"Locavore" is probably one of the most trendy foodie terms right now. In Italy, though, this is simply the way it has been for centuries. Italian food is a simple cuisine based on the freshest ingredients available and its dishes are deeply rooted in the Italian culture, with recipes usually passed down between generations and treasured for their authentic origins.

There is a detailed, fascinating painting of history, customs and trends for the myriad of popular Italian delicacies and dishes across the different regions and cities.

This is what inspired our Grand Tour , a foodie journey across culture, tradition and taste. We have explored each regional speciality with a mixture or curiosity and nostalgia, always learning more about the local flavours, ingredients and cooking methods.

To recap the second part of this food travelling, we can imagine a crawl from the most southern tip up along the Adriatic coast and high up the Dolomites.

Sipping Primitivo in Puglia, we ate creamy burrata with truffle, orecchiette with octopus and super filling bombette. Molise offered simple but amazing flavours, with a superb fiatone filled with salami, pecorino and goat cheese and crioli with walnut and baccala’. Going up along the coast and across the mountains of the park of Abruzzo, we discovered the delicate taste of their Pecorino wine, while eating a luscious millefeuille filled with zabaione and fresh figs. In the Marche region our palate felt an enveloping softness and a sensation of long lasting fullness thanks to Verdicchio di Matelica’s typical bitter almond aftertaste. Continuing the journey up north, along the beaches of Romagna and inland across the Pianura Padana we reached the region that is arguably considered the cradle of Italian food: Emilia Romagna, with its cured meats and delightful tortellini. More fresh pasta goodness awaited us on the other side of the Pianura Padana: delicious casoncelli were certainly the stars of the show in Lombardia, even better when accompanied by a good glass of Trebbiano di Lugana directly from the banks of Lake Garda. A bite of creamy sbrisolona crumble tart and we were ready to climb the Alps. Up in the Dolomites, Trentino Alto Adige greeted us with their South Tyrolean aperitif Hugo, fresh and sparkling like their mountain streams. On the other side of the Dolomites, risotto with langoustine and a Sacher Torte of Austrian influence treated us to a great meal. Our tour in mainland Italy couldn’t end in better style: Venice and the Veneto region awaited us with sparkling Prosecco and cicchetti di baccalà mantecato e polenta.

What a journey! We’ll take a little break in December, when the Christmas atmosphere will rule, until our holidays.

But don’t worry, our gourmet travel is not over: a Grand Tour of Sardegna is coming in January, get ready to explore its rich flavours for a whole month with us!