- Food & Wine
A journey through the unique flavors of Lombardy
Imagine Alpine and pre-Alpine valleys, shining lakes and a great, boundless plain. That's Lombardy, an area so unique and diverse that it is the cradle of so many exquisite goodnesses.
As many as 264 regional traditional products, 34 PDO and PGI certified products and 13 Slow Food presidia.
Good food in Lombardy is therefore synonymous with quality, respect for the environment and healthy, wholesome products that come from a thriving agriculture that can perfectly combine tradition and innovation. Lombardy's typical cuisine is a riot of flavors.
If you are looking for an oil with a delicate taste and almond aftertaste, don't missOlio del Garda, while if rice is among your favorite products, don't miss visiting Lomellina in the Pavia area, where rice has been grown for at least five centuries.
Whether you are in the mountains or in the plains, a taste of the delicious cheeses, from Taleggio to Grana Padano, or cured meats from Salame di Varzi in Oltrepò Pavese to Bresaola della Valtellina is not to be missed.
Tasty and varied are the fish dishes prepared on the shores of the lakes, from Como to Varese, from Lecco to Brescia. And strong mountain dishes, first among them the pizzoccheri of Valtellina and polenta taragna.
In Mantua the queen of the table is the pumpkin, used in the preparation of exquisite tortelli, while in Milan dishes were born that now occupy a place of honor in the imagination of every gourmet in Italy and around the world, such as risotto alla Milanese with veal ossobuco, cassoeula and cotoletta. Among the desserts not to be missed are Sbrisolona of Mantua, Torrone of Cremona and Panettone of Milan.
And it is in the region's historic trattorias and award-winning starred restaurants that the excellence of a gastronomic tradition with an ancient history but an open eye to the future is exalted.
Not to mention wine, which in Lombardy is synonymous with richness and variety of landscape, but also with respect for tradition combined with a desire for continuous research and experimentation. All these elements have contributed to the growth of Lombardy wine making it reach, over the years, levels of excellence on a national and international level.
From the vineyards of Franciacorta, immersed in the splendid hilly landscape, from which some of Italy's greatest bubblies are born, to Lake Garda, the land of Lugana and Groppello, where wine-making tradition is an integral part of the history and landscape, to theOltrepò Pavese, the first wine-growing area in Lombardy by extension home of Bonarda and Barbera and numerous other DOCs, and to the characteristic terraces of Valtellina from which robust mountain wines are born, Sforzato, Valtellina Superiore, Sassella andInferno, to name but a few.
It is really the case to say, thesoul of a territory in a goblet!
