It's easy to paint a broad-brush stroke across all of Italy when describing, arguably, one of the most popular cuisines in the world. However, you might just miss the mosaic of subtleties that comprise Italy's fabulous patchwork of regional dishes, heavily influenced by locale, necessity, and intricate history.

Winemaker Rudy Marchesi has crafted his life around a world devoted to food. He has carved out a communal "little five acre food oasis" he calls home.

If you haven't eaten your way across Italy yet, consider the advice of someone who has. Italian food varies dramatically from region to region, but you can rest assured that you will find pasta, wine, espresso and gelato wherever you go.

Making pizza is the best thing in the world, and it's so much more satisfying to make your own stuff. Even if it doesn't taste better, you think it does -- and that's all that counts!

Anna Boiardi, the niece of founders of Chef Boyardee Co. has written an Italian cookbook, though for better or worse don't expect to see any recipes f...

When I first married into an Italian Catholic family, I thought it was downright weird that they would wait to go to church at midnight, Christmas Eve, so that they could come home in the middle of the night and eat sausage.

Pan dei Morti, or Bread of the Dead, are fabulous cookies, dark, moist, very dense and chewy that appear much too briefly in Italian bakeries during the autumn season.

There are numerous labeling conventions, numerous methods of production, numerous claims of authenticity, and a boggling range of quality and price.

It's stressful enough opening up a restaurant around the corner from my apartment, and here I am in another country. Your people love food -- and that's really all I need.

You want simple? This is it. Easy? Forget about it. Organized? Buying the book could be the last time you'll ever need to think about an Italian menu.