Central Italian Regional Cuisines

Umbria's cooking is one of the most local of all Italian cuisines, in the sense that the Umbrians have stayed true to tradition, feeling little need for ingredients or procedures introduced from elsewhere.

The cooking of the Marches was once known for its frugality, though things have improved, and now cooks artfully interweave land and sea in their recipes.

The cooking of Lazio is in essence the cooking of Rome. The Eternal City dominates the region now and did so to an even greater degree in the past. As a result the city became the depository of all of Lazio's local culinary traditions, including some one might not expect, for example that of the Roman Jewish population, part of which arrived before Paul.

At first glance Tuscan food appears simple: Not much in the way of spices other than pepper, few sauces or seasonings other than olive oil, and only a minimum of herbs. Even the bread is unsalted....