'Nduja: peperoncino-fired spreadable pork.
Techniques that define this cuisine
Siblings within Italian — each its own tradition.
Butter, rice, polenta — Alpine and risotto country. Less tomato, more cream and cheese.
Bread, beans, bistecca alla fiorentina. Rustic, salt-light by tradition, olive oil pour-over.
Egg pasta, prosciutto, parmigiano, balsamic — the deepest pantry in Italy.
Arab-Norman-Greek inheritance — pistachio, citrus, sweet-and-sour, sword fish, arancini, cannoli.
Pizza margherita, ragù napoletano, Vesuvian tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala — the south's loud and tomato-forward face.
Cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana, gricia — pasta with four ingredients executed to the gram.
Wheat country: orecchiette, focaccia barese, burrata, vegetables stewed in olive oil.
Coastal pesto, focaccia, basil and olive oil — the green-and-bright cuisine of Genoa.
Pastoral island cooking — pane carasau, malloreddus, suckling pig over myrtle.
Lagoon seafood, salt cod, polenta, sweet-sour spice — Venice's trade-route palate.
