Eat tagliatelle al ragù in Bologna

Spoon up tiny meat-filled pasta knots floating in clear capon broth — Emilia’s Christmas-table soul food

Red-brick arcades, the oldest university in the world, and the richest table in Italy — la grassa, "the fat one"

Eat properly handmade pasta — egg-rich tagliatelle in the north, bronze-cut durum in the south

Three ingredients, total magic — pasta, pecorino and black pepper emulsified into a glossy Roman sauce

Eggs, pecorino, black pepper and crisp guanciale — and absolutely no cream

Italy's gastronomic heartland — Parmigiano, prosciutto, balsamic, tortellini and Ferrari, all in one region

Byzantine mosaics that glow like jewels — the last capital of the Western Roman Empire

Europe's first planned Renaissance city — a moated castle, bicycles everywhere, and the Este legacy