10 Incredible Regional Italian Dishes You May Have Never Heard Of

In Italy, eating is a national pastime. From the first sip of espresso in the morning until the last forkful of pasta in the evening, food is a round-the-clock obsession. The pleasures of the palate are elevated to a poetic level yet culinary traditions are held tightly; meals are consumed at a leisurely pace, each sauce pairs with a specific shape of pasta, and cappuccino is a breakfast-only beverage.  While a love of food reaches every nook and cranny of the Bel Paese, each of its 20 regions has a distinct culinary lexicon and foodways that go back thousands of years. What a Northern Italian in Torino eats is very different from what a Southern Italian in Naples nibbles. Read on and discover 10 of Italy's most mouth-watering, under-the-radar regional dishes.