A comprehensive collection of the web's best Italian recipes

Map of Italy

A brief history of Italy

Italy's Population has grown to 58,751,711 people according to the latest census. It is the forth largest populated country of Europe and ranks twenty second in the world chart.

Italy, including the islands of Sardinia and Sicily covers an area of 301,230 square km. it is made up 20 administrative regions including Abruzzi, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Remagna, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria, Giulia, Lazio,Valle d'Aosta, Veneto, Sicilia, Friuli-Venezia and Basilicata.

Italy is a land of total, startling extremes. In geographical terms alone, it is one of Europe's most disaster-prone countries. Italy's Civil Protection service works in a constant state of readiness to cope with the country's active volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, avalanches, forest fires...

A large proportion of the country is hilly, and modern Italy is shaped by its natural geography as well as by millennia of turbulent history. Over the last three thousand years, Italy has had a consistently rich culture, producing fine buildings, works of art, and a mythologised history with timeless appeal.

From the jewels of the Italian Riviera to the high slopes of the Abruzzo, the more time you spend in Italy, the more faces you will discover. Italy, and the Italians, are at times cultured and barbaric, modern and surreally old-fashioned, lazy and vibrant, in thrall of the past, and neglectful of it.

This is a country where cities have been at war with each other for hundreds of years. Italians all feel they 'belong' primarily to their town (this may be their parents' birthplace, where they have never lived), secondly perhaps to Europe.

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Recipes: Northern Italian Cooking • Central Italian Cooking • Southern Italian Cooking • Antipasto Salads • Broths - Soups Recipes • Bread Recipes • Pasta Recipes • Pizza Recipes • Meat Recipes • Seafood Recipes • Italian Desserts • Liquor Recipes • Preserves • Holiday Cooking • Wine Making

Italy's Regions: Abruzzo • Basilicata • Calabria • Campania • Emilia Romagna • Friuli Venezia Giulia • Lombardia • Marche • Molise • Piemonte • Puglia • Sardegna • Sicilia • Liguria • Toscana • Trentino Alte Aldige • Umbria • Val D'Aosta • Veneto

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History: Origins of Pasta • Origins of Coffee • Regional Cheese • Regional Wine • Origins of Olive Oil

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Northern Italian Cooking

Formed by the influence of its northern neighbors and mountainous terrain. Polenta and rice are staples and its dairy products and wines are among Italy's best. Piemonte is home to highly prized white Alba truffle sprinkled over melted fontina on pasta or eggs. This region also produces Italy's greatest wines, Barolo and Barbaresco.

Central Italian Cooking

This is an area of fresh pasta, great cheeses and robust wines. Historical patterns still reflect in regional diets. As the national capital, Rome serves as an intermediary between north and south in political as well as culinary matters. Abruzzi and Molise show a southern touch in dishes that are decisively piquant. The Marchesshares recipes with central neighbors, as well as Emilia-Romagna to the north. Tuscany and Umbria have tastes in common, though throughout the heartland cooks uphold traditions in local ways.

Southern Italian Cooking

Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia make up Italy's South, home to robust cucina povera (peasant cooking) and a wonderful cuisine created from whatever was available: sun-ripened vegetable and fruit, wheat for dried pasta and local cheeses.

Antipasto - Salads Recipes

Antipasto - antipasti in the plural - literally means 'before the pasta'. It consists of a varied combination of foods, and should be colourful and served cold.

Two of the most popular Italian ingredients of the antipasti are melon or tomatoes, accompanied by raw ham (prosciutto) that has been cut into very thin slices. Italian varieties of lettuce, such as the slightly bitter endives or rocket, or other green leaves, such as the aniseed-tasting fennel, are usually used as a garnish, placed around the edges of the serving dish. Salami, mortadella, coppa and zampone (meaning big leg) are manufactured meat products common in antipasti.

The look of food, as well as the taste, is important to Italians. For example, salami is reddish and provides a good contrast to the green lettuce. Fish may also be included, especially highly salted anchovies or sardines, served with slices of roasted red capsicum, sometimes in a cold sauce (pepperonata) or chopped garlic.

Some other seafoods may also be used in antipasti and, of course, olives (black, green or capsicum-stuffed) and artichokes are also common servings, as are mushrooms (funghi) seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice

Broth - Soups Recipes

Soup - a liquid food in which different kinds of solid food have been cooked, e.g., meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, cereals, or fruit. Many soups are peculiar to certain localities, e.g., the pot-au-feu of France, the borscht of Russia, the mutton broth of Scotland, the minestrone of Italy, and the chowders of various seacoast places.

Bread Recipes

Bread, in one form or another, has been one of the principal forms of food for man from earliest times.

The trade of the baker, then, is one of the oldest crafts in the world. Loaves and rolls have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs. In the British Museum's Egyptian galleries you can see actual loaves which were made and baked over 5,000 years ago. Also on display are grains of wheat which ripened in those ancient summers under the Pharaohs. Wheat has been found in pits where human settlements flourished 8,000 years ago. Bread, both leavened and unleavened, is mentioned in the Bible many times. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew bread for a staple food even in those days people argued whether white or brown bread was best.

Pasta Recipes

Pasta's origins are very ancient. It's said that they go back actually to the Etruscans. Maybe they used to prepare the first lasagna made of spelt ( a kind of cereal like wheat, but far more resistant against bad weather and diseases).

Later on, the romans used to make a very simple dough with water and flour from which they made a kind of lasagna, called lagane. This word is used also today in the center and the south of Italy to call some kind of Pasta.

Anyway, we must explode the myth that it was Marco Polo who brought Pasta in Italy when he came back from China. In fact, in 1279 a.d., when the great Venetian explorer was still in the East, in Genoa a will was draft with which a cerain Ponzio Bastone bequeathed a crate full of maccheroni! Certainly, we know that the Arabs, already in the XI century, brought Pasta around the Mediterranean basin, but it spread in an extraordinary way only in Italy, due to the very favorable climate.

Pizza Recipes

Every civilization, we may say, has known different kinds of flat buns, pies or the like based on a dough made of cereal and water and various seasonings.

It is a form of food that no doubt resembles pizza. The ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea offer a wide range of examples of those that can be considered the ancestors of the pizza as we moderns know it.

The common belief is that Italians invented the pizza, however the origins go back to the ancient times. Even though we have yet to uncover archeological evidence of a fast food Pizza before the last century, it is known the Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other ancient Middle Eastern cultures were eating flat, un-leaven bread that had been cooked in mud ovens. The bread was much like a pita, which is still common in Greece and the Middle East today. Further it is known that ancient Mediterranean people such as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians were eating the bread, topped seasoned with olive oil and native spices.

Meat Recipes

Beef, veal, chicken, pork, lamb and rabbit are the standard recipes that we will be looking at. Other fowl and game will follow on a later date.

Obviously veal dishes figure predominantly in all the fine Italian dining establishments. There are two types of veal. Milk fed which is very tender and slightly more expensive then grain fed veal. You pay for what you get

Seafood Recipes

Calamari, mussels, octopuss, shrimps, scampies, tuna, cod fish, swordfish, red snapper and snails is what comes to mind when we think about Seafood - Frutta di Mare recipes.

Each region may have their specific recipes but they share much similarities. It at any point we can pin which is which in what region we will try to specify.

Italian Desserts Recipes

Simple yet delicious recipes created with eggs, sugar, butter and marsala wine. Using the regional fruits that grew in the back yard.

All the traditional desserts that made each and every day special and holidays a delight for everybody. I hope your enjoy these recipes.

I would like to add this information sent to me from a visitor concerning Tiramissu. Tiramisù means "pull me up" and aptly describes the Italian dessert made from Lady Fingers, espresso coffee, mascarpone cheese, egg whites, sugar, and often marsala wine.

Liquor Recipes

Italian lquors are alcoholic beverages obtained most commonly by the adding alcohol , fruits, aromatic herbs, fruits, roots, rind of citrus fruits. Liquor is an alcoholic beverage made by distillation rather than by fermentation. A real italian tradition.

I get at least 2 emails every month concerning Limoncella and where you can purchase it. Your local liquor store usually has it in stock. If not they can order it for you. You can also buy the pure alcohol at your local liquor store.

Preserves (how to prepare)

Food can be frozen, canned, pickled or dried, and will keep anywhere from several weeks to a few years.

Holiday Cooking

In Italian, Christmas Eve is "La Vigilia," the eve. Traditionally the dinner is meatless and fish dishes dominate. Every region, city, and country town in Italy has traditional foods that are served. Many people prepare Christmas eve dinners with a required number of courses that never seem to end. Over the years the number of courses served by most Italian families has decreased, but fish still remains the main feature of the meal.

Abruzzo

Abruzzo is a region of central Italy bordering Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Until 1963 it was part of the Abruzzi e Molise region (with Molise). The term Abruzzi is an obsolete plural denomination from a time when the Bourbons administered the territory as "Closer Abruzzo" (Abruzzo Citeriore) and "Further Abruzzo" (Abruzzo Ulteriore).

The regional capital is L'Aquila. The region is divided into four provinces: L'Aquila (the largest), Teramo, Chieti (the most populous) and Pescara, Abruzzo's main economic centre. The four provinces are further divided into 305 municipalities. Abruzzo has a population of around 1.3 million.

Basilicata

Small and lowly populated, Basilicata lays between Campagna, Puglia, and Calabria at the upper heal of the Italian boot claiming a tiny bit coastland on the west and the Gulf of Taranto at its bottom edge. Most of the region's land is parched and dry, making Basilicata one of Italy's worst agricultural regions.

The standard food staple is vegetables and pasta, with meat held for special occasions. Nearly every vegetable consumed in Italy is eaten in Basilicata, including local bitter onions, mushrooms, fava beans, artichokes, potatoes, and peppers. Peperonata is a local favorite consisting of sweet peppers, tomatoes and chili pepper, often mixed with chunks of pork. A custom in southern cooking is the liberal use of chili pepper.

Pork is this region's choice of meat, vividly reflected in the region's specialties: lucanica, a spiced sausage renowned throughout Italy, and pezzente ( "beggers") , a chili-spiked salami unique to Basilicata that contains the less costly parts of the pig.

With the exception of the region's flavorful lemons and oranges, there are not many sweets eaten here. Those that are often consist of almonds. No grapes are native to Basilicata, but the region does produce a small quantity of red wine and white wine from vines brought by the Greeks many centuries ago.

Calabria

Home to magnificent high, rugged mountains, Calabria is filled with snow until the end of May. Unlike neighboring Basilicata, Calabria has wooded areas where flowers bloom and wildlife and greenery abound. The region boasts some of the cleanest water on the whole Italian coastline due to the lack of pollutant development in the area.

Chestnuts, olives, citrus trees, almonds, and figs all grow well in Calabria's subtropical climate. A species of orange that grows only in Calabria, called arancia calabrese, is prized for its skin, which is boiled and candied, and sent all over Italy for use in fruitcake and pastries. Calabria produces one-third of Italy's olive oil and is second after Sicily in the production of oranges, figs, and cedri limes. Eggplant is the leader of the vegetable crop, and Calabrians eat it in varied ways: sauteed in olive oil with garlic and parsley; coated in egg and bread crumbs and fried; and stuffed with salted anchovies and bread crumbs. Sweet peppers, artichokes, zucchini, onions, mushrooms are also ubiquitous. As in Basilicata, chili is the spice of choice here.

Although the Ionian Sea and the Gulf of Taranto are rich in tuna, swordfish, sardines, and anchovies, mountain cooking dominates the cuisine, and pork reigns supreme in this poor man's country. There are countless salamis and sausages, as well as all manner of homemade pastas. Ever-popular Pecorino is made by every family that owns a sheep. The luxury of sweets is usually reserved for holidays.

Campania

Located on the shin of Italy's boot, The cuisine of Campania and Naples is famous thoughout the world.

Emilia Romagna

Emilia-Romagna is the motherland of homemade pasta. In Bologna, tagliatelle, lasagne, and tortellini are favorites. In Emilia, preparing pasta is second nature and like an artform to watch.

Pork is a tradition of Emilia-Romagna's cuisine. Prosciutto, the most famous of Italy's pork products, is made in Parma. Coppa and pancetta are specialties of Piacenza in the north. The delicate meat that is often passed off in other countries as bologna is in fact the famed Mortadella of Bologna.

Romagna has a tradition of fish dishes, brodetto, the most flavorful of fish soups. Parmigiano Reggiano, the unrivaled king of cheese.

Another of Emilia-Romagna's great culinary contributions is balsamic vinegar, which has been made in Modena for centuries

Friuli Venezia Giulia

iThis region features beautiful Adriatic beaches, stunning mountain views, and vineyards. Largely undiscovered by tourists, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia shares borders with Austria and Yugoslavia.

The fusion between the Po Valley and the Alps form the foundation of the region's cuisine yet Austrian, Yugoslavian, and Oriental influences are easy to spot. Corn is the principal crop, followed by beans, and fruits and vegetables, including white turnips, asparagus, and the pleasantly bitter dwarf chicory. Dumplings (gnocchi) are one of the region's specialties and may be made of potatoes, squash, or stale bread. Pork is the poor man's meat of choice, but Friulians also catch all kinds of seafood off the Adriatic.

Lazio

Lazio's is the region comprised of farmland that surrounds Rome. Down the road is Rome, the city of love and food .

The Romans believe in simplicity and using the simplest ingredients for their recipes. Gnocchi di Semolino, a large dumpling made from just semolina flour, milk and eggs, is a prime example, as is Rome's well-known egg drop soup, Stracciatella.

The prefered foods of Rome are bread, cheese, olives, fresh vegetables, and pasta. The volcanic soil is ideal for vegetables, particularly artichokes. Spaghetti is number one in Roman cooking, and it's often prepared with simplicity. Carbonara, made with bacon, eggs, parmesan, and spaghetti, originated in Rome.

Lazio is bordered by the Sea so fresh fish, baccala, crustaceans and mollusks all figure prominently in the region's cooking. Salt is an important spice here, so much so that it takes a position of prominence on the table in a special rounded dish called a saliera. The most important cheese in this region's cuisine is highly salted Pecorino Romano, a sheep's milk cheese similar to parmigian.

Liguria

Miles of coastline, Liguria is a narrow area over the northern part of the Mediterranean. The mountains form a shelter against the cold northern winds, keeping the weather mild for most of the year. Ligurians live in a tiny valley between the sea and the mountains a few miles inland.

Liguria's environment produces tasty, healthy vegetables and a wealth of wild salad greens and aromatic herbs, including basil, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram. Olives are plentifull. They are used to produce a light, sweet oil that is only fat that is used in local cooking.

Lombardia

Lombardia is a wealthy land-locked region situated between the Alps in the north and the Po in the south and has some of Italy's most beautiful and varied terrain. The high mountain peaks prevents the cold northern European weather from penetrating the region which drops down into alpine foothills, then falsl away into the soft hills. With its extremely fertile land, Lombardia has the best yields per acre of any region in Italy.

Influences abound in this region, there are some common traits: meat is braised (Austrian influence); green vegetables are not a traditional food; and butter is the primary cooking fat. Cream appears more often in Milanese cuisine than any other region, partly because France dominated Lombardy for many years and partly because of the fertile mountain pastures.

Polenta was traditionally eaten by those who toiled hard on the farms, as there was hardly any meat available. Soups such as Ministrone were also a large part of the Lombardian farmer's life. To the wealthy landowners we owe risotto, which is the top of the Lombardian menu. Pork, veal, and cheese all play an important role here. Brasaola, aged lean beef, is a specialty of the Valtellina area. Pasta was introduced lately in the cuisine.

A large number of wonderful cheeses come from this rich pasture land: the strongly-scented gorgonzola, the mild bel paese, creamy crescenza, and earthy taleggio. With the region's rich ingredients, desserts from this region are first rate, notably the dome-shape, fruited panettone for which Milan has become famous.

Marche

Bordered by Umbria on one side and the Adriatic Sea on the other, Marche is partly mountainous, with land sloping from the mountains right down to the sea. Tourists flock to Marche's straight, smooth, sandy beaches, but the region's interior goes largely ignored.

The Adriatic offers an outstanding variety of blue fish and crustaceans, some of which are rare and can only be found on this coast. Not surprisingly, two of this area's specialties are fish soup, brodetto, and muscioli alla marinara, mussels spread over a pan and cooked over the fire. Second only to fish is popularity is pork, which is the centerpiece of many central Italian meals. The Marchigiani claim to be the originators of Porchetta, a boned, spit-roasted pig flavored with fennel and garlic.

Pasta, notably maccheroncini and tagliatelle, has an important tradition in Marche. Pastificio Latini produces some of the best artisanal pasta in the Marche tradition. Mushrooms grow in abundance in this area. Three kinds of truffles are also found in Marche; the white ones rival those from Alba. Cauliflowers from the Marches are famous throughout Italy. And the fruit--apples, peaches, figs and cherries-- are rich and luscious, a testament to the fertility of the soil.

Molise

For most Italians, Molise and Abruzzo are notably linked. This small, unyielding region facing the Adriatic only gained independence from Abruzzo in 1963. Molise is unique in that it is somewhat insulated from the changes that have overtaken the rest of the Italy.

Bread, wine, and oil are staples of Molise cuisine. In fact, olive oil is the region's primary industry. Chili pepper is used liberally and often here, as it is in most other southern Italian regions. Very little meat is eaten in Molise; when it is, it's likely to be lamb or pork.

Piemonte

In Italian, piedi (pie) means "foot" and montania (monte) means "mountains," therefore the name Piemonte. An apt name for this landlocked region at the foot of the Alps. Sharing a border with France on Italy's northwest edge, Piemonte is a land of high mountains, soft hills, rich cities, gentle farmers, and picturesque vineyards.

Piemonte was part of Royalty until middle of the 19th century, and the French occupation left a rich and undeniable mark on the region's cuisine characterized by both the opulence of the nobility and the simplicity of the peasant. With its low, flat fields, Piedmont is one of the most important rice-growing regions of Italy, and in this region risotto certainly outshines pasta. Dairy products are another important component of this cuisine, including robiola and ricotta. Alba's world-famous delicate white truffles, sniffed out by trained dogs, are shaved over all manner of things. Meat and game dishes also figure prominently and are often stewed in rich red wines.

Puglia

Puglia is Italy's hottest, flattest, driest region. It is adorned with a long, beautiful coast line, largely free of tourists and development. The heel and spur of Italy's boot produces hearty fruits and vegetables, a main addition of Puglian cuisine.

Puglia's cuisine is fairly uniform, due to the friendly attitude in this flat country side. Relying on the same ingredients through out the region. Tomatoes, fennel, peppers, lettuces, wild chicory and onions grow well there and are eaten raw at the beginning of a meal or served at the end of a meal with fruit. Between courses, pasta takes center stage. The types and shapes of pasta, made from Italy's best durum wheat, are more numerous here than in any other area of Italy. The most popular cuts are maccheroni, spaghetti, cavatelli, tiny gnocchi, and the region's most famous creation, orecchiette ("little ears"). Pasta sauces typically contain cauliflower, eggplant, chickpeas, fava beans, and broccoli florets.

Sardegna

Sardegna is the second largest island in the Mediterranean. Unlike other Mediterranean islands though, these inhabitants live in the island's mountains and not on the coast, in part due to the past when hiding from invaders that landed on the coast and to avoid the marshy coast that created the plague of malaria.

Therefore, Sardegna has two distinct cuisines: coastal and inland. The coastal cuisine was influenced by invaders, who brought their ways of preparing the bounty of seafood available, including lobsters, which are rare elsewhere in Italy. Traditional Sardinian dishes are not seafood-based at all. Instead, they lean heavily on milk, cheese, roasted meat, and bread. Women typically cook the bread, while men cook meat (usually whole and often flavored with mint and myrtle) outdoors.

Sicilia

The largest of the Mediterranean islands, Sicilia is home to spectacularly beautiful mountains and heavenly beaches, as well as Greek temples and Baroque churches.

The Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, French, and Spaniards all marched across Sicilia at one time or another, and their influence is evident in the region's cooking style. The Greeks exerted their influence on the preparation of fish and vegetables. The Arabs brought eggplants, spinach, apricots, almonds, couscous and spices and showed the Sicilians how to preserve fish and fruit, as well as how to make some of the candies for which they're now famous. The Normans advanced Sicilian baking.

Toscana

Toscana, region (approximately 3,712,677), 8,876 sq mi (22,989 sq km), N central Italy, bordering on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west and including the Tuscan Archipelago.

Toscana, famous for its art, architecture, rolling hills, and smooth beaches, is the cradle of the Renaissance. It is this popular destination that gave us da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Puccini. It's no surprise then that Toscana is the birthplace of Italy's most creative and elegant cuisine.

Tuscan cooking is often described as una cucina povera, "a poor kitchen." Characteristic of all Tuscan food is the high quality of the ingredients and the wide use of herbs, including thyme, sage, rosemary, tarragon, fennel and chile pepper. Oil and bread dominate this simple cuisine. Vegetables, whether they're grilled, roasted, or raw, are always dressed in olive oil. And no Tuscan meal would be complete without the traditional unsalted bread .

Trentino Alte Aldige

Trentino Alto Aldige is separated from Veneto by the dramatic mountains at Italy's northernmost edge. Although the two areas are geographically united, from a gastronomic perspective, Trentino and Alto Adige are two distinct regions.

Trentino's cuisine is decidedly Venetian. Polenta is a staple, often accompanied by some of the region's overwhelming array of mushrooms. The harvest of wild mushrooms, in which the Dolomites are rich, includes porcini, chanterelles, chiodini, and a host of others. In the summer and autumn, Trento has a fabulous mushroom market, with hundreds of different varieties. Everyone in this region seems to be a mushroom expert. Even some members of the police are micologi (mushroom experts), who inspect mushrooms in the market to make sure they are safe to sell.

Umbria

At the center of Italy is a tiny, unspoiled area, a land of brilliant green mountains and hills and dazzling blue lakes and rivers. Often described as "enchanted," Umbria is full of abbeys, monasteries, and convents.

Umbrian dishes rarely contain more than four or five ingredients, and meats and vegetables are often served plain or without sauce. Meat is important to this region, and it is here that salami is at its best. Pork products--salami, sausages, cured and smoked meat--appear on every restaurant's antipasto cart. Beef is also good, especially when it comes from cattle bred near the Tuscan border. As Umbria is landlocked, fresh-water fish--carp, pike and eel--are an important part of the region's cuisine.

Val D'Aosta

The smallest region of Italy, Valle d'Aosta is separated from France and Switzerland by the dramatic, icy peaks of the Alps. Here in the birthplace of fontina cheese, grazing cows outnumber the region's inhabitants.

The two most important elements of this cuisine are bread and soup, which often contains bread. The local bread, pane nero ("black bread") is made from rye flour and is the primary product in a variety of recipes. Pasta is not traditional in this area; instead, polenta, rice, and gnocchi appear as first courses. As the Valle d'Aostans are mountain people, game is a particularly important part of this region's cuisine.

Almost all milk produced in Valle d'Aosta is used to produce fontina, the buttery, nutty cheese that's been made here for nearly 700 years. This region produces almost 8 million pounds of its trademark fontina each year, the vast majority of which is eaten in Italy. Still made by small, artisanal dairies, Fontina Valle d'Aosta is used extensively in kitchens all over Italy.

Veneto

Pronounced As: ven-e-toe , Ital. Veneto or Venezia Euganea, region (1993 pop. 4,391,831), 7,095 sq mi (18,376 sq km), NE Italy, bordering on the Gulf of Venice (an arm of the Adriatic Sea) in the east and on Austria in the north.

One of the great destinations of the world, Venice dominates this region so much that it's easy to forget what lies beyond this unbelievable city. Covering a stretch of land between the Alps, the Dolomites, and the Gulf of Venice; a tiny piece of it touches Austria. Veneto has a remarkable variety of terrain, contributing to the variety of this region's cuisine.

Coffea Arabica was discovered growing wild on the plateaus of central Ethiopia around 600 AD. The tree was found in Yemen on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Coffee as a bean was first worshiped for its medicinal properties then as a beverage for religious meditation. Moving forward, it found a home for itself in dwellings known as coffeehouses.

According to legend, the Arabs guarded the fertile seed of the Coffea Arabica. Circa 1650 AD, Baba Budan, a Moslem from India pilfered coffee seeds and returned to southern India. There he planted the seeds in the Chikmagalgur hills starting the growth of the original trees known as var. Old Chick, providing approximately one-third of India's coffee crop

Many of the culinary schools in Italy originate from the agricultural areas all over Italy, Many of the farms have added villas and rooms to accomodate small and large groups.

This extra income helps in covering much of the overhead needed to run a farm today and makes for great surroundings.

Wine Making

Making wine at home is possible if you have the neccessary equipment and a helping hand from someone that has made wine at home before. There's a lot of work involved, especially in cleaning and sanitizing, but the sense of accomplishment the winemaker can get from producing a few dozen bottles of extremely drinkable wine is a satisfying feeling and accomplishment.

The grapes ripen in late August or September depending on the seasonal climate conditions. The winemaker tastes the grapes, chews the seeds, and measures the sugar content to decide when to harvest the grapes.