It goes without saying that good eating is the one thing most Italians would never be willing to compromise on. Countless Hollywood reenactments of banquet-like family meals have helped reinforce the collective image we’ve longed to establish of ourselves as being (arguably) the highest authority on good and proper eating the world over. 

It further goes without saying that you simply cannot have good eating without it being coupled with great drinking. This might sound like something of a Carrollesque application of logic, or a reverse catch-22, but back home we take this very seriously and abide by it dutifully.