The cooking traditions of Italy, historically a patchwork of city-state and regional cuisines only loosely unified after Italian unification in 1861. Northern Italian cooking (Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont) leans on butter, rice and fresh egg pasta; southern Italian cooking (Campania, Sicily, Puglia) leans on olive oil, tomato and dried durum-wheat pasta. Regional cheeses, cured pork and wine are woven through every region's table. In 2025, Italian cuisine was inscribed as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Italy is the world's largest wine producer and holds the widest variety of indigenous grapevine varieties of any country, and Italian cuisine generated an estimated 251 billion euros in global foodservice revenue in 2024, according to Deloitte.
Facts
Signature TechniqueFresh and dried pasta shaping, wood fired pizza baking, and gradual stock addition to build risotto are hallmark techniques. 1 Origin RegionThe Italian peninsula, with strong regional traditions from Lombardy in the north to Sicily in the south. 2 Connections
Expresses Tradition
Features Dish
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Long-Form Articles
Uses Ingredient
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Sources
1. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee, Scribner, 2004technique discussion: pasta and risotto
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014entry: Italy
Italian cuisine (Wikipedia)
Wikipedialead section, 2025 UNESCO sentenceQuote, lead section, 2025 UNESCO sentence
In 2025, Italian cuisine was listed as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
Larousse Gastronomique
Hamlyn, 2009- Features Dish: Risotto alla Milanese
- Uses Ingredient: Wheat, entry: Wheat
- Uses Ingredient: Olive Oil, entry: Olive Oil
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