ITALIAN BREAKFAST - WHEN IN ROME DO AS ROMANS DO | Bed and Rome and Breakfast

mercoledì 25 ottobre 2017

ITALIAN BREAKFAST - WHEN IN ROME DO AS ROMANS DO

From a guest review

The breakfast was very basic and only offered sweet items...

Apart from the fact that, at the St. John Villa, we do not offer only sweet items (the specific guest did not look around), even if that was the case, there would be nothing strange, it's the Italian breakfast.

I frankly beliebe that, when traveling, one must not only visit monuments and museums, but also enter into contact with locals and local traditions. And cuisine is an essential part of that.

Italian cuisine is recognized to be of of the three most important cuisines in the world, along with the French and the Chinese ones (I would personally add also the Turkish cuisine). The order of preference can be different, every person may have his/her own, but there is no doubt that visiting Italy and expecting to eat like at home might sound strange.

The Italian breakfast is the one fitting exactly with the entire meals plan of the day. Traditionally the most important meal is the lunch, even if nowadays, during the working the days, lunch if often light. But that is not the case on Sunday or during the holiday periods,
How could you imagine to have a lunch like the one in the picture after having an American style breakfast?
Well, frankly said I believe that a person visiting Italy should taste the specialties of the italian cuising like antipasto all'italiana, bucatini all'amatriciana (Rome), pasta alla Norma (Sicily), lasagne (Bologna), risotto al nero di seppia (Venice), ossobuco alla milanese (Milan), bistecca alla fiorentina (Florence), tiramisù, cannoli siciliani (Sicily), pastiera (Naples), all with a good glass of wine.

Therefore, start you day with an Italian breakfast, you will also save time to visit the beauties of Rome in the best hours, then, if you are a little bit hungry, areound 11 a.m. taste a supplì or a slice of pizza or a tramezzino, and stop for a serious lunch at 1.30 p.m.. Unless it is raining, when you are in Rome you may seat outside in one of the beautiful sqaures of the city, it's never so cold. Wouldn't it be better than spending a lot of time for a full breakfast?

Traditionally dinner has never been the main meal in Italy, even because it is typically taken after 8 p.m. and it is not very healthy to go to sleep after an heavy meal. Things are changing because of the changes in working hours schedule; nevertheless it is very rare to see someone having a full meal as above at dinner. A pizza margherita is perfect for dinner.

It's a matter of facts that all the foreign people living in Italy that I know have eventually adopted the Italian meals plan and start their day with cappuccino and cornetto.