In 2025, Italian cooking was officially inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, but here at Via Rosa we don’t need UNESCO’s recognition to know that Italian culinary traditions are worth celebrating and protecting. It’s an integral part of what we do. And though Via Rosa is led by a small team, collectively we have many decades of experience not only eating our way through Italy but also delving deeper into the country’s myriad ways of cultivating, preparing, and sharing food. If you’re curious to learn about the many ways that culinary traditions shape daily life in Italy, these must-try food experiences are good places to start.
Shopping at a typical market
The easiest way to learn about local, seasonal produce? Visiting a market, of course! Every Italian city has at least one. Many markets close around lunchtime, so go in the morning if you want to watch the action. Don’t touch the fruit and vegetables unless a vendor invites you to do so. Usually they’ll weigh everything and bag it for you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t forget to bring cash. Or join Sophie on a market tour in Rome and let her guide you to the best spots.
Learning to make fresh pasta in a cooking class
Cooking classes are popular in Italy for a reason: fresh pasta is delicious and if you’ve never tried to make it before, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is. Sure, you can read recipes, but the only way to really master pasta making is to get your hands dirty and do it. There are hundreds of different kinds of pasta in Italy, from simple orecchiette (made with only flour and water) to rich filled pastas like tortellini and ravioli, which are made with eggs. There are tons of places that offer cooking classes, including hotels and agriturismi.
Truffle Hunting
Truffles (tartufi in Italian) are prized for their delicate, earthy flavor. And since they can’t be cultivated but rather grow spontaneously, the only way to find them is to hunt for them. Black truffles are common throughout much of central Italy, including Tuscany and Umbria, while white truffles tend to grow in Piedmont. Truffle hunters train their dogs from a very young age and the best way to learn about the practice is to join one of them on a truffle hunt in the woods.
Doing a tour and tasting at a winery
Italy produces the most wine of any country on earth and it also produces the most varieties of wine, with more than 350 indigenous grapes. It simply wouldn’t be a true Italian dinner without wine. So it should come as no surprise that wine tastings are among the most popular activities for tourists in Italy. Just know that the experience varies greatly: some wineries are commercial powerhouses with organized tours, while others rarely open their doors to visitors. Always check in advance to see if the winery you’re interested in offers tours; you usually need to make an appointment.
Visiting a Caseificio
If you love cheese, you’ll want to visit a caseificio where cheese is produced to learn all about the work that goes into making it. Dairies that produce cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano follow strict rules regulating everything from the milking of the cows to the packaging of the cheese. Touring a dairy in Parma gives you a true behind-the-scenes look at the process. In southern Italy, meanwhile, you can learn how mozzarella, burrata, and ricotta are made on a visit to a caseificio that specializes in those cheeses.
Participating in the Olive Harvest
Every fall, Italians eagerly await the arrival of the olio nuovo (new oil), the intense, piquant, and often bright green olive oil that emerges from the mill when a new batch of olives is pressed. You’ll have to come in the fall (usually late October to mid-November) to witness the olive harvest, which takes place in groves across the country. Nets are placed on the ground to catch the falling olives that people shake from the branches using a special tool.
Visiting an almond or pistachio farm
You’ve probably seen plenty of fruit trees, but have you ever seen almond or pistachio trees? The nuts growing on the trees look nothing like what you buy at the supermarket. It takes a whole lot of work to get them to the state in which they’re used in beloved recipes like marzipan and cannoli. The most prized pistachios are grown in Bronte, a town on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily, and if you go there, you can visit a farm to learn more about how they grow and get harvested, shelled, and dried. Almonds also grow in Sicily, specifically in the Val di Noto.
Tasting balsamic vinegar directly from the barrel
True artisanal balsamic vinegar has nothing to do with the watered-down stuff sold in most supermarkets. A product with a protected designation of origin (PDO), aceto balsamico di Modena is produced in Emiglia Romagna according to strict rules. It’s such an integral part of Modense culture that historically, barrels of balsamic vinegar were part of a bride’s dowry. The truly exceptional stuff ages for 20+ years and is referred to as “black gold.” There’s nothing like visiting an aging facility (often in the attic of family homes) and tasting the vinegar straight from the barrel.
Visiting an aging cellar to learn about prosciutto
A particular kind of heady aroma hits you as soon as you walk into a cellar where thousands of legs of prosciutto or culatello are hanging from the rafters. Though ham, of course, comes in many shapes and sizes, there’s something special about prosciutto (cured ham made from the pig’s hind legs) and culatello (an even rarer cured ham produced in just eight towns in Emilia Romagna). No visit to an aging cellar would be complete without a tasting.
Seeing natural salt pans
Did you know that high-quality salt is produced in Sicily? In some places around Marsala, you can not only see the salt pans but also get up close and walk among them. Salt is one of the most elemental ingredients in Italian cuisine, but for most people, where it comes from and how it gets to your kitchen is a mystery. On a visit to Sicily’s salt pans, you can learn about the centuries-old process of crystallization and harvesting that’s still used today.
Want to experience these things but don’t know where to start? Join us for one of our small group tours!
