Thursday 5 August 2010

Italy, (not too much) vegan, Italy

My husband is Italian, so for the last 5 years and a half I've been learning a lot about Italy and I go there often. Most of the times is just to visit family and to have amazing vegan foods at home. But this time I did a week as a tourist cause my mom came to Europe for the very first time and one of her dreams was to go to Venice. So, to Italy we went. Me, Matteo, mom and a friend of her. 7 days, 4 cities.

The first stop was Matteo's city, Soresina. It's a small city part of Cremona and very close to Milan. We spent the day there and had a early birthday lunch to celebrate my 35 years old. On the second day we went to Milan. After that it were three days in Venice and three days in Rome.


Lunch time at Matteo's house - Soresina

My lovely vegan b-day cake, made by my sister-in-law

Vegan fruit ice cream

Vegan biscuits that you can find in the supermarkets

Vegan biscuits that you can find in the supermarkets

I don't have too much about vegan food to share with you this time cause we went - most of the time - to regular restaurants. But there are some things that I think it's important to know: some cities in Italy doesn't have too many vegan or vegetarian restaurants. Check Vegan Cow to good tips, but it's really hard to find specific places. But, no vegan will starve in that beautiful country cause some typical food are naturally vegan! You will always find spaghetti al pomodoro or spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino. If you go to a restaurant that is also a pizzeria, you will have the marinara pizza and the best thing about it is that you can ask for a marinara with any vegetables you want (Matteo's favorite is with artichoke and mine is with black olives). Most of the places serve ciabatta bread free (you can ask for the oil to eat with the bread, it's too good) and it's vegan.

Marinara pizza

Spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino

Fresh cherries in Venice

And when in Rome... Try two typical Roman food: pizza bianca and pizza rossa. They're perfect for an amazing breakfast. And there are (at least) two places in Rome that you should go: Mondo Arancina (they have one vegan option of this snack called arancina ant it's made with rice and tomato sauce) and, at the same block, Gelarmony Arte Del Gelato Siciliano (they have many vegan ice cream options - soya and rice - and an awesome homemade whipping cream! And I don't need to say that it is my favorite place in Rome too, do I?).



That's it for now. I hope I can go to visit some other cities in Italy this year to make more useful posts for vegan people traveling in Italy.

Mondo Arancina
Via Marcantonio Colonna, 38

Gelarmony Arte Del Gelato Siciliano
Via Marcantonio Colonna, 34

Summer, hot Summer, in Rome

5 comments:

Bianca said...

Mmm....that marinara pizza looks delicious. Who needs cheese?

Clarissa said...

Eu tenho que ir nessa sorveteria um dia.
E conhecer SORESINA BIG CITY! hahahaha
<3

Susan said...

What a wonderful sounding holiday. I always love to hear of people's vegan travels.
That cake also looks fantastic.

Jenny said...

Your birthday cake was amazing! I enjoyed reading this because I look forward to visiting Italy one day. We're planning on going sometime in the next 5 years! I'm envious!

Heather said...

Italian food is my favorite, next to Southern of course ;), and I can't wait to get to Italy one day. Thanks for sharing your adventures! By the way, you probably already have this cookbook, but one of my absolute favorites is Nonna's Italian Kitchen - it's filled with delicious vegan renditions of classic Italian dishes.

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