Italian Meals, Eateries and Beverages
The best way to describe Italian cooking is its healthy balance. Italians use basic, good, fresh ingredients and cook them simply retaining their original goodness and freshness.
Italian Meals
Italian breakfast, or colazione is generally very light. A cappuccino and a sweet pastry or perhaps an espresso is often all it consists of.
Pranzo, or lunch in Italian, has traditionally always been the big meal. It starts with an antipasto, then a primo piatto, which is usually pasta, rice or soup, then a secondo piatto, which is meat or fish, with contorno, which is either a vegetable or a salad. You would then have fresh fruit and finish with espresso and perhaps a grappa, which is a strong digestive liqueur.
Cena, dinner, in Italy is similar to lunch. This is changing somewhat in the industrialized cities, where they may have a lighter lunch and dinner becomes the major meal.
Where to eat in Italy?
Italian restaurants (ristoranti) are the most formal type of place to eat. They are often a little fancy. The trafforia and the osteria are less formal, where local specialties are served and many are family run. If you want a quick meal, go to a panineria, which is a sandwich bar. Don’t miss out on a meal at an Italian pizzeria.
The gelateria serves Italian gelato ice cream, which comes in hundreds of different flavours and can be enjoyed at any time of the day.
Italian Drinks
Due to Italy’s climate, soil and very old traditions, it is the largest producer of wines, and produces many famous and great wines. Italian wines are all personal and typical of each region. Other Italian drinks include aperitifs, such as vermouth; desert wines such as Moscato, Marsala and Malvasia. There are also many sparkling wines from Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany and the islands. Italy also produces excellent beers and effervescent mineral waters.
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