Italian food inside of Italy is different than Italian in America or western Europe. It is truly one of the most diverse in the world, and in any region, or even city and village you go, there are different specialities. For instance, Northern Italian cuisine is based on hearty, potato and rice-rich meals, Central Italian cuisine is mainly on pastas, roasts and meat, and Southern Italian cuisine on vegetables, pizza, pasta and seafood. However, Italian cuisine, contrary to popular belief, is not just based on pasta and tomato sauce - that's only a snippet of the nation's food, as, in some parts of Northern Italy, pasta isn't even used at all, and rice, potatoes, lentils, soups and similar meals are very common in some parts of the country. Italian food is based upon a few simple ingredients and Italians often have very discriminating tastes that may seem strange to Americans and other visitors.

For instance, a sandwich stand might sell 4 different types of ham sandwiches that in each case contain ham, mayonnaise, and cheese. The only thing that may be different between the sandwiches is the type of ham or cheese used in them. Rustichella and panzerotti are two examples of sandwiches well-liked by Italians and tourists alike. Also, Italian sandwiches are quite different from the traditional Italian-American "hero", "submarine", or "hoagie" sandwich. Rather than large sandwiches with a piling of meat, vegetables, and cheese, sandwiches in Italy are often quite small, very flat (made even more so when they are quickly heated and pressed on a panini grill), and contain a few simple ingredients with rarely, if ever, lettuce. Visitors often dislike the ubiquitous mayonnaise that Italians use for sandwiches. The term panini may be somewhat confusing to travellers from Northern Europe where it has erroneously come to mean a flat, heated sandwich on a grill. In Italy the term is equivalent to "bread rolls" (plural) which can be simple rolls or sometimes with basic filling. However instead of a sandwich why not try piadinas which are a flat folded bread with filling, which are served warm.

Americans will notice that Italian pasta is usually available with a myriad of sauces rather than simply tomato and alfredo. Also, Italian pasta is often served with much less sauce than in America. This is, in part, because pasta in a restaurant is usually regarded as the first course of a three- or four-course meal, not a meal in itself.

Structure of a traditional meal: Usually Italian meals for working days are: small breakfast, one-dish lunch, one-dish dinner. Coffee is welcomed at nearly every hour, especially around 10:00 and at the end of a meal. At the weekends and in restaurants (for other occasions), they typically consist of: antipasto (marinated vegetables, seafood, etc), primo (pasta or rice dish), secondo (meat course) often with a side-dish known as contorno, and dolce (dessert).

Like the language and culture, food in Italy differs region by region. Pasta and olive oil are considered the characteristics of southern Italian food, while northern food focuses on rice and butter(although today there are many many exceptions). Local ingredients are also very important. In warm Naples, citrus and other fresh fruit play a prominent role in both food and liquor, while in Venice fish is obviously an important traditional ingredient. As a guideline, in the south cuisine is focused on pasta and dessert, while at north meat is king, but this rule can be very different depending on where you are.

A note about breakfast in Italy: This is very light, often just a coffee with a pastry (cappuccino e brioche) or a piece of bread and fruit jam. Unless you know for certain otherwise, you should not expect a large breakfast. Cappuccino is a breakfast drink; ordering one after lunch or dinner is considered highly strange and considered a typical "tourist thing". A small espresso coffee is considered much more appropriate for digestion.

Another enjoyable Italian breakfast item is cornetto (pl. cornetti): a croissant or light pastry often filled with cream or nutella.

Lunch is seen as the most important part of the day, so much that Italians have one hour reserved for eating and another for napping. All shops close down and resume after the two hour break period. To compensate businesses stay open later. Good luck trying to find a place open during the so-called "pausa pranzo" (lunch break). This may not apply to the city center of the biggest cities or to shopping centers.

Dinner (i.e. the evening meal) is generally taken late. In the summer, if you are in a restaurant before 8pm you are likely to be eating on your own, and it is quite normal to see families with young children still dining after 10pm. This is partly from a practical consideration: when eating outdoors before nightfall there are more problems with insect interference.

In Italy cuisine is considered a kind of art. Great chefs as Gualtiero Marchesi or Gianfranco Vissani are seen as half-way between TV stars and magicians. Italians are extremely proud of their culinary tradition and generally love food, and talking about it. However, they are not so fond of common preconceptions, such as that Italian food is only pizza and spaghetti. They also have a distaste for "bastardized" versions of their dishes that are popular elsewhere, and many Italians have a hard time believing that the average foreigner can get even a basic pasta dish "right".

You should consider that Italy's most famous dishes like pizza or spaghetti belong to southern regions, and eating in different areas can be an interesting opportunity to taste some less well known local specialty. Even for something as simple as pizza there are significant regional variations. That of Naples has a thick crust while that of Rome is thin.

When dining out with Italians read the menu and remember that almost every restaurant has a typical dish and some towns have centuries-old traditions that you are invited to learn. People will be most happy when you ask for local specialties and will gladly advise you.

For a cheap meal you may like to track down an aperitivo bar (somewhat similar to the concept of tapas) which in the early evening (about 17:00) serve a series of plates of nibbles, cheese, olives, meat, bruschetta and much more. All this food is typically free to anyone who purchases a drink but it is intended to be a premeal snack.

The tradition of Aperitivo is particulary felt in Milan. There you can often make a dinner out of it.