What to eat in Italy

Halloween in Italy in 2026 lands over a long weekend, with 31 October followed by Ognissanti on 1 November and All Souls’ Day on 2 November.

Central Italy holds a wealth of flavours that few other parts of the country can match.

Central Italy is one of the country’s strongest areas for traditional sweets. Among hills scented with wine, medieval borghi clinging to rock and monasteries where recipes have been passed down for centuries, every region has at least one dessert that tells its story better than any tourist brochure. Between the wine biscuits of the Castelli Romani, crunchy Tuscan cantucci and Marche carnival sweets, central Italy’s traditional baking is a world worth exploring one bite at a time.

The best food in Southern Italy is bold, seasonal and deeply tied to history. Greek settlers, Arab traders and Spanish rulers all left their mark. Cooking leans on olive oil, vegetables, seafood and proper sun-ripened tomatoes rather than butter and cream.

Easter in Italy is less about chocolate bunnies and more about long, noisy lunches built around recipes people have been making for generations.

Italy's national cuisine has now been added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Slip off the main drag and Rome softens into villagey corners, street art pockets and leafy hillsides.

Piedmont is a fascinating corner of Italy, a place where grand, elegant cities sit against a backdrop of snow-dusted alpine peaks. But deciding what to see in Piedmont is about more than just ticking off the sights.

Sat in the northwest of Italy with the Alps providing a magnificent backdrop, Turin is a city of elegant architecture and grand squares. As the first-ever capital of a unified Italy, its royal past is evident in the palaces and wide, arcaded streets.

Florence is where it all began back in the Renaissance, supposedly first whipped up for the Medici court. Forgetting the bright green pistachio and fluffy mounds piled high in shop windows is the first step, and understanding the real difference between gelato and ice cream is key to the hunt.

Hunting down the best gelato in Italy is one of those essential things you have to do when you're here, but it's good to know that gelato is so much more than just ice cream. It's a proper daily ritual, a treat that's taken very seriously and is seen as a true art form.

Strolling through a sunny Italian piazza, it’s easy to think that gelato is just the local word for ice cream. The debate of gelato vs ice cream, however, goes far beyond a simple translation.

Trieste might surprise you with just how much there is to do, no matter how long you’re around, or what the weather’s up to. You can happily while away a sunny afternoon on the seafront, dip into grand old cafés, or hunt out relics of the city’s literary past.

The Italian region of Lazio boasts a vast array of traditional products, but cheeses undoubtedly play a central role in the region’s food and wine culture. Cheesemaking in this part of central Italy has ancient origins, dating back to Ancient Rome.