"What and where did you eat?" "- the first question I ask the friends who returned from a trip to Italy .Yes, Italy is not only "prosciutto croco", "mozzarella bufallo" and countless varieties of pasta .Vatican and La Scala, ancient Roman ruins and restless Etna, excellent ski slopes and fashionable Milan boutiques - none of this was canceled by anyone .But Italy is one of the few countries where you can go, guided exclusively by gastronomic considerations .In which particular region you are traveling - it does not matter .Here everywhere tasty, everywhere colorful .

Curiously, the writer and historian John Dickie, who wrote a book about the history of Italian cuisine, reminds us that the Italians themselves call themselves "the civilization of the table" .And in this concept includes many aspects of culture - from the agricultural economy to family recipes marinade .Food in Italy is certainly fascinating, but even more interesting is the people who produce it, sell, eat and talk about it .Therefore, going on a trip to the Apennine peninsula, eat and drink from the heart, talk to traders in the markets, ask waiters and cooks about the dishes that you try .Believe me, in these intimate conversations you will learn about Italians much more than from guides and books .

From the gastronomic point of view, each region of Italy is unique, but Emilia-Romagna still stands apart. This is the Mecca for those who like to eat deliciously. In shops with "specialties" of Bologna it's always an unheard turn, almost every waiter in the city is ready to enter into a heated debate over gastronomic topics, and cooks willingly share grandmother's secrets, you should be persistent and not stint on your praise.

One day I was about to taste a spaghetti bolognese. But it was not there - I was laughed at! The owner of the establishment, gesticulating temperamentally, began to explain that the spaghetti is not suitable for meat sauce, the stew is badly screwed on a thin paste - only a tagliatelle! "In Bologna do not eat spaghetti bolognese, stupid myths," he grumbled, retiring to the kitchen.

Just reading the menu of the usual Bolognese restaurant can delight. Tortelloni with delicate ricotta and spinach with mushroom sauce, tortellini with sausage stuffing in a meat stew in Bolognese style ... And what about the legendary Bologna dessert "zuppa inglese" ("English soup") - biscuits impregnated with liqueur, greased with egg- lemon cream and topped with cocoa!

But Florence - a paradise for sweet tooth: here they hurry to enjoy a lot of Tuscan sweets .Panforte with almonds, candied fruits and spices, soft ricchiarelli almond biscuits, triangle of thin short dough with a stuffing of light raisins and candied fruits, covered with crusts of whipped with hazelnuts, cavaluche with walnuts, honey and spices, which it is customary to soak in sweet wine ... Believe me, all these sweets will leave no less impressions than the enchanting views of the medieval city, opening from the observation deck of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore .

Or, say, Rimini ... It would seem that a small resort, known to the Russians mainly due to the presence of the airport and the territorial proximity to San Marino. But how quickly will your opinion change when, having ordered an assortment of seafood in one of the many restaurants on the coast, you will receive a huge bucket with the freshest gifts of the sea - more precisely, the "fruits of the sea", as the Italians poetically call them. And now Rimini appears in a different light. And do not stay longer here?

It is at such moments and you understand why in the best Italian textbooks the first topic is gastronomy and the names of products and dishes - you definitely can not do without this knowledge in Italy!