Head to Naples for real Italian pizza

Italy's age-old peasant recipes may have captured the taste buds of the modern world, but Italian cuisine abroad rarely does justice to the sheer creativity or regional variations you find on its home turf.

Outside of Naples (where the world's favourite fast food was invented), the pizza you'll eat in Italy is nothing to write home about. In addition, beyond the Emilia-Romagna region, you'll have a hard time finding a menu with lasagne or spaghetti bolognese (the latter known here as tagliatelle al ragu).

For top-notch pesto, follow the basil trail to Liguria. Gorge on gorgonzola cheese, polenta and risotto in Lombardy, eat fresh from the ocean in Sicily or salivate over spit-roasted pig in Sardinia.

Try the schnitzel in Trentino-Alto Adige, the bruschetta and T-bone steak in Tuscany, the tiramisu and squid-ink risotto in Venice and the spaghetti alla carbonara and artichokes in Lazio.

Sample the gourmet truffle and porcini mushrooms in Umbria, the prosciutto and parmesan cheese in Parma and splash your salad with balsamic vinegar in Modena.

Italian food is rarely expensive, but if you want to be a real cheapskate, there's nothing quite like bar-hopping in the early evenings when you can help yourself to often extravagant antipasto buffets in return for merely buying a beverage.