Entertaining Italian Style

Italian dining traditions and how to host meals the Italian way. Articles cover meal structure, traditional celebrations, drinks, and authentic table settings.

A Romantic Italian Meal for Valentines Day

A romantic Italian getaway to Umbria offers Baci chocolates with love notes and a visit to St Valentine's hometown in Terni.

Aperitivi, Digestivi and Other Mealtime Drinks

Italian aperitifs and digestifs are drinks designed to open your appetite before meals and settle your stomach after.

Buon Natale: Christmas Italian Style

How Italian families gather at Christmas to cook traditional seafood feasts and argue about whose recipes are best.

Celebrating Easter Italian Style

How Italian families celebrate Easter with traditional meals, homemade chocolate eggs, and classic dishes like lamb and colomba bread.

Entertaining Italian Style

How Italians entertain: skip the fancy rules and focus on good people, simple food, and time spent together around the table.

How to Make Farinata: Italian Pancakes

Make farinata, a crispy Italian chickpea pancake from Genoa, with this simple recipe and tips for getting it right.

Italian Food Retailers on the Internet

How Italian food retailers online are making it easier to get authentic ingredients wherever you live.

Italian New Year Celebrations

Italians ring in New Year's Eve in town squares with fireworks, dancing, and a traditional feast centred on lentils and pork sausage.

Music Italian Style

How tarantella and other traditional Italian music shaped the dining experience across generations and cultures.

Restaurant Food Spellings: I Say Panino: You Say Panini

Italian sandwich shops keep getting panino and panini mixed up, and it's just the beginning of their language troubles.

Serving Dishes and Equipment

Skip the fancy china and themed souvenir sets, Italian meals work best with simple serving dishes that let the food take centre stage.

The Structure of an Italian Meal

Italian meals follow a structured course system that explains why dining there takes longer than in the UK.