Food and Wine of Campania Italy - Travel Guide & Information

This description page of Campania, region Of Italy, will guide you in planning your trip to Italy and help you to find useful travel information about the Food & Wine of this Italian Region.

Food (Cibo)

Located on the shin of I's boot, the cuisine of Campania and Naples (Napoli) is famous throughout the world: spaghetti with tomatoes and basil, pizza topped with mozzarella, stuffed tomatoes, and eggplant parmigiana.

Wherever you go in this region, Mt. Vesuvius casts a dramatic shadow over the fertile landscape. Campanians have been known as mangiafoglie (leaf eaters) because greens and vegetables so dominated the diet. Thanks to the volcanic soil, Campania yields some of the best fruits and vegetables in Italy: eggplants, tomatoes, zucchini, various types of peppers, salad greens, garlic, and herbs that reach heights of flavor, as do peaches, apricots, figs, grapes, melons, oranges, and lemons. Many of Camp's dishes revolve around its delicious bounty of vegetables, particularly the prized San Marzano sweet plum tomatoes. The large, thick-skinned lemons of Sorrento and the Costiera Amalfitana are renowned as the source of the liqueur called limoncello, and are also used in granita.

The area is also well known for its cheeses, including mozzarella, scamorza, provolone, caciocavallo, and pecorino. With that combination's no wonder pizza is another of this re's famous culinary contributions. A specialty of Sorrento is caprignetti alle erbe, golf ball-sized 's milk cheeses rolled in herbs. Water buffalo grazed in marshy lowlands around Capua and Salerno yield the ultimate in mozzarella di bufala. Ricotta and mascarpone from buffalo are also prized, as are provola and scamorza, which are sometimes lightly smoked. With the exception of the re's luscious fruit, sweets are usually reserved for special occasions. 're typically rich and elaborate, incorporating cream, ricotta, and dried fruit.

Wine (Vino)

The ancient Romans admired Campania Felix as the most felicitous of wine regions and clearly favored Campania for wine. They favored the vineyards along the coast north of Naples (Napoli) where Falernian, the most treasured wine of the empire, was grown. They also praised the wines of volcanic Vesuvius and the wooded hills of Avellino.

Even earlier, the Greeks had recognized the privileged nature of the place, introducing vines that still stand out today in Aglianico, Greco, and Falanghina.

Now, after a long lapse, Campania is undergoing a revival that has dramatically improved quality; With Campania’s climate, coil, and topography it could be one of the great wine regions of Italy. More than half of Campania’s terrain consists of hillsides. The Apennines run along the central and eastern parts of the region; other mountains and hills are in and near the western coastline, including several volcanoes. The climate is mainly hot and dry near the sea, but can be cool and rainy, especially in the autumn, in the inland Apennines.

Campania’s three greatest wines come from the Irpinia hills around the city of Avellino: the red Taurasi, and two DOC whites, Fiano de Avellino and Greco di Tufo, which make some of the very best, long-lived white wines in the country.

The noblest of red varieties is Aglianico, which has proven to be one of the great, noble grapes of Italy. In good vintages, this complex, powerful, and tannic wine is at its best after 15 to 20 years.

The name Greco di Tufo applies to both a white grape variety and a DOC wine. The Greeks introduced the Greco variety to Italy over 2,000 years ago. It flourishes in many parts of Italy, but the particular clone, called Greco di Tufo, grows around the hillside village of Tufo and seven other communities directly north of Avellino and is undoubtedly the best. “Tufa” or “tufo” is a type of calcareous rock deposited by springs or lakes; the tufaceous and volcanic soil of the Tufo area makes a perfect environment for this grape.

Fiano di Avellino is Southern Italy’s top dry white wine, and one of the best in the entire country. A delicately flavored wine with aromas of pear and toasted hazelnuts, it becomes more pronounced with age. Unlike most dry white wines, Fiano di Avellino is best with ages 5 or 6 years.

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