Italy

After 10 amazing meals, we are heading to the country with one of the most loved cuisines. Who can turn away a good pasta or pizza? And don’t get us started on the desserts!

Italian food is deeply rooted in cultural traditions, and while each region of Italy had distinct gastronomies, over time, they became national and international favourites throughout history. Italian food is known for its simplicity, you don’t need too many ingredients, but the freshness of those ingredients defines the quality of Italian cuisine. Like all other cuisines, Italian food has been shaped by other cultures, especially its neighbours Spain and France. Italy was divided into regions until the 19th century, and each regions’ cuisine was dependent on access to different ingredients, including spices and fresh produce. Being on the silk trade route, some regions of Italy also enjoyed spices from Asia.

The first recorded cookbook goes all the way back to 4 AD Rome. Apicius took down over 500 recipes in De Re Culinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), which is now a window into Roman gastronomy. The Mediterranean triad of wine, grains and olive oil was plentiful in Italy and was a staple of Roman cooking. Upper class Romans loved an extravagant party, sometimes lasting for many days on end. During these parties they used many ingredients, some new from the conquered countries. Fish and meats were sourced locally, spices came from the Middle East, grains were taken from North America.

The rise of Christianity in the Mediterranean saw a ban of banquets as they were considered immoral and fasting was introduced instead. However in the late Middle Ages and the rise of bourgeoisie, the life of Italian cuisine started again, this time food was not only for nourishment but for pleasure, which included rich sauces.

Did you know that pasta wasn’t invented in Italy? While mainland Italians fasted, Arabic influences brought over spices, pasta and dried fruit to Sicily in the 9th century. But Italians took those beautiful ingredients and turned it into something incredible.

During the Renaissance, Italian cuisine had a chance to thrive (for the upper classes). In Rome, the home of the Pope, feasts were plentiful, with rich ingredients, a variety of delicious savoury and sweet delicacies like roasted pheasants and marzipan. In Venice, La Serenissima was the sole producer and importer of sugar and oriental spices (across all of Europe). Venetians went on to invent sugared fruits and sugar sculptures.

In the 17th century, the northwestern neighbour (France) started to take over food innovation, which challenged Italy to refine its cuisine. Italian chefs started to celebrate the regional culinary differences. This caused a spark in innovation, many of Italian desserts originated soon after, like Tiramisù, torrone and zuppa del duca. In the same century, Giovan Battista Critci published a first of a kind cookbook on southern cuisine, which pathed an example for other chefs. This formalised the age-old family traditions and shared the secrets beyond word of month.

The 19th century saw a lot of changes in Italy. Not only did Italy become a unified country in 1861, the technology had a significant impact on Italian cuisine. Rail systems allowed for easier transformation of products and fertilisers meant food became cheaper and easier to access. It is only here when our favourites like pesto or pizza have originated.

It is said that Raffaele Esposito created the Margherita pizza in honour of Queen Margherita di Savoia, in Naples. But it’s been taken across the country and then the world.

Italian cuisine has been copied worldwide, and has inspired a lot of other cuisines, especially in the US. An all time favourite pepperoni pizza didn’t come from Italy, it’s actually a version of the beloved dish created in the USA.

Sartori - Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria

It has been a while since we've had such a copious amount of restaurants to choose from for one of our stops, but we didn't want just another pizza place or somewhere selling your standard pasta options. As always, we were looking for someplace that would offer more authentic dishes that can't be found at just every restaurant.

Sartori may not seem an obvious choice for an Italian that isn't just another commercialised restaurant, given it's almost in the heart of the tourist area, but it came as a recommendation from an Italian friend. Spoiler, it was an excellent recommendation.

Unlike Phileas Fogg, who only spent 45 minutes in Italy on his journey around the world, we intended to take our time over this meal. As such, we decided to go for all 3 courses.

The options included the regular dishes you find at most Italian restaurants, but Sartori is a Neapolitan restaurant, so many of its dishes are rooted into take inspiration and ingredients from Napals. For instance, Gateau di Patate for antipasti, or Panuozzi which is kind of like a pizza panni. Even the pasta dishes had fairly unique pasta variations. There was an excellent selection of seafood and vegetarian dishes on the menu.

We had quite a big party for this stop, and the staff were very efficient, taking the orders and serving the food pretty quickly. All of the food got good reports from everyone at the table. The pasta was cooked to perfection, al dente, of course, seafood was fresh and the sauces were rich and brought the dishes together.

Another good thing about an Italian restaurant is that they know how to do desserts. They have the traditional tiramisu but we'd highly recommend the Delizia al Limone. A light way to end the meal and extremely tasty.

Given the tourist location of this restaurant, we went with a degree of scepticism. However, it turned out to be a wonderfully good place to go for more traditional Italian food. We even accidentally bumped into one of our Italian friends there. And although on the slightly more pricey side, it wasn't over the top given we were in the heart of London eating delicious food.

Recommendations

While we are only able to go to one place per country, we want to share with you some other awesome places we found/got recommended if you want to try it out and let us know

• Santoré, EC1R 4QL - Wood-fired pizza, pasta & other traditional Italian cuisine
• Il Bordello, E1W 3SS - Old-school Italian restaurant with an authentic feel
• 50 Kalò di Ciro Salvo Pizzeria, WC2N 5BY - Airy, marble-clad stop offering Neapolitan-style pizza