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Campania

This is the region of Naples and its famous bay including Pompeii, Vesuvius, Capri, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. Naples itself, famous for pizza and animated italianità, is the best antidote to the decaffeinated control-freak Europe. Try spaghetti alle vongole, anything with mozzarella di bufala, and limoncello.

The name derives from the Latin Campania felix, or 'Fertile or happy Countryside'.

acqua pazza

poached fish in a broth

alici

anchovies

angioletti fritti

'little angels'—fried strips of pizza dough

annoglia

pork sausage made with offal

babà

dessert or savoury bread

Bebè di Sorrento

baby caciocavallo

bocconcini

'little mouthfuls'

braciola

a chop, a thin steak, or involtini

bucchinotti

pastries filled almond paste and cherries

bufala

mozzarella

caccavelle

biggest of all pasta forms

Caciocavallo

hanged sheep or cow's milk cheese

Cacioricotta

a soft, mixed cheese

calamarata

pasta shaped like sliced squid

calzone

'trouser legs'- a pizza folded over

candele

hollow 'candle' shaped pasta

canneroni

pasta shaped like 'big reeds'

Carmasciano

sheep's cheese from Avellino

casatiello

Savoury Neapolitan Easter bread

Casoperuto

sheep and goat's milk cheese from Caserta

cassata

Sicily's famous cake

cassatedde

ricotta filled pastry moons

castagna

chestnut

ciambotta

vegetable stew

cicenielli

whitebait

cicoria

chicory/endives

cime di rapa

brassica rapa

Cinerino

sheep's milk cheese from the Cilento

cocchia

flat rustic loaf

colatura

anchovy sauce, a descendant of ancient garum

Concerto

herbal cordial from the Amalfi coast

Conciato Romano

ancient 'pickled' cheese

coniglio

rabbit

cornicione

the raised rim of a pizza

corno di capra

goat horn pepper

cortecce

bark or bark-shaped pasta

cuoppo

paper cone filled with fried delights

cuppetiello

a paper cone for street food

cutugnata

quince preserve

delizia al limone

lemon delights

fagioli

beans, beans, beans and more beans

femminello

aromatic lemons

fico

fig

filetto di pomodoro

with fresh whole tomatos

fior di latte

cow’s milk mozzarella

focaccia

flat bread, usually

friarielli

turnip tops, or green peppers

frisa

ring-shaped rusk

frittata

omelette, Italian style

gattò

cake (both savoury or sweet)

genovese

beef and onion ragù

graffe

sugar doughnuts

grano

wheat or grain

impepata di cozze

mussels cooked in a peppery broth

insalata di rinforzo

'reinforcement salad'

lagane

home-made ribbon pasta

lampascioni

bulbs of the grape hyacinth

Limoncello

lemon liqueur

limone

lemon

maccheroncelli

small thin pasta tubes, often ridged

mafaldine

skinny lasagne

mandarino

clementine (tangerine)

margherita

pizza with tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil

marinara

pizza with tomato sauce, or just the sauce

Marzellina

goat's and sheep's milk cheese

matasse

skeins of pasta

meloncello

melon liqueur

mezzanelli

short pasta tubes

migliaccio

semolina or chestnut flour or pig's blood cake

mostaccioli dolci

traditional Christmas biscuits of the south

mozzarella

mpanata

pie or hot cheese with bread

mparrettati

long thin pencils of pasta

Nanassino

prickly pear liqueur

noce

nut/walnut

oliva

olive

paccheri

enormous pasta tubes

pagnotta

white bread

pagnottielli

savoury rolls

palatone

traditional soft loaf

pane

bread

panuozzo

pizza-panini bread

papaccella

sweet pepper from Campania

paranza

small fry

parigina

Neapolitan street pizza

pasta cresciuta

Neapolitan fritter

pasta di Gragnano

pasta from the Bay of Naples' 'City of Maccaroni'

pastiera

Neapolitan Easter pie

pecorino

sheep's milk cheese

penne all'arrabbiata

angry quills!

peperoncino

chili peppers

percoca

variety of peach

pere e musso

pig's foot and snout

pezzogna

blue spotted bream

pigna

Easter (or Christmas) cake

pignata

dishes cooked in a terracotta pot

pisto

Neapolitan spice mix

pizza fritta

fried pizza

pizzelle

thin waffles

pollo

chicken

polpo

octopus

pomodoro

tomato

portafoglio

small pizza folded into 'wallets'

Provatura

mini-mozzarella

Provola

cheese from Campania and Sicily

Provolone

one of Italy's famous cheeses

puttanesca

'whore-style sauce'

ragù

meat sauce

ricotta

soft whey cheese

Robiola

soft white cheese in many forms

roccoco

hard Neapolitan Christmas cookies

rosolio

cordial

salame

salami

salsiccia

sausage

sartu

Neapolitan rice spectacular

scagliozzi

fried slices of polenta

Scamorza

similar to mozzarella

scarpariello

'shoemakers' sauce'

scialatielli

prize winning 'ruffles'

sciurilli

battered and fried zucchini flowers

sciuè sciuè

quick tomato sauce

sfogliatella

millefeuille pastries

sfusato

very special Amalfi lemons

soppressata

pressed salami

spumone

three kinds of ice cream

stoccafisso

stockfish, or wind-dried cod

Strega

witch juice

struffoli

fried dough balls in honey syrup

suino nero

black pig

susumelle

Calabrian cookies

tartufo

truffle

tiella

a word of many meanings

timballo

pasta or rice casserole

tortano

savoury bread with cheese and salami

torzella

the oldest cabbage in the Med

troccoli

square strands of pasta

vongole

clams

zeppole

'St Joseph's pastries'

ziti

pasta tubes

zuppa inglese

'English soup': a layered dessert