Family meals are great opportunities to reconnect with those you love. Make the most of your special moments together when you cook up these delicious dishes.

• Italian Cheese

  Eating cheese is one of life’s great culinary pleasures – and Italian cheese takes that savory experience to new heights. The many varieties, textures, and flavors of real Italian cheese can add a wonderful dimension to your cooking – and to your family’s enjoyment of la cucina Italiana. See the Menu

• Taste of Torino

  With the fast-paced schedules of families today, we are all often pulled away from home and each other. Make family meals a time to reconnect. Planning a special evening for the family is easy if you involve the entire family. Everyone is sure to linger at the table just a little bit longer with a delicious pasta recipe and unique ideas for setting your table. See the Menu

Sometimes, some quality time spent with friends can be just what a girl needs! Take some time to enjoy simple yet sensational pasta with the girls.

• Girls' Night

  Sleek, chic, and utterly urbane, the northern city of Milano is one of the premier fashion capitals on earth – a city where style is not just a business, but part of the fabric of life. And during its twice-yearly fashion shows, this vibrant cultural center—the second largest and wealthiest city in Italy—is transformed into a swirling, bustling playground for the international couture intelligentsia. See the Menu

• Poolside Luncheon

  An outdoor luncheon can be sophisticated or casual, but the mood is always relaxed and the pace is often a little bit slower. It is a perfect scenario for sharing a meal with friends or family while spending a seemingly endless summer afternoon together. See the Menu

Great friends, great conversation, and great food are the essential elements of a perfect dinner party. These Italian-inspired menus will delight your guests’ palates, and are sure to get everyone talking!

• Aromatic Herbs

  As all chefs will tell you, herbs are the hallmark of flavorful cooking. Every culture around the world adapts these savory ingredients to help define the distinctive flavors of its cuisine. And in Italy, where fennel, rosemary, and sage grow wild, herbs are used to an especially delicious effect. See the Menu

• Balsamic Vinegar

  As integral to Italian gastronomy as pasta, yet as precious and difficult to produce as fine wine, aceto balsamico (balsamic vinegar) has stirred the appetites – and cured the ailments – of aristocrats, peasants, and everyone in between for centuries. A gift of time, tradition, and nature, its incomparable flavor brings hundreds of years of artisanship to the table, transforming even the simplest dish into a masterwork. See the Menu

• Movie Night

  Choose an Italian Movie Night theme for your next entertaining adventure. For the menu, start with crispy, warm polenta appetizers topped with a selection of creamy, flavorful cheeses. Next a soup prepared in a clear broth, with chicken, fresh vegetables, and pasta. Then, the famous Roman pasta dish Rigatoni all’Amatriciana, prepared in a lightly spiced tomato sauce flavored with pancetta, onions, and fresh basil. Follow with zucchini stuffed with veal and mortadella served in a light tomato sauce. End with the perfect dolci, or dessert - a smooth Chocolate Bavarian Crème served with crispy, buttery cookies. See the Menu

• Mushrooms

  Italians have perhaps taken the most creative and culinary advantage of the rich and rustic mushroom. From savory sauce infusions to delicate entrée accents to whole stuffed appetizers, the mushroom is celebrated as a sensation in Italian cooking. Wild and wonderful, they dot the Italian countryside, are gathered and produced locally, and integrated into luscious Italian specialties to add a unique flavor and sublime texture. Try this exceptionally enticing collection of recipes featuring a variety of Italy’s favorite fungi! See the Menu

• Olive Harvest

  The story of the olive harvest – the olive’s journey from tree to your table – is a delicious tale of talent, experience, luck, persistence, speed, and most of all, a dedication to flavor. Hundreds of varieties of olives are grown and made into olive oil in Mediterranean countries of which Italian olive oil certainly ranks among the best. See the Menu

• Pasta Party

  From Farfalle to Fettuccine, Lasagne to Linguine, Rigatoni to Rotini, the seemingly endless range of pasta varieties creates a delicious quandary: which kind to enjoy tonight? Part of the joy of cooking with this versatile staple is discovering the scores of shapes and thousands of preparation possibilities from all over Italy. See the Menu

• Seafood

  Treat your guests to an Italian seaside rendezvous in your own home.  From the authentic culinary style of the Italian coastlines, discover the recipes, entertaining tips, and decor to set a mood, menu, and atmosphere that are unforgettable! See the Menu

• Spring Vegetables

  There is perhaps no more delightful season than spring in Italy, as the land thaws and the gentle warmth of the Mediterranean sun coaxes the first green shoots from the earth. And nothing heralds spring more than the arrival of the year’s first fresh vegetables in the country’s many farmers markets – a centuries-old tradition that is finding new life here at home, too. See the Menu

• Summer Dinner Party

  Follow this light summer Italian menu, full of flavor, texture, and variety. Begin with a simple Caprese salad, then follow with an Orzo and Wild Rice Salad and “Conchiglie Grandi,” or Large Shells stuffed with swordfish, olives, capers, and oven-dried tomatoes. Traditional meatballs are complemented by mixed, baked vegetables seasoned to perfection. And lastly, a mouthwatering blueberry tart – a full and delicious meal that will leave your guests cheering. See the Menu

• Summer Picnic

  One of the surefire signs that summer has arrived in Italy is the sight of families and friends savoring delicious meals together alfresco in the warm Mediterranean sun. Whether it’s in the bustling piazzas and cafés of the city or in the tranquil vineyards and valleys of the countryside, Italians everywhere take advantage of the season’s slower pace by lingering over lunch or dinner in the open air. See the Menu

• Truffles

  If any single food inspires passion, mystery, and sheer gastronomic pleasure, it is the truffle. Adored by chefs and gourmands the world over, the truffle is not actually a mushroom, but a fungus that grows underground, mostly within the root systems of oak, poplar, and willow trees as well as hazelnut bushes. See the Menu

• Wine Dinner

  Throughout the whole of Italy, wine is as essential to the culture as the legendary traditions of art and romance. The great wines of Italy are a testament to the rolling vineyards and the exquisite restaurants that create that classic Italian aura. From the avant-garde fashion capital of Milan to the ancient landmarks of Rome, wine is as abundant as water and always inseparable from good food! See the Menu

Celebrating holidays and special occasions Italian style is a wonderful tradition to create with family and friends. Celebrations are easy with simple, uncomplicated pasta meals like these.

• Christmas Eve Dinner

  The Italians have a saying: “Natale con i tuoi; Pasqua con chi vuoi,” which translates to “Christmas with your family; Easter with whomever you wish.” It is a sentiment held dear to the Italian way of life, as families celebrate Christmastime with gusto, sharing in customs passed down through the generations. And perhaps nowhere in the country is the holiday more beloved than in Naples, the bustling Southern city where Christmas Eve is one of the most anticipated and beloved nights of the year. See the Menu

• Romantic Dinner

  Horse-drawn carriages, cobblestone streets, artistic treasures, culinary delights – the sights, sounds, and tastes of Firenze can awaken amore in even the most skeptical heart. And when the sweetness of St. Valentine’s Day warms the February breezes blowing over the Arno, there is perhaps no better place to find romance. See the Menu