Image by Amy McPherson
The best thing , and most people would agree, about travelling around Italy, is the food. There’s always food. But the food is different ever ywhere you go in Italy. It isn’t as simple as just pasta. It’s about the shape of pasta : whether it’s thick, thin, long , short or round ; whether it’s boiled, baked, or made with fillings; or whether it’s ser ved with a thick sauce or simply drizzled with garlic and olive oil. In fact, if you had started this itinerar y from the mountainous north, you’d have noticed that you didn’t have much pasta on the menu at all, rather plenty of polenta options available – lots of cross-border cuisine too from the influences of German and French flavours. The further south you go, pasta shapes tend to get shorter, and pizza begins to be more accessible. And we haven’t started talking about the cheeses and cured meats yet. And the wines. Oh, the wines!