Our methodology is simple. We asked ourselves to be really honest, like “last meal” honest, about the food we live and fly for, and we canvased our trusted network of writers, chefs, and restaurateurs for the dishes they can’t stop dreaming about thereafter. What follows is the print-it-out lifeline to eating your way around Italy.

 

You’re not going to Italy for fine dining. You’re there to devour housemade pastas and lemon-spritzed fritto from tiny trattorias and unpretentious osterias—the types of places where, if you peeked into the kitchen, you’d expect to find an apron-wearing nonna, wooden spoon in hand.