The cuisine of Italy changes as you move from region to region (even sometimes, from city to nearby city), with each area having unique recipes, specialties and culinary traditions. One of the joys of traveling to Italy is experiencing the traditional local cuisine (cucina tipica): a perfectly prepared risotto in Lombardy or Piedmont, a savory pappa al pomodoro in Florence or lightly fried moeche (soft-shell crabs) in Venice.

Our Italian food guide takes you beyond the culinary experience of the typical tourist and gives you the information you need to order like a local.

This recently updated and expanded guidebook begins by offering recommendations for navigating the Italian culinary scene (when to eat, how to tip, when not to order a cappuccino, etc.) and then goes on to provide a region-by-region culinary review. In reviewing the food for each region, the typical antipasti, primi, secondi, and dolci are profiled.

To make things easier for you to navigate each new region’s cuisine, this guidebook also provides detailed profiles of Italian salumi and pasta types, as well as a comprehensive, searchable, Italian-to-English glossary of culinary terms.

Using our Italian Food Guide

1. Never miss a ‘must-try’ dish. Our Approach Guide to Italian Food is organized by region and uses a bullet-point based format that enables you to quickly scan through the list of foods and quickly find the recommended ‘must-try’ dishes for each region.
2. Complete your Italian culinary experience. Pair this guide with our Italian Wine Guide.

This guide has been written with the traveler in mind and is organized by region (so that when in a specific place like Venice or Rome, you can quickly and easily identify local dishes to try).

We hope you enjoy what we believe is a totally unique cultural guide to some of the best in Italian cuisine. Buon appetito!

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: One of the benefits of eBooks is that we can easily update content and release new editions of our guidebooks. These updates are FREE for existing customers. Please visit for a list of recently updated guides and instructions on downloading the new version to your device.

Get our wine app for iPhone and iPad!

Choose your next bottle of wine smartly and confidently with AG Wine, Approach Guides’ iPhone & iPad App. We offer insightful profiles of regions, appellations, grape varieties, and vintages, helping you navigate any wine list or shop with ease .

Best of all, the app never requires an internet connection (all of the information is resident in the app), so you never have to worry about expensive data roaming charges.

Download on iTunes today!