Top 05 Italian Food you Must Try – Buon Appetito!

The quintessential Italian dish, the very essence of Italy is reflected in Pizza Napoletana. This more than perfect pizza is made with nothing but the freshest ingredients of the highest standards. It's simple, historic and the most authentic pizza you will ever taste. Invented in Naples around the 18th and 19th centuries, the Neapolitan pizza is a type of flat-bread dressed with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and olive oil. Although the ingredients are simple, a skill honed over time is required to make an authentic and tasty Napoletana Pizza, hence, when hitting the traditional eateries of Italy, this is one food to look for.

This is one of the world's oldest and most popular pasta dishes. A favoured Italian comfort food, lasagne is popular in many households, as well as, the best Italian eateries. Even islands like sunny Sri Lanka will surprise you with delicious creamy lasagne variants, which will tempt your taste-buds. Hence, it is no wonder that Italian cuisine is taken very seriously, with many eateries, boasting experienced chefs brought down from Italy. Acquolina, offering poolside dining is one venue which guests at Anantara Kalutara Resort can easily access if looking for Italian restaurants; Kalutara being just one of Sri Lanka's popular coastal towns offering international dining opportunities. Lasagne, as you will know, is a combination of layering pasta sheets with minced meat and cheese alternately.

Ossobuco is a dish made with veal shanks, loaded with flavour and slow cooked in a delicious broth of vegetables and white wine. This dish classed as one of Milan's richest meat dishes is most popular paired with a saffron risotto. The traditional recipe is believed to have evolved in the 19th century, within the city of osterie.

Although Italian's cannot take the credit for inventing ice cream, they certainly can for enhancing the favoured dessert. Perfecting the art of ice cream making over centuries, Italian gelato dates way back to the Renaissance period, while no one really knows who invented the frozen creamy concoction loved across the world as gelato. When in Italy, you have a choice of over 37,000 gelato outlets to explore, with the best believed to be located in Florence, Rome, Sorbetteria and Bologna. Authentic Italian gelato is made fresh every day, and differs from regular ice cream, as it contains more natural flavourings, less air and less fat.

A fresh, healthy and very delicious salad, Panzanella is a combination of bread and tomato, popular during the hot summer months in Central Italy. This is a healthy peasant dish, which was quite popular amongst the farming community of Tuscany, who had to feed themselves with the food they grew. The Panzanella served at restaurants today, consist of sun-ripened tomatoes, fresh basil, cucumber and leftover bread, well-seasoned with loads of olive oil and tangy vinegar.