"The Food"

The cuisines of Abruzzo, Umbria, Lazio and the Marche have many similarities, but present a diversity of ingredients and dishes perhaps unrivaled in all of Italy.

The "cucina Abruzzese" for example, is in its richness and range superior to those of Tuscany and Rome. In Teramo province one can try scrippelle, pecorino crepes served in broth or as a first course. The Navelli plain near L'Aquila produces the finest saffron in all of Europe, and many pasta and meat dishes feature its singular flavor. Toward the Adriatic, seafood dishes predominate, including brodetto, a stew also made in the Marche and the Veneto. Abruzzese brodetto distinguishes itself from the competition by the variety of fish included and the use of hot peppers, or pepperoncino. In fact, pepperoncino is liberally used throughout the Abruzzo. Lamb, or agnello, is omnipresent. Grilled, roasted, or used in a ragu, it is unequaled in flavor. When you see the large flocks grazing on grasses and herbs on the region's high-mountain pastures, you'll understand why this is so. The pasta most often associated with Abruzzo is maccheroni alla chitarra, a square spaghetti so named because the device used in its production, comprised of a wooden box strung with steel wire, resembles a guitar. The region's cheeses include a vast assortment of pecorino, or sheeps' milk cheeses, and scamorza, a close relative of mozzarella. The olive oil of the region around Loreto Aprutino has earned a DOP (the oil equivalent to Italian wine's DOC and DOCG), and recently was named the best in Italy. As in Umbria and the Marche, porchetta, a roasted, stuffed and spiced young pig, appears at every turn. Abruzzo wines range from the gutsy to examples of refined distinction. Three types predominate: Montepulciano, a robust red; Cerasuolo, a delicate but complex rosè made from the Montepulciano grape; and Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, a crisp white.
Umbria is known for the unrivaled quality of its pork products, refined olive oils, and dishes perfumed and flavored with black truffle. Pork butchers in the Umbrian town of Norcia are so accomplished, in fact, that a butcher trained there is called a Norcino and can open a norcineria anywhere in Italy. In your travels around Italy, look for these places, as they produce pork products without equal. Umbrian cuisine is also well-varied, including dishes like fagiano all'uva (pheasant cooked with grapes), tegamaccio (a freshwater fish stew from the area surrounding Lake Trasimeno), and spaghetti alla norcina, flavored with black truffle, oil, sausages, and cream. Soups made with farro and other local ingredients are also featured. And, as in Abruzzo and the Marche, lamb is frequently used. The wines of Umbria rank among Italy's finest. They include the wonderfully dry and nuanced white Orvieto, Rosso di Montefalco, Sagrantino di Montefalco, a strong and complex red little known outside the region, the red Torgiano, and vin santo, a sweet desert wine often consumed, as in Tuscany, with biscotti. Any discussion of Umbrian flavors must include chocolate and the wonderful confections made in Perugia and available throughout the region.
The cucina of the Marche includes many of the ingredients and dishes listed above - lamb, fine olive oil, truffles, porchetta, and brodetto, for example - but is singular in its own right. The presence in the Marche of hills and mountains, and its position on the Adriatic assure an impressive diversity. Local dishes include vincigrassi, a lasagna containing cream, truffles, ragu, butter, parmigiano-reggiano, mozzarella, and various other ingredients; olive Ascolane, olives stuffed, breaded and deep fried and a specialty of Ascoli Piceno; lonza, a salame made from the cheek or neck of a pig; coniglio in coccio, rabbit cooked in white wine and milk; lumache, or snails; and goose prepared in white wine, garlic, and fresh tomatoes. The Marches' wines include Verdicchio, a pleasant white, Bianco dei colli Maceratesi, Rosso Conero, Rosso Piceno, from the area surrounding Ascoli Piceno, and Sangiovese dei Colli Pesaresi, a light red.
The cuisine of Lazio is, like that of Abruzzo, heavily influenced by its pastoral tradition. Lamb is ubiquitous and featured in such dishes as abbacchio al forno (roast young lamb) and abbacchio scottodito (literally "scorched fingers," which are fried strips of lamb). All of the lamb is utilized, in Rome in particular, including innards and offal. The cuisine of Rome is enriched by the Jewish presence in its famous ghetto, where one might taste carciofi alla giudea (lightly fried artichokes), baccala (deep-fried salted cod), and fiori di zucca (zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy and fried). Many of the pasta dishes of Lazio are remarkably hearty and rich, and include: fettucine alla Romana (prosciutto, chicken giblets, and tomatoes), and gnocchi alla Romana (gnocchi baked with cheese and butter). Two of the most famous dishes associated with Lazio (but whose origins are actually in Abruzzo) are bucatini all'amatriciana (from Amatrice in Rieti province, just over the border with Abruzzo, made with pancetta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and hot pepper) and spaghetti alla carbonara (named after the wives of the charcoal makers from Abruzzo, and made with pancetta, egg, pecorino, and black pepper). Lighter first courses include penne all'arrabbiata (literally "angry" penne, made with garlic, tomatoes, and hot pepper), pasta cacio e pepe (with black pepper and pecorino cheese), and stracciatella (egg drop soup). Pork dishes are also common, the most delicious of which might be maiallino (roasted suckling pig), and no description of Roman cuisine could exclude saltimbocca ("jump in mouth," thinly sliced veal with sage and prosciutto). The most important of Lazio's cheeses is pecorino Romano, a sheep-milk cheese which is usually aged. While Lazio's wines cannot compare with Italy's greatest wine regions, they do include two good to excellent varieties of white wine, Frascati (from the Castelli Romani, the hill towns surrounding Rome) and Est!Est!Est! After a dinner in Rome or its environs, one should try a local digestivo, the most famous of which is Sambuca.