Food of Italy

The suggestions I have gathered from friends and bloggers are simple but inevitable when it pertains to food. I must try the pizza! It is unlike any pizza in America. It is a thin-crusted pizza made from fresh ingredients and can be found anywhere and everywhere, and great too! I will need to make sure to order cheese on my pizza because they make pizzas with only dough and marinara sauce. Hole in the wall joints are the best places to eat because the locals eat there and know what is good. It was emphasized to me that I must eat at restaurants that have strictly Italian chefs and not immigrated American entrepreneur cooks with Italian recipes. I will be able to find these Italian chefs because they work at restaurants that are only open a few hours of the day because they abide by siesta, but they have all the secrets to an Italian feast. I will be trying tons of pasta in all shapes and sizes, as it is a staple to the Italian diet. It should be topped with clams and scallop seafood captured fresh that day. There are certain restaurants that change the menu daily depending on the freshest ingredients of the day. The dessert to round out my meal will of course be gelato either in a delicious tiramisu flavor or the rare Limón cello Italian favorite. When in Venice I have specifically been told to try cicchetti. Which are half eggs with anchovies, polenta (like corn porridge) with a meat or fish sauce, fried crab pinchers, crabmeat balls and baccalà mantecato, stockfish minced and cooked in milk. Sounds different but I am so curious to explore the foods and wines of Italy!