Italy from the Inside

Ordering a pizza in Italy: a secret revealed

Supplementi- Italy from the Inside

Photo by Francesca Tosolini

As you may imagine, the pizzerie are establishments specializing in pizza. You may find that many of them offer not only pizza but regular dinners as well (therefore are called pizzeria ristorante). What you really need to know is that a good pizza must be cooked in a wood-burning oven (forno a legna) and doesn’t have to have a very oily crust. While not all Italian pizzerias offer exactly the same assortment of pizzas, all pizzerias have a section in their menu called supplementi. Supplementi are the extra ingredients that you can add to your pizza in order to customize it to your own taste. Therefore you can have extra mozzarella, or maybe extra cured ham (prosciutto crudo), or even, if you want, extra olives (olive). So, the next time you will order a pizza in Italy you can say “Vorrei una pizza x con supplemento di y”. Enjoy.

{Part of this article is an excerpt from chapter 3 “Italian cuisine and food establishments” of the eBook “Italy from the Inside. A native Italian reveals the secrets of traveling in Italy”}

 

A pizza that doesn’t look like a pizza

Calzone- Italy from the Inside

Photo by Francesca Tosolini

Il calzone is one of the most popular pizzas in Italy, even though it doesn’t really look like one. In fact, it is a folded pizza that is usually filled with tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, baked ham, and mozzarella.

{This is an excerpt from chapter 3 “Italian cuisine and food establishments” of the eBook “Italy from the Inside. A native Italian reveals the secrets of traveling in Italy”}

Back from my “vacation” in Italy

Ospedale- Italy from the InsideI’m back from Italy. Actually, I have been back for a while, but now with the kids in school I can say that I’m officially back to normal. The photo above is one of the memories I’ve taken with me from my “vacation” in Italy this past July. I say “vacation” because my month there has actually been a going back and forth to and from the hospital where my Mom was recovering after she underwent a surgery she had to have to fix a broken femur (she fell 3 days before my arrival and was released from the hospital 3 days before my departure, how about that?). Since the visiting hours went from 12.30pm to 3pm, every time I entered into the lobby I was wrapped by the smell of freshly baked pizza, straight from the oven. A pizzeria in the hospital. Non male, non male.