Italian Delicious Food

Italian Food-Buon Appetito!
By Juliana De Angelis


The pleasures and love of Italian cuisine are known the world over. Italian cookery and recipes vary from region to region, and on the whole it is very healthy and nutritious, using natural ingredients that are in season.

Most traditonal and 'speciality' dishes as we know today, are on the whole derived from simple peasant cookery, for example the Pizza, which could be found a couple of centuries ago on the streets of Naples being sold by street vendors to those that had no cooking facilities of their own at home.

Although there are essential ingredients that every Italian kitchen should have, (including basil, garlic and olive oil!), the most important ingredients are passion and creativity.

Italians take great pride and pleasure in their food, and cooking and eating habits can vary from region to region, even from village to village. Each place has their own unique dishes and ingredients, and even the traditional dishes that are so popular all over Italy are cooked in different ways depending which region you go to. For example, if you eat a lasagne from Naples, it doesn't have the bechamel sauce as you would expect in the more traditional lasagne. It also has small meatballs (or polpette)as oppposed to mince, and also salami and eggs.

The different regional cooking depends on a number of factors, not only as to what ingredients are most abundant each region, but also historical factors. Naples, for example, was founded by the Greeks, and this had some influence on the Neapolitan way of life. Not only in the language and music, but also in the cookery.

Traditional Italian Menu

Antipasto (Appetizer) e.g. salami, or bruschetta

Primo Piatto (First Course) usually pasta or gnocchi

Secondo Piatto (Second Course) usually meat or fish

Contorno (Side Dish) vegetables or salad to accompany the meat

Dolci (Sweet) Fresh fruit is usually eaten as the preferred option

Bread is also usually always eaten alongside the meal.

North of Italy

Some original and unique types of ingredients and cooking originated from the north; Balsamic vinegar (Modena), pesto (Liguria), and tortellini (Bologna) to name but a few! Other food characteristically eaten in the North is Polenta, that can be eaten in many different ways, e.g fried and even in a polenta cake. Dishes in the North tend to be a bit 'heavier' than that in the South, (think the ingredients used for Spaghetti Carbonara compared to the classic healthier and lighter tomato sauces of the South!)

Central Italy

Central Italy is very diverse, and such regions as Rome, Florence and have little in common. Some examples to be found all around central Italy are Porchetta (pig stuffed with rosemary and fennel), pork, lamb, black truffles and porcini mushrooms.

South Italy

Characterized by the abundance use of fish, aubergines, peppers, olives, the spicy ingredient pepperoncino, and first and foremost the tomato, which has a huge industry in Naples. In the Naples and Campania regions, there is some Spanish and French influence to be found in the cookery. Pizza and pasta are especially popular and traditional, the Pizza Margherita having been born in Naples. In Apulia, they have a diet rich in fish (mussels and oysters being a speciality)and vegetables. The orecchiette (little ears)pasta is also from Apulia.

Buon Appetito!


Juliana de Angelis is a travel writer about Italy...read more articles, travel guides and information about Italy, its people and culture at her website:

http://www.madaboutitaly.com/

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Discount Lodging in Rome - Choose the Right One

How to Choose Discount Lodging in Rome
By Abhinav Sharma


In order to find discount lodging in Rome, one needs to first become familiar with the term pension. A pension is like a hotel, only it tends to be smaller. In addition, the price of the room at a pension includes the price of meals.

Some tourists who seek discount lodging have chosen to request mezza pension, which means half-pension. This means that the tourist will pay for eating at the pension for only one meal a day (in addition to breakfast). Whichever arrangement the tourist selects, she or he is guaranteed a comfortable accommodation with an informal atmosphere.

Once the visitor to Rome has located good, discount lodging, then she or he will want to take-in the City’s many sights. Plan any sightseeing with an eye to the discovery of Rome’s many churches and museums. Moreover, do not forget to include a trip to the Colosseum.

The visitor to Rome might want to spend some time within the discount lodging reading-up on one or more of the places that could be part of a sightseeing expedition. One way to get a feel for ancient Rome is by reading Emperors and Gladiators by Thomas Wiedemann. This book offers a very positive picture of early Roman civilization. Anyone who has read this book will realize that the Colesseum did more than just pandering to the masses.

Rome has so much to see that one is foolish not to obtain a map. The visitor to Rome should then study that map, most likely within the confines of some discount lodging.
The map should show where the tourist’s accommodation sits, in relation to Rome’s monuments, churches, museums and other places of interest (such as the catacombs).

Once the tourist has chosen the places of interest that she or he wants to visit during a tour of Rome, then that tourist should consult with the operators of the discount lodging regarding the best mode of transportation. A tourist can view Rome on foot, by autobus, by underground or by taxi.

As the tourist departs from his or her discount lodging, that traveler will probably be unprepared for the true wonder of Rome. That first exposure to Rome has left an impression on many travelers. Fenimore Cooper wrote that when he first saw Rome he felt like a compatriot who first visits town, perplexed with the whirl of sensations and the multiplicity of the objects.

A tour through Rome is like paying a visit to another time. It is a way to have a close-hand look at the magnificent skills of the ancient architects, sculptors, and painters. It forces the tourist to re-examine his or her perception of Rome. It will leave that tourist with the desire to return and to plan for a longer stay at some sort of discount lodging.


About the Author – Rome Hotels Italy is an online hotel booking website for Rome hotels that provides high discounted rates for online booking. You can also search for all available hotels in Rome as per your dates of travel
http://www.rome-hotels-italy.co.uk
http://www.rome-hotels-italy.co.uk/search-your-hotel.html

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Fall Of The Roman Empire

Why Rome Fell
By Lloyd Johns


Unfortunately, nowadays we have only one opportunity to get to know the information about historical events of certain period of the past. This opportunity is to read the encyclopedias and historical books. But who knows for sure what really was the reason of the fall of the Rome?
History is very fascinating subject. We should be very much obliged to those people, who decided to write down about all events, which had happened and to those people, who started publishing historical books. So, we have another great opportunity – to study the theory and to think over it.

Let us focus our attention on the last period or “The End of Roman Empire”. We know that the long reign of Valentinian III was marked by two events of first-rate importance – the conquest of Africa by the Vandals and the invasion of Gaul and Italy by Attila. Attila invaded Gaul in 451. Nearly a century had passed since the Huns first appeared in Europe and drove the Goths to seek shelter within Roman lines. Attila was now the ruler of a great empire in central and northern Europe and, in addition to his own Huns, the German Tribes along the Rhine and Danube and far away to the north owned him as king. He confronted the roman power as an equal; and, unlike the Gothic and Vandal chieftains, he treated with the emperors of East and West as an independent sovereign. His advance on Gaul and Italy threatened, not the establishment of one more barbaric chieftain on Roman soil, but the subjugation of the civilized and Christian West to the rule of a heathen and semi-barbarous conqueror.

But the Visigoths in Gaul, Christian and already half Romanized, rallied to the aid of the Empire against a common foe. Attila, defeated at Chalons by Aetius, withdrew into Pannonia. In the next year he overran Lombardy, but penetrated no father south, and in 453 year died. With the murder of Valentinian III the western branch of the house of Theodosius came to an end, and the next 20 years witnessed the accession and deposition of nine emperors. After Valentinian III was Maximus. Under the three months’ rule of Maximus, the Vandals under Gaiseric invaded Italy and sacked Rome. From 456-472 the actual ruler of Italy was Ricimer, the Suebe. Of the four emperors whom he placed on the throne, Majorian (457-461) alone played any imperial part outside Italy. Ricimer died in 472, and two years later a Pannonian, Orestes, attempted to fill his place. He deposed Julius Nepos and proclaimed as Augustus his own son Romulus.

But the barbarian mercenaries in Italy determined to secure for themselves a position there such as this: which their kinsfolk had won in Gaul and Spain and Africa. Their demand for a third of the lands of Italy was refused by Orestes, and they instantly rose in revolt. On the defeat and death of Orestes they proclaimed their leader, Odoacer the Rugian, king of Italy. Romulus Augustulus laid down his imperial dignity, and the court at Constantinople was informed that there was no longer an emperor of the West.

It is evident, that a lot of events were reasons for the crash of the Rome and its downfall was inevitable, but it is the law of the history: some places, towns, cities, countries are ruined and destroyed and some are founded.


Lloyd Johns was a professional freelance writer for 13 years.
Now he is a technical writer, advertising copywriter, & website copywriter for Custom Written Essays Network

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Italy continued

Italy - I Truly Always Love You
By Sardool Sikandar


Italy or Repubblica Italiana or Italia is a country in Southern Europe. Italy is nicknamed as “Boot” because of its boot like geographical shape. Italy is a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia.

The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are located within the Italian territory. Italy shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

Italian is the official language, and the Eternal City-Rome is the capital and the largest city of Italy.

Italy is one of the top tourist spots in the world. Tourism is one of the corner stones of Italian economy. The tourism trade is also flourishing in Northern Italy on the Italian Riviera, in the Alps (including the Dolomites), on the shores of its beautiful lakes (Lago Maggiore, Lake Como, and Lake Garda), and in Venice. Gran Paradiso that rises in Valle d'Aosta, is the highest peak wholly situated within Italy.

The country has exquisite scenic beauty—the majestic Alps in the north, the soft and undulating hills of Umbria and Tuscany, and the romantically rugged landscape of the S Apennines. The Bay of Naples, dominated by Mt. Vesuvius, is one of the world's most famous sights.

Monument to king Vittorio Emanuele II, Rome, Villa Badoer by Andrea Palladio, Trulli houses in Alberobello, Boboli Gardens, Florence, Ponte Fabricio, Isola Tiberina, Rome, Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Rifugio Laghi Gemelli are the main attractions of Italy.

The italy vacation, golf vacation italy and italy vacation packages are hotly pursued all over the globe. The hotels in italy are one of the known ones in the world. The majority of hotels are located at the best places in Italy.

If you are planning for italy vacation, italyhotelbookings.info can help you find best hotels in italy. The website offers tons of info italy hotel, rome italy hotel, florence italy hotel, venice italy hotel and italy hotel reservation. It also carries info on vacation rental italy and vacation home italy.


About Author: The author is the owner of website Italy Hotel Bookings, a comprehensive guide on hotels in italy, offering tons of info and tips to take italy hotel, rome italy hotel, florence italy hotel, venice italy hotel etc. You can get useful information about italy hotels from his site.

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