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This hotel has become the address for visitors to Italy’s most famous Alpine lake.

Truly immerse yourself in one of the tastiest cuisines in the world.

For that old-country feeling, right here at home.

Let this food expert guide your culinary adventures in Italy.

5 Reasons You’ll Fall In Love With This Hidden Italian Island

Where to Eat, Drink, and Stay in Milan—According to a Chef

Italy’s Best Sparkling Wine? It’s Not Prosecco

When March rolls around in the Eternal City, a deep-fried artichoke dish sets off a feeding frenzy. To understand the Romans’ obsession with carciofi alla Giudia, you need to, well, do as the Romans do.

Wandering Chef: Fabrizio Cercatore in Italy

Wandering Chef: Sarah Grueneberg in Venice and Trentino

“Ristorante da Ivo is where George Clooney famously likes to dine, but it’s still completely charming. It’s a tiny trattoria and very expensive, but the food is stunning. The kitchen is still family-run and it feels very local, not at all pretentious. You can get dressed up or go in jeans and a jumper. Do try the baccala, which is salted dried cod that’s been soaked in milk and whipped up with olive oil. It’s creamy and delicious.”

Read about more of McAlpine’s Venice favorites.

Open during the spring and summer months, the restaurant Eolo (the Greek God of wind) is ideally situated overlooking the town of Amalfi and the coast. Seafood dishes and light white wine from the Campania region are perfect fare for a warm night. Don’t miss the fritto misto.

Receiving rave reviews over the years from the Chicago Tribune, Zagat, the Chicago Sun Times and Fra Noi (Chicagoland’s Italian American Voice), DeMarco’s is a well-known authentic Italian eatery in the truest sense of the word. The team at DeMarco’s focuses on fine pasta dishes, incorporating veal, fish, chicken and steak into their foodie masterpieces. All pastas are made right at home, and patrons can customize their delicious meal any way they like. DeMarco’s also sources fresh ingredients to keep all their customers happy, and as you can guess, constantly coming back for more.

Inside Ristorante Alle Vecchie Carceri, the simple yet sophisticated décor—white damask linens and emerald green accents—belies the building’s history as an old Austrian prison. While the menu is full of traditional Friulian dishes, Chef Ugo Durigon has elevated this normally rustic cuisine to a more refined and elegant level. Guests receive a complimentary appetizer consisting of a small mound of polenta topped by two wafers of frico (Montasio cheese crisps), a pile of smoked ricotta cheese, and a sprinkling of poppy seeds. The bread basket overflows with varied and interesting creations: soft rosemary rolls, a whole wheat twist with walnuts and currants, an herb roll flecked with green, and thick homemade grissini. Their cjalsòns are one of the best versions in all of Friuli—round and plump ravioli, shaped rather like a flying saucer, filled with mashed potatoes, caramelized onion, and raisins. They are served in a generous pool of melted butter and topped with cinnamon, sugar, and smoked ricotta. Cinnamon sticks and piles of raisins garnish the plate. For dessert, I recommend the sformato al cioccolato, a mini chocolate cake with a molten center, served with two thin wafer cookies, a dollop of whipped cream, a sauce of bitter pink grapefruit peel, some red currants, and a dusting of cocoa and powdered sugar. Like all the restaurant’s presentations, this plate is as artfully designed as it is delicious.

While waiting for a table at the exquisite ristorante Miky in Monterosso’s “New Town,” I stepped outside to watch the sun descend behind the cliffs of Cinque Terre. With a glass of Vernaccia from San Gimignano, which I had visited myself just days prior, I was content to just wait and wait and wait, which I never have the patience to do back home in NYC. As I saw it, the beauty was within the wine and the wine was within reach. And so I sipped it and cultivated patience.