Instantly Italy

Italian language, culture and travel tips

[Family Recipes] Torta pasqualina

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Despite all traditions, I firmly believe that what makes festivities really special is food.

If you are Italian and think of Christmas, the smell of panettone immediately comes to your mind. You may think of the presents, the parents, the gathering but what you really crave is that slice of sugary paradise, which just doesn’t taste the same if eaten some other time during the year.

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[Family Recipes] My mom’s Christmas dessert: salame al cioccolato

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

What makes Christmas so special? Traditions. 

Every year, when Christmas comes, you already know it will all be the same as the year before: you will decorate the tree with the same old lights and ornaments, you will buy presents for family and friends and probably gather with them eating the same food and doing the same things you do every year.

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Looking for authentic Italian recipes in English? Here are three Italian food blogs you’ll truly love

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

We have amazing food bloggers, here in Italy, publishing plenty of great Italian recipes. 

Unfortunately, these blogs are all in Italian. So, if you are looking for authentic Italian recipes in English, written and published by Italian bloggers, it can be quite an adventure.

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A private food tour in Genoa: a perfect way to discover the culinary gems of the city

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Are you up for a little adventure?

I hope so because today I want to take you with me up and down the streets of Genova to discover some real food gems! As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago I was invited by Enrica Monzani, the incredibly talented lady who runs A small kitchen in Genoa (go check her blog, if you do not know it already, it’s packed with recipes and lots of information about Ligurian tradition and food – plus great pictures, which are always a nice thing), to join one of her private food tours.

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[Hidden Italy] Antica Confetteria Pietro Romanengo in Genova

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

I’ve been in heaven, back in December. 

I am not exaggerating, believe me. Last month, I have been given the chance of visiting a place where a lot of magic – and many sweets things – are made and I felt really lucky for that.

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10 Italian Christmas Sweets That Are Not Panettone

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Panettone is undoubtedly the most typical Italian Christmas dessert. 

Born in the north of Italy, it can now be found on the table of every Italian family at Christmas. If you do not know about it, panettone (which can be translated as big bread) is a sweet bread loaf with a cupola shape, usually weighing more or less 1 kilo.

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[Family Recipes] Antipasto piemontese

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Cooking is not just warming food to fill your stomach when you are hungry.

Cooking is choosing ingredients carefully to prepare something healthy and tasty. Cooking is taking the time to prepare things together with the people you love and for the people you love. Cooking is sharing your knowledge with others and learning something new. Cooking is making memories for the future. Moreover, have you ever thought that eating something is one of the greatest act of faith? That’s what makes cooking so important.

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10 great Italian vegetarian dishes

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

I’ll never get tired of saying it: you can’t really appreciate a trip to Italy without properly tasting its food. 

Food is such a big part of Italian culture that you can’t say you have really seen Italy if you came here and just ate hamburgers and fries. No matter if you are interested only in art or history, if you just want to enjoy the scenery or if you come to Italy to learn the language, food must be  part of the experience.  As I wrote in an old post, there are some food experiences you absolutely must not miss – if you want to live Italy and its culture at their best.

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[Family recipes] Chiacchiere

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Carnival has come and almost gone, it’s definitely time to eat some chiacchiere!

As I told you last week, Carnival is in full swing here in Italy and we are eating loads of chiacchiere – as they can be found at this time of year only. Actually, today is Martedì Grasso, Mardi Gras, and it’s the last day of Carnival. Tomorrow is Mercoledì delle Ceneri, Ash’s Wednesday, Lent will begin and all the fun will be over.

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[Family Recipes] Panettone genovese

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Warning: this post contains a lot of sugar! 

One of the great things about Christmas is that you can eat sweets without feeling (too) guilty. It is time to cheer, to celebrate, to be happy, not exactly the time to count calories. And I love it, let me confess! Moreover, Christmas brings a lot of traditional dishes that you can find only at this time of the year. It would be a shame to miss them, wouldn’t it?  There are many different regional sweets, but there’s one which can be found everywhere in Italy: it’s panettone.

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