10 Incredible Regional Italian Dishes You May Have Never Heard Of

by  Allison Tibaldi | Oct 31, 2023

In Italy, eating is a national pastime. From the first sip of espresso in the morning until the last forkful of pasta in the evening, food is a round-the-clock obsession. The pleasures of the palate are elevated to a poetic level yet culinary traditions are held tightly; meals are consumed at a leisurely pace, each sauce pairs with a specific shape of pasta, and cappuccino is a breakfast-only beverage.  While a love of food reaches every nook and cranny of the Bel Paese, each of its 20 regions has a distinct culinary lexicon and foodways that go back thousands of years. What a Northern Italian in Torino eats is very different from what a Southern Italian in Naples nibbles. Read on and discover 10 of Italy's most mouth-watering, under-the-radar regional dishes. 

iStock/Ross Helen

Photo: Courtesy of Italian Tourism

Prosciutto di San Daniele — Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Friuli-Venezia Giulia sits at the border of Austria and Slovenia. Tucked away in a forest of oak, ash, and chestnut trees is the town of San Daniele, where the most refined ham in all of Italy, prosciutto di San Daniele, is produced. Cured with very little salt as the nearby Adriatic Sea breeze adds salinity, locals usually eat tissue-thin slices unadorned, though it’s equally ethereal as part of an antipasto platter accompanied by cheese, olives, and fruit. 


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