Italian (Mediterranean)

Naples, Sicily & the coast

The Mediterranean face of Italy is the food of the south and the coast: pasta tossed with clams and oil, Sicily’s sweet-sour caponata, and the green hit of basil pounded into pesto. A few good ingredients, treated with respect and very little fuss.

Every recipe

8 recipes in this region.

A nest of spaghetti cacio e pepe twirled in a bowl, coated in a glossy, creamy pale sauce and flecked all over with coarsely ground black pepper, finished with a dusting of grated Pecorino.

Veg

Rome, Lazio · Italian

Cacio e Pepe (Roman Pasta with Pecorino and Black Pepper)

Rome's three-ingredient masterpiece: spaghetti tossed with Pecorino Romano and toasted black pepper into a glossy, clinging sauce — no cream, no butter, just cheese, pepper, pasta, and starchy water. Simple to list, technical to nail.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

A bowl of glossy Sicilian caponata — golden-brown eggplant cubes with celery, tomato, green olives and capers in a dark sweet-sour sauce, scattered with pine nuts and torn basil.

Vegan

Sicily · Italian

Caponata (Sicilian Sweet-and-Sour Eggplant)

Sicily's great agrodolce: fried eggplant folded with celery, tomato, capers and olives in a sweet-sour sauce sharpened with vinegar and sugar. Better the next day, served at room temperature as a starter, side or relish.

IntermediateSidesMediterranean

A square slice of lasagne alla bolognese lifted from the baking dish, showing fine layers of green spinach pasta, deep-brown ragù and creamy besciamella, with a browned Parmigiano crust on top, on a rustic wooden table in warm natural light.

Bologna, Emilia-Romagna · Italian

Lasagne alla Bolognese (The Authentic Recipe from Bologna)

Bologna's definitive baked pasta: thin sheets of green spinach egg pasta layered with a long-simmered ragù, silky besciamella and Parmigiano Reggiano. No ricotta, no mozzarella, no shortcuts — just eight patient layers that bake into something greater than their parts.

AdvancedMainsMediterranean

A Neapolitan pizza margherita with a puffed, charred rim, a thin red tomato base, molten white mozzarella, and fresh green basil leaves, on a wooden peel.

Veg

Naples, Campania · Italian

Neapolitan Pizza Margherita

The original pizza: a slow-fermented dough stretched thin, topped simply with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil, and blasted in the hottest oven you've got until the rim puffs and chars. Three toppings, one perfect pie.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

A white bowl of rigatoni alla Norma coated in red tomato sauce, studded with golden-brown fried eggplant cubes, topped with a snowfall of grated white ricotta salata and a few bright green basil leaves.

Veg

Catania, Sicily · Italian

Pasta alla Norma (Sicilian Pasta with Fried Eggplant)

Catania's great eggplant pasta: fried aubergine folded into a bright tomato sauce, tossed with rigatoni, and showered with salty ricotta salata and torn basil. A vegetarian dish that eats like a celebration.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

A plate of trofie pasta coated in vivid green basil pesto, flecked with pine nuts and grated cheese, a marble mortar and pestle with more pesto and fresh basil leaves behind.

Veg

Liguria (Genoa) · Italian

Pesto alla Genovese (Genoese Basil Pesto)

The real Ligurian pesto: fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic, two cheeses and good olive oil pounded into a vivid green sauce, tossed through pasta with a splash of starchy water. No cooking, no compromise — raw, fragrant and fast.

EasyMainsMediterranean

A bowl of spaghetti alla carbonara twirled into a nest, glossy with egg-and-Pecorino sauce, flecked with crisp golden guanciale and coarse black pepper, on a rustic table in warm natural light.

Rome, Lazio · Italian

Spaghetti alla Carbonara (The Authentic Roman Recipe)

Rome's four-ingredient masterpiece: spaghetti bound in a glossy sauce of egg, Pecorino Romano and rendered guanciale, finished with a storm of black pepper. No cream, no garlic, no onion — just technique. Silky, salty and deeply savoury.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean

A bowl of glossy spaghetti alle vongole twirled with open clam shells, flecks of red chilli and green parsley, glistening with garlicky olive oil, a lemon wedge on the rim.

Naples & Campania · Italian

Spaghetti alle Vongole (Spaghetti with Clams)

Naples in a bowl: spaghetti tossed with clams steamed open in white wine, garlic, chilli and olive oil, emulsified with their own briny juices into a glossy sauce. No cheese, no fuss — just the sea, in minutes.

IntermediateMainsMediterranean