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re: Eating my way through Italy

Posted on 6/28/26 at 12:42 pm to
Posted by Tree_Fall
Member since Mar 2021
1329 posts
Posted on 6/28/26 at 12:42 pm to
Padua is a great food and beverage city in the Veneto region. There is a lot of seasonal variation in dishes. Rice is grown nearby so risotto competes with pasta. It's also a good base for day trips into Venice. There are several "tasting" tour operators there, but my experiences are too outdated to make a recommendation. A tip I got there is always buy the house wines. Most restaurants pride themselves in stocking the best local wines, often in bulk rather than bottled.

Best meal in Milan, LuBar next to Modern Art Gallery in public garden.

The best steaks in Florence should be cut from Tuscan Chianina cattle. A big T-bone or Porterhouse can feed several people. The waiter carves it at the table so you can compare the shell and tenderloin portions.
Posted by GOP_Tiger
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2005
21181 posts
Posted on 6/28/26 at 2:41 pm to
quote:

The best steaks in Florence should be cut from Tuscan Chianina cattle. A big T-bone or Porterhouse can feed several people. The waiter carves it at the table so you can compare the shell and tenderloin portions.


Yeah, at the osteria where we ate it, the minimum t-bone cut was 1.2 kg (42 ounces). Florentine steak is meant to be shared.
Posted by eitek1
Member since Jun 2011
2905 posts
Posted on 6/28/26 at 3:14 pm to
You DO NOT want to drive in Rome. I was there a week ago and our cab driver from the airport was doing like 85mph on the shoulder. Those people are nuts.

I agree on what the previous poster said. Pretty much the same food everywhere we went. It was all good, hot and fresh but the same dishes.
Posted by kciDAtaE
Member since Apr 2017
17789 posts
Posted on 6/28/26 at 3:40 pm to
Did you travel to different regions? The coast, northern Italy, the south, etc. It varies a good bit.
Posted by Big Scrub TX
Member since Dec 2013
40159 posts
Posted on 6/28/26 at 4:52 pm to
quote:

Did you travel to different regions? The coast, northern Italy, the south, etc. It varies a good bit.
My travels in the south have been limited to date. It's been many years since I've been south of Rome - and have never been to Sicily.
Posted by GOP_Tiger
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2005
21181 posts
Posted on 6/28/26 at 7:40 pm to
quote:

Pretty much the same food everywhere we went. It was all good, hot and fresh but the same dishes.


Do y'all understand why this is? It's because of what tourists expect. There wasn't even a single restaurant in Venice serving pizza until a century ago. But today, almost every Venetian restaurant serves pizza, because it's the "Italian food" that tourists expect.

On my trip this past month, I even saw a number of restaurants serving pasta with Alfredo sauce. Y'all, Alfredo sauce was invented in one restaurant in Rome in 1950 and was completely unknown in Italy until the sauce became so popular in America that all the American tourists began asking for it in restaurants in Italy, and then these restaurants learned how to cook it. Very few ordinary Italians know what it is, but it's getting common in touristy restaurants.

You can still get plenty of unique dishes in different parts of Italy, but you have to be aware that touristy restaurants are going to offer the dishes that tourists expect.
Posted by LemmyLives
Texas
Member since Mar 2019
17561 posts
Posted on 6/28/26 at 7:45 pm to
quote:

Rather, the restaurants basically compete to make THE BEST version of a narrow set of dishes.

To the point that I find it repetitive and undifferentiated.

Very well said. I am guessing Americans get amazed by the experience part of eating in Italy, and not actually the food itself.
Posted by Warheel
Member since Aug 2011
2304 posts
Posted on 6/29/26 at 7:29 am to
Had a unique for me pasta dish last night (our last night in Napoli). Place was jam packed with locals. The sauge had datterino tomatos which had a sweetish flavor, along with chilis and parmesano reggiano.

The octopus ragu bruschetta appetizer was otherworldly flavorful.

Posted by JackandWater
Member since Apr 2020
401 posts
Posted on 6/29/26 at 10:16 am to
Ocean, planning my first trip over there next April. Thinking Rome, Florence, Cinque Terra (1 or 2 nights) then the Almafi Coast. That sound like a decent plan for a first timer?
Posted by Napoleon
Kenna
Member since Dec 2007
74866 posts
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:42 pm to
Lake Como was awesome but the better food was in places you listed. With a car I would go to the Almalfi coast too. Rome has a lot of great eats.
Posted by geauxpurple
New Orleans
Member since Jul 2014
17738 posts
Posted on 6/29/26 at 1:32 pm to
I just ate my way around Venice a few weeks ago. Lots of good restaurants there.

I have eaten my way around Tuscany on previous trips. Delicious food to go with their wine.

My favorite Michelin starred restaurant in Italy is LaSponda in Positano.
Posted by b-rab2
N. Louisiana
Member since Dec 2005
12962 posts
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:15 pm to
quote:

Lake Como was awesome but the better food was in places you listed.


I can second this.
Posted by TheOcean
#honeyfriedchicken
Member since Aug 2004
46669 posts
Posted on 6/30/26 at 4:40 am to
quote:

Ocean, planning my first trip over there next April. Thinking Rome, Florence, Cinque Terra (1 or 2 nights) then the Almafi Coast. That sound like a decent plan for a first timer?


Can't go wrong with that. If you love it, then next time you go, explore some other parts of italy.
Posted by JackandWater
Member since Apr 2020
401 posts
Posted on 6/30/26 at 4:08 pm to
Appreciate it!
Posted by Dirtysouthdeacon
Dirtysouth
Member since Aug 2018
295 posts
Posted on 7/2/26 at 10:04 am to
Acqua Al 2 - Florence. Get the "special" pasta app of the day ( it is like 6 homemade pasta) and the blueberry filet entree.
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