ben Groundwater

Writes.

You know Italian food, right? You know about the pasta and the pizza and the cured meats. You know about the cheese and the pastries, and the coffee. You know what to expect. Except, you don’t. Because when you arrive in Italy, you realise things are different. To get the best out of your Italian eating extravaganza, it pays to know the regional specialties, the foods to enjoy, and the ones to ignore.

Antipasti

There’s a lot of extremely good food crammed into one heading: antipasti. The food that comes before the main meal. The appetiser. The teaser. And when that teaser includes olives, artichokes, pickled or grilled vegetables, anchovies, fried calamari, mortadella, prosciutto, salami, bresaola, culatello, and any number of amazing breads, you almost don’t need anything else.

Eat it: Anywhere, before a meal

Spaghetti carbonara

The king of Roman pasta dishes, a creamy, peppery mix of eggs, pecorino cheese, and crispy guanciale (cured pig’s cheek) stirred through al dente pasta. Rome’s other great contributions to pasta sauce involve the steady reduction of ingredients: ‘‘gricia’’ is cheese, pepper, and guanciale, while ‘‘cacio e pepe’’ is simply cheese and pepper.

Eat it: Salumeria Roscioli, Rome (salumeriaroscioli.com)

Cottoletta alla Milanese

Though Milan’s most famous product is probably osso bucco, cottoletta is closest to most locals’ hearts, a crumbed veal cutlet fried in butter. Diet food it ain’t, but whether it’s served on its own, as is tradition, or topped with cherry tomatoes and rocket, as is the new style, this is one tasty meal.

Eat it: Osteria Brunello, Milan (osteriabrunello.it)

Porchetta

Take one enormous pork loin, wrap it in a pork belly, marinate it in garlic, herbs, orange peel, and fennel, roll it, tie it, then throw it in the oven to cook low and slow for the good part of a day. The result is porchetta: sliced thinly and served in fresh bread.

Eat it: I Porchettoni di Pigneta, Rome

Tagliatelle al ragu

The dish you know as spaghetti bolognese doesn’t exist in Italy. You’ll find pale imitations in tourist-focused restaurants across the country, but in Bologna it’s called tagliatelle al ragu – long, flat ribbons of pasta served with a sauce of minced meat simmered with sofrito, milk, and a tiny amount of tomato, topped with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. There’s almost nothing better in the world.

Eat it: Trattoria Anna Maria, Bologna (trattoriaannamaria.com)

Bistecca alla Fiorentina

If you think one kilogram of steak is too much, then you’ve come to the wrong place, my friend. In Florence the steaks are served huge and rare, accompanied by napkins and little else. These whopping lumps of cow can be divided among several diners, or devoured by one hardy soul.

Eat it: Il Latini, Florence (illatini.com)

Orecchiette alle cime de rapa

In Puglia, the sun-drenched province on the heel of Italy’s boot, the favourite pasta is orecchiette, or ‘‘little ears’’. These ears are traditionally served with a sauce of cime de rapa, or turnip tops, with onions, anchovies, and chilli, to form a simple yet delicious beginning to any meal.

Eat it: Boccon Divino, Lecce (bocondivinolecce.com)

Pizza Margherita

This is not quite the ultimate in pizza simplicity – that would be the ‘‘marinara’’, just dough and tomatoes. But the margherita, with tomatoes and mozzarella de bufala, is perfection, the ideal mix of salty, creamy, and umami on a thin but chewy base. If you’re eating it outside of Naples, you’re not getting the real thing.

Eat it: L’antica Pizzeria da Michele, Napoli (damichele.net)

Arancini

Though there wasn’t room for risotto on this list, there is space for its best friend. These Sicilian delights are balls of leftover risotto that are mixed with cheese and sometimes peas, or mince, or other fillings, then crumbed and deepfried. The Roman adaptation, suppli, is delicious, but for the real thing go to Sicily.

Eat it: Pasticceria Savia, Catania (savia.it)