Where to go and what to eat when you're in Italy

From the top cities for taste testers to the best dishes to sample, here are the Italian food experiences you can't miss out on.

Bologna straddles Italian food lines between the butter-led north and the tomato-based cuisine of the south.

Bologna

Sniff around Piedmont, Tuscany and Umbria for the world's most coveted fungi.

Truffles

Rave about Massimo Bottura's ingenious flavour combinations at one of the world's hottest restaurants.

Osteria Francescana

So fresh you can eat it raw in Venice, home to the seafood-heaving Rialto Market.

seafood

Buxom eggplants, juicy raisins and velvety marzipan – cross-cultural Sicily puts the fusion in Italian cuisine.

sicily

Eat Italy's most famous export at its birthplace in Naples.

pizza

Parma’s cheese is the most famous; just leave room for Lombardy's Taleggio, Campania's buffalo mozzarella and Puglia's creamy burrata.

Parmigiano Reggiano

Carnivores drool over Florence's iconic bistecca alla fiorentina, hailing from Tuscany's prized Val di Chiana.

Tuscan T-Bone

Unique regional cuisine blending Italian, German and Slavic influences.

Friuli Venezia Giulia

In Italy's deep south, Puglia's hearty and robust cucina povera (poor man's cuisine) harnesses strictly local produce for unique regional dishes.

Puglia