Don't Order Carbonara in Milan
A region-by-region guide to eating the right thing in the right place.
There’s a moment, early in any trip to Italy, when you sit down at a trattoria, open the menu, and think: Carbonara. I know carbonara. Carbonara is safe. And technically, yes, you can order it.
The kitchen will make it. It will arrive at your table. But somewhere between the first bite and the last, you’ll realize… It’s not bad, by any means, but it’s not as spectacular as you expected.
If you want to go beyond pointing at menus, try my adaptive quizzes website, which teaches you Italian as you practice.
This is the quiet mistake tourists make all over Italy: ordering the greatest Italian hits in the wrong city. It’s like asking a high jumper to compete in a 100-meter race. They’ll do it and be much faster than you and me, but it’ll generally be a far cry from a professional sprinter.
Every region has a short list of dishes it believes it does better than anywhere else in the world, and they are almost always right.
Another reason to embrace cucina tipica (local, traditional, authentic cuisine) is to avoid tourist traps, which are notorious for putting the most common Italian dishes on the menu, regardless of geography. And charging you a fortune for it.
Here’s what to actually order, region by region.
Valle d’Aosta
Cities: Aosta (33K)
Valle d’Aosta (Aosta Valley) is Italy’s smallest region, tucked into the Alps. While visiting, try the following dishes:
Fonduta valdostana: melted Fontina cheese with butter and egg yolk, poured over polenta or bread. The fondue you didn’t know could be this good.
Carbonade valdostana: beef braised in red wine. The mountain equivalent of a warm blanket.
🍰 Tegole valdostane: thin, curved almond-and-hazelnut biscuits shaped like roof tiles. Great with coffee.
Piemonte
Cities: Torino (848K), Novara (104K), Alessandria (92K), Asti (74K), Cuneo (57K), Vercelli (45K), Biella (43K), Verbania (30K)
Piemonte (Piedmont) is where Italian food gets quietly luxurious.
Tajarin al tartufo: thin egg pasta similar to spaghetti with shaved white truffle. Worth every cent of the price tag.
Vitello tonnato: cold veal sliced thin under a smooth tuna-caper sauce. The region’s most elegant contradiction.
Bagna cauda: a warm anchovy-garlic dip for raw vegetables. A tasty communal winter dish.
🍰 Gianduiotti: the boat-shaped chocolate-hazelnut pralines born in Torino. If you like Nutella, buy them by the bag, regret nothing.
☕️ Bicerin: a three-layered coffee drink featuring espresso, hot chocolate, and whipped cream or frothed milk.
Liguria
Cities: Genova (560K), La Spezia (94K), Savona (60K), Imperia (43K), Cinque Terre
Pesto’s homeland.
Trofie al pesto genovese: the dish that justifies your trip to the Liguria region.
Focaccia di Recco: paper-thin, cheese-stuffed flatbread. Nothing like the focaccia you know.
Fritto misto di mare: a light, crispy tangle of fried seafood. Perfect for a lunch in between visiting the Aquarium and the Caruggi in Genova.
🍰 Pandolce genovese: Genoa’s answer to panettone: a dense fruit cake studded with pine nuts and candied citrus. Not my jam, but objectively loved by most people.
Lombardia
Cities: Milano (1.4M), Brescia (200K), Monza (124K), Bergamo (122K), Como (84K), Varese (80K), Pavia (73K), Cremona (72K), Mantova (49K), Lecco (48K), Lodi (47K), Sondrio (21K)
When in Lombardia (Lombardy), try out:
Risotto alla milanese: saffron-stained, buttery, golden. Milano considers this a staple.
Ossobuco: braised veal shank with a marrow bone you’re expected to scoop out. Pair it with the risotto.
🍰 Panettone: mostly eaten around Christmas time, but it is available year-round in Milan. Get it from a proper bakery and taste the difference.
Trentino-Alto Adige
Cities: Trento (120K), Bolzano (108K), Rovereto (40K)
Half Italian, half Austrian, entirely its own thing.
Canederli (Knödel): bread dumplings in broth. Alpine comfort food.
Speck: smoked ham that appears on every cheese board and belongs there.
🍰 Strudel di mele: not an import here, but a local tradition. Seriously good.
Veneto
Cities: Venezia (250K), Verona (258K), Padova (210K), Vicenza (112K), Treviso (85K), Rovigo (51K), Belluno (35K)
Ordering pizza in Venezia is an act of mild self-sabotage.
Cicchetti: Venetian tapas at a bacaro (wine bar): baccalà mantecato on crostini, sardines in saor, marinated octopus.
Risotto al nero di seppia: jet-black cuttlefish ink risotto that looks dramatic and tastes like the Adriatic.
Fegato alla veneziana: calf’s liver with onions. The city’s unsung classic.
🍰 Fritole: fried dough balls studded with raisins and pine nuts, dusted in sugar. Carnival season’s gift.
🍰 Tiramisù: yes, it was born in Veneto. Order it here with a clear conscience.
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Cities: Trieste (204K), Udine (99K), Pordenone (51K), Gorizia (34K)
Trieste’s café culture hides a strong food identity.
Frico: a crispy pancake of melted Montasio cheese and potatoes. Addictive.
Jota: a hearty soup of sauerkraut, beans, and pork. The Slovenian influence at the border, in a bowl.
🍰 Gubana: a spiral-shaped sweet bread stuffed with nuts and grappa-soaked fruit.
Emilia-Romagna
Cities: Bologna (394K), Parma (198K), Modena (186K), Reggio Emilia (172K), Ravenna (159K), Rimini (150K), Ferrara (131K), Forlì (117K), Piacenza (104K)
The mothership. Arguably Italy’s greatest eating region, and they know it.
Tagliatelle al ragù: what the world incorrectly calls “spaghetti bolognese.” The real thing, with its silky egg pasta, will ruin the impostor forever.
Prosciutto di Parma con Parmigiano Reggiano: torn chunks of cheese and paper-thin cured ham.
Aceto balsamico tradizionale: in Modena, drizzle real aged balsamic on anything and everything.
🍰 Torta di riso: Bologna’s beloved rice custard cake, scented with almonds and liqueur.
🍰 Zuppa inglese: despite the name (literally English soup), entirely Emilian: layers of custard, chocolate cream, and alchermes liquor-soaked sponge.
Toscana
Cities: Firenze (367K), Prato (195K), Livorno (157K), Arezzo (100K), Pisa (89K), Pistoia (90K), Lucca (89K), Grosseto (82K), Massa (68K), Siena (54K)
Firenze wants you to eat its food, not Roma’s. When in Toscana (Tuscany) try:
Bistecca alla fiorentina: a two-inch-thick T-bone served rare and unapologetic.
Lampredotto: tripe in a sandwich from a street cart. Yes, you should try it.
Ribollita: bread-thickened soup that will warm your heart. Order it when it’s cold.
🍰 Cantucci con vin santo: hard almond biscuits dunked in sweet dessert wine. The perfect ending to a meal.
🍰 Schiacciata alla fiorentina: a soft, vanilla-scented sponge cake dusted with powdered sugar and stamped with the Florentine lily.
Umbria
Cities: Perugia (166K), Terni (111K), Foligno (57K), Città di Castello (39K), Spoleto (38K), Assisi (28K), Gubbio (31K), Orvieto (20K)
Toscana’s quieter, earthier neighbour.
Strangozzi al tartufo nero: hand-rolled pasta with black truffle. The headline dish, more affordable than Piemonte’s white truffle equivalent.
Porchetta: herb-stuffed roast pork, served from roadside vans. One of my favorite foods in the world. Just don’t forget to take your statins.
Torta al testo: flatbread cooked on a stone and stuffed with prosciutto and greens. Fast food done right.
🍰 Tozzetti: crunchy hazelnut biscotti, Umbria’s answer to Tuscany’s cantucci.
🍰 Cioccolato di Perugia: the Baci Perugina were born here. Visit the chocolate shops and if you land at the right time of the year, attend the Eurochocolate festival.
Marche
Cities: Ancona (100K), Pesaro (97K), Fano (61K), Fermo (37K), Ascoli Piceno (47K), Macerata (42K), Civitanova Marche (42K), Recanati (21K), Urbino (15K)
Quietly one of Italy’s best-kept eating secrets.
Olive all’ascolana: stuffed, breaded, fried olives from Ascoli Piceno. The world’s most perfect aperitivo snack.
Vincisgrassi: the region’s rich, elaborate lasagna with béchamel. I personally prefer it even over the Emilian standard Lasagna version.
Brodetto: a saffron-spiked fish stew that varies from town to town and starts arguments accordingly. (We are feisty people.)
🍰 Ciambellone: a simple, rustic ring cake flavoured with lemon and anise. Every nonna makes her own. Afroman and the Adams County sheriff would likely love it.
Lazio
Cities: Roma (2.8M), Latina (128K), Guidonia Montecelio (89K), Fiumicino (82K), Viterbo (68K), Frosinone (45K), Rieti (47K), Tivoli (56K), Aprilia (74K)
This is carbonara’s home. Don’t eat it anywhere else.
Carbonara: guanciale, pecorino romano, egg, black pepper. A point of civic pride.
Cacio e pepe: its minimalist cousin. Two ingredients, just as iconic.
Supplì: fried rice balls with a molten heart of mozzarella, from any pizza al taglio shop worth its salt. My Canadian fiancée still talks about them.
🍰 Maritozzo: a soft, brioche-like bun split open and overflowing with whipped cream. Roma’s favourite breakfast indulgence.
Abruzzo
Cities: Pescara (119K), Chieti (50K), L’Aquila (70K), Teramo (54K)
Mountain food with backbone.
Arrosticini: tiny lamb skewers grilled over a narrow brazier. Eaten by the dozen. Don’t skip the sagre featuring them. (Note: a sagra is a local festival, typically celebrating seasonal food.)
Maccheroni alla chitarra: pasta cut on a wire frame, served with lamb ragù. The primo you want.
🍰 Confetti di Sulmona: sugar-coated almonds, made here since the fifteenth century. Buy a few bags.
🍰 Parrozzo: a dome-shaped almond-and-semolina cake coated in dark chocolate, invented in Pescara.
Molise
Cities: Campobasso (49K), Isernia (21K)
Yes, Molise exists, and it eats well.
Cavatelli con ragù di maiale: hand-shaped pasta with slow-cooked pork. The soul of the local table.
Pallotte cacio e ova: fried balls of cheese and egg in tomato sauce. Peasant food that makes you wonder why anyone bothers with anything fancier.
Caciocavallo: local sheep’s and cow’s milk cheeses that need no embellishment beyond bread.
🍰 Mostaccioli molisani: diamond-shaped spiced biscuits glazed with chocolate or cooked grape must.
Campania
Cities: Napoli (914K), Salerno (129K), Giugliano in Campania (123K), Torre del Greco (83K), Caserta (75K), Castellammare di Stabia (65K), Avellino (53K), Benevento (58K), Costa Amalfitana
Napoli is where pizza was perfected, and you need no further instruction.
Pizza Margherita: find a wood-fired oven. Order. Go for the mozzarella di bufala version. That’s it.
Ragù napoletano: a slow-cooked meat sauce that has nothing to do with what you call ragù at home.
Spaghetti alle vongole: clams, garlic, white wine, and the sea. The only pasta you need along the coast.
🍰 Sfogliatella: crispy, shell-shaped pastry filled with sweet ricotta and candied citrus. The riccia (ridged) version is the classic.
🍰 Babà: a rum-soaked sponge cake that Napoli adopted from the French and made entirely its own.
🍰 Pastiera napoletana: a wheat-and-ricotta Easter tart that locals will argue about year-round. And to think that, as a child, I didn’t like it. It eventually grew on me and I really miss it. Especially, since my mom used to make a phenomenal version.
Puglia
Cities: Bari (316K), Taranto (191K), Foggia (147K), Andria (100K), Barletta (94K), Lecce (95K), Brindisi (86K), Altamura (70K), Cerignola (57K), Bisceglie (55K), Trani (56K), Manfredonia (55K)
Sun-drenched and unfussy.
Orecchiette con cime di rapa: ear-shaped pasta with broccoli rabe, anchovies, and chili. The signature dish, and it’s so good. You must try it and then buy a few bags of orecchiette off the old nonne in the streets.
Burrata: invented here. Eat it still warm and leaking cream.
Bombette: little rolls of meat stuffed with cheese and herbs, grilled over open flame.
🍰 Pasticciotto leccese: a shortcrust pastry shell filled with custard cream, from Lecce. Breakfast of champions.
🍰 Cartellate: fried pastry ribbons drizzled with vincotto or honey, a Christmas staple.
Basilicata
Cities: Potenza (66K), Matera (60K)
Rugged and underrated.
Peperoni cruschi: dried, fried sweet peppers that shatter like chips. The region’s signature ingredient, on everything.
Lucanica: pork sausage seasoned with chili and fennel, made here since Roman times.
Orecchiette con peperoni cruschi: order this in Matera’s cave restaurants for the full experience.
🍰 Strazzate: rough, cracked chocolate-almond cookies that look rustic and taste amazing.
Calabria
Cities: Reggio Calabria (172K), Catanzaro (85K), Cosenza (67K), Lamezia Terme (69K), Crotone (62K), Vibo Valentia (33K)
Calabria likes heat.
‘Nduja: the spreadable, fiery salami from Spilinga. Belongs on bread, in pasta, and arguably on everything. I love spicy food but I’m a lightweight when it comes to spice; yet, even I will indulge. The spicy cousin to Marche’s ciauscolo.
Fileja alla ‘nduja: hand-rolled pasta wrapped in that spicy, porky punch.
Cipolla rossa di Tropea: the sweet red onions of Tropea, showing up everywhere: salads, pizza, jams. Worth the fuss.
🍰 Tartufo di Pizzo: a frozen chocolate truffle with a molten centre, invented in the seaside town of Pizzo (in the province of Vibo Valentia). Order it at the source if you can.
Sicilia
Cities: Palermo (630K), Catania (298K), Messina (227K), Siracusa (119K), Ragusa (74K), Trapani (68K), Marsala (83K), Gela (73K), Agrigento (59K), Caltanissetta (60K), Enna (26K)
Sicilian food is its own universe.
Arancini: deep-fried rice balls stuffed with ragù or butter and cheese. The island’s perfect street food. (Note: these are known as arancini in Eastern Sicily, and arancine in Western Sicility. In Eastern Sicily, they often are cone-shaped.)
Pasta alla Norma: fried eggplant, tomato, and salty ricotta. Catania’s love letter to the world.
🍰 Cannoli: filled to order (never pre-filled, a cardinal sin).
🍰 Cassata siciliana: ricotta-filled sponge cake covered in marzipan and candied fruit. Baroque-looking deliciousness.
🍰 Granita con brioche: icy, intensely flavoured granita (almond, pistachio, lemon, mulberry) scooped into a soft brioche bun. Sicilia’s greatest breakfast.
Sardegna
Cities: Cagliari (149K), Sassari (126K), Quartu Sant'Elena (70K), Olbia (63K), Nuoro (36K), Oristano (31K)
Sardegna (Sardinia) feels like a different country, and the food follows suit.
Culurgiones: ravioli filled with potato, mint, and pecorino, pinched shut like tiny works of art.
Porceddu: spit-roasted suckling pig. The island’s celebratory centrepiece.
Fregola con arselle: toasted semolina pasta with clams. Sardegna’s answer to the mainland’s seafood pastas.
🍰 Seadas: fried pastry filled with fresh cheese and drizzled with warm honey. The island’s signature dessert.
🍰 Amaretti sardi: light, crumbly almond macaroons, subtly bitter and impossible to stop eating.
The pattern is simple: every Italian region has a chip on its shoulder and a short list of dishes it believes it does better than anywhere else on earth.
The real pleasure of eating in Italy is surrendering to geography. Ask the waiter what’s local. Look for the dish that appears on every menu within a three-block radius: that’s the one you want.
So please, by all means, go to Milan. Just don’t order the carbonara.
This is a glorious dictionary. I try to do a bit of local food insider everywhere I go so that Americans dont come to Sicily and order burgers - but you are of course perfect