Italy: A Foodie Heaven

Italy’s reputation as paradise for food connoisseurs is not only well known, but well deserved.

Italians' love affair with food begins long before the table, even before the kitchen – it begins in the fields and vineyards, forests and rivers; it begins with ingredients. You can follow the flavours on the journey from source to sauce – which is where our visits to vineyards and farms come in. You’ll shake hands with the producers, see the family-run farms which keep Italy’s traditions alive and well and even get a chance to try your hand at some of the recipes, learning secrets to bring home with you after your travels. 

Here are two of our favourite adventures that celebrate Italy’s food heritage.

Sicily Food Adventure

Enjoy world famous Sicilian food while discovering the region’s best heritage sites

 

Gooey arancini (fried balls of rice stuffed with cheesy yumminess), chunky slabs of panelle (Sicilian fritters made from gram flour), and heaped sfincione (the original deep-pan pizza): the streets of Palermo’s markets are heaving with snackable, munchable finger food. But forget simply eating, roll up your sleeves for hands-on cookery classes with local chefs in Trapani, see how chocolate is made and wash it all down with Sicilian wine tastings.

Sicily Food Adventure

Amalfi Coast 

Exodus’ most popular Italian hotspot

 

Zesty, bright lemons, succulent mussels and clams straight from the Tyrrhenian Sea and drizzled onto fresh egg tagliatelle, a choice of luscious and decadent cheeses than you can handle in one sitting, washed down with wine from the vineyards fertislised by the rich, volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvius – these are the flavours of the Amalfi Coast. It's the perfect place to indulge in the very best family cooking from our local partners, the Acampora brothers, who own the Hotel Due Torri that we use for our Amalfi Coast holidays. 

Walking the Amalfi Coast

Amalfi Coast: Pompeii and Pizzas Family Holiday

Have Yourself an Italian Night In!

If you can’t wait til your next visit, never fear. We’ve teamed up with our local partners in Italy, the Acampora brothers, who own the Hotel Due Torri – a family-run hotel in a small village just outside Positano and Amalfi – to bring you a two course authentic Italian meal to try at home. Travellers who visit the brothers are taught how to make these treasured family recipes at the hotel.

Pizza Margherita Recipe

While pizza expert Nicola believes that you can only find the very best version of this pizza in Naples, he's been kind enough to share his recipe with us to try at home.

Makes 5 pizzas Takes 30 minutes plus resting time (4-5 hours)

For the dough
500g of water
25g salt
10g natural fresh yeast
1.5kg of Italian 00 type flour
For the toppings
Tomato passata
Mozzarella
Basil
Olive oil

Method

Begin by making the dough. Take all of the ingredients and mix everything by hand. Make sure you work the dough by kneading for no longer than 5 minutes.

Split the dough into balls of 300g each. Set aside, and allow the dough to rest for 4-5 hours to rise.

After the dough has rested, knead the dough and stretch it to form your base.

Top with tomato passata, sliced mozzarella, shredded basil and a generous glug of good quality olive oil.

Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C.

Tiramisu Recipe

The name of this classic Italian dessert translates as ‘pick-me-up’, due no doubt to the lavish amounts of caffeine and mascarpone it contains!

Serves 2 Takes 15 minutes plus chilling time (2 hours)

Ingredients
1 egg, separated
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g mascarpone cheese
175ml cold strong black coffee
1 tbsp coffee liqueur (Kahlua or Tia Maria)
10 Savoiardi biscuits (sponge fingers)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Strawberries to decorate

Method

Put the egg yolk, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and stir until smooth and creamy

Add the mascarpone and mix until it is evenly combined with the other ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the egg white until standing in soft white peaks, then fold this gently into the mascarpone mixture.

Pour the coffee into a shallow bowl and add the coffee liqueur. Dip the biscuits briefly in the coffee mixture so they absorb some of it but do not become so soggy they fall apart.

Starting with the dipped biscuits, arrange layers of biscuits and mascarpone in individual glass dishes or tumblers, trimming the biscuits to fit neatly if you need to.
Dust the tops with cocoa powder and chill for several hours in the fridge before serving topped with sliced strawberries.