Pizza and pasta may be the ubiquitous face of Italian cuisine, but the country's culinary history is much more diverse, and is reflected in the great variety of its regional cuisines. Some dishes and ingredients have their roots in Italy's ancient Etruscan and Roman civilizations, while others were brought from distant shores by merchants and conquerors, but all have merged to create one of the world's most delicious and lauded cuisines.
Throughout much of Italy's history, common people ate very differently from the rich, relying on locally grown beans and grains, a few homegrown vegetables, or foraged greens and herbs. Tuscany, now regarded as a place for culinary pilgrimages, was long known as the land of the bean eaters. But this Italian tradition of cooking seasonally and relying on the freshest, sometimes simplest, ingredients is now a worldwide passion. Classic Italian ingredients like olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pasta and herbs like basil and rosemary are now pantry staples everywhere even farro, the ancient Roman grain, is making a splash in the culinary world.
