Lombardia :

Milano - buffet with typical Lombardian dishes.

People in Lombardy are known for hard working and not spending much time in the kitchen. Lombardy was the first Italian region that introduced a 1 course meal by serving risotto alla Milanese with ossobuco. Traditional Lombardian cook books conteins recipes for the fast prepared zuppa pavese to the more time-consuming cassoeulla and the famous Christmas bread panetone wish takes a whole day to bake. In Bergamo and Brescia they serve a lot of polenta, either with stracotto or with small birds from the valleys. The cattles do not only give meat for brased or cooked meat dishes but also exellent milk products, wich are exported all over the world. Famouse cheeses like Grana, Gorgonzola and Taleggio are made here, as well as the cremy Riliola, Stracchino and Marscapone. The old city Mantova is known for tortelli di zucca and risotto alla Mantovana or all pilota. In Cremona they make Torrone and Mostarda. On the other side of the Padova plain,along the beaches of the rivers Tirino and Po you will find a lot restaurants that serve frog's leggs on a bed of risotto or eel cooked in butter, onion, wine and nutmeg. Here you also will find dishses with sweet-water fish. At the trattoria's arround Lake Como you can find specialities like risotto con pesce persicato and missultitt. In the nearby Valentina valley you can eat pizzocheri with the local Bilto-cheese or Bresaola prepared with onions,mushrooms and herbs. Butter is very important in Lobardian cooking. Valentina Leonte, a Milanese noble man, is sayed to have served asparagi al burro for Julius Ceasar when he returned from Gallia. Since that day they have used butter for sauté or vegetables in the whole of Northern Italy.

Trentino Alto Adige :

Bolzano - Panoramic view of the city with the Dolomites in the background.

The Dolomites-montain chain dominates this part of Italy. A dish like polenta carbonara, made with polenta mixed with salami, onion, a strong cheese and 50 g (2 oz) butter is a good example for the both nourishing and warming food one can expect in this region. This and a rich sauce that goes together with polenta and game makes the base for traditional cooking in Trentino. Unfortunately they serve in tourist season usually national and international dishes, rather than local specialities. A local dish you should look for is vitello alle renette a wonderfull combination of apples and strong seasoned meat. (Trentino is the leading apple producing region in Italy). In the valley's around Lake Garda they cultivate citrus fruit and olives wich give oil for summer sallads. But in the winter it is again polenta that counts, served with rich sauses with mushrooms, picked in August and September. Trentina has more than 300 lakes, and sweet-water fish you will find allmost allways on the menu.