A review and giveaway in collaboration with Fine Italy.
To the Italians, food is about so much more than simply eating: it is one of the key components in creating peace, harmony and happiness in their lives.
Sitting around a table with friends and family, sharing good food and a bottle of wine, it’s what life is all about, isn’t it?
However, anyone who has ever hosted a dinner party will know the amount of work that goes into deciding on a menu, buying the ingredients and then preparing the dishes. From personal experience the more courses there are the more complicated the meal can get and the host can spend the entire time cooking and serving, trying to make sure everything is perfect and not getting a chance to relax and enjoy the experience themselves.
Just imagine that all this stress was taken out of the equation. Just imagine if you, as a host, if all you had to do was to unpack and gently reheat the finest dishes delivered straight from Italy. The most complicated thing you would have to do is to cook the pasta while sipping on a glass of the finest Italian wine, all the while chatting and laughing with your friends.
This happened recently in my kitchen, thanks to the fine folk behind Fine Italy.
Fine Italy was created when three friends gathered for a leisurely lunch one November’s afternoon in the Langhe region of northern Italy. They explain:
An hour and a half passed slowly, as we abandoned ourselves to the pleasures of the table and the conversation between the finely hand-chopped meat and the vitel tonné, including a taste of tajarin with mushrooms and ravioli al plin between a glass of Nebbiolo and a brasato, a bunet and a slice of hazelnut cake, Muscat grappa and many laughs.”
After their lunch one of the founding members of Fine Italy turned to his friends and suggested: “Guys … why don’t we offer an hour and a half like the one we just spent eating a delicious Italian food menu to other people too, even if they’re far away from Italy? … ”
A look of understanding passed between them, a toast was made, and Fine Italy was born.
Fine Italy are dedicated to sourcing the finest traditional Italian ingredients and creating menus featuring the best of each Italian region. They have four menus at the moment: Langhe, featuring the white truffles the region is so famous for; Portofino, a typical Ligurian menu; Venezia, a typical Venetian menu and Toscana, a traditional Tuscan menu. Roma, a Roman menu and Dolomiti, an Alpine menu, are coming soon.
All the components for a four course Italian meal with wine are packed securely in a wooden box and delivered straight to your door within just a few days of ordering.
I had the pleasure of taste testing their Langhe truffle menu recently, and to cut a long story short, this was one of the best meals I have had in a very, very long time.
For the starter, or antipasto, as it’s called in Italy, we enjoyed a rich white truffle paté spread on olive oil bruschetta. This, I confess, was the first time I’d ever tasted white truffles properly with all their delicious earthy, slightly salty slightly garlicky flavours. As I sit here and type my mouth is watering remembering the appetite-stimulating taste of it.
The Fine Italy box comes with two packets of bruschetta, 32 slices in total, and one 90 gram glass jar of white truffle paté, although we found that there was only enough paté to serve with one of the packets or bruschetta; more than enough for a delicious, mouth-watering starter.
For the second course, “Primo”, we enjoyed Tajarin pasta with slices of Bianchetto truffle; summer truffle slices in olive oil. Tajarin pasta is classed among the finest of Italian pastas, handmade by housewives for centuries. This thin rich egg pasta is ideal for serving with truffles.
Cooking instructions are very precise and as I measured out the required amount of salt for cooking, I realized, at this point, that I’ve been using the wrong quantity of salt for cooking pasta for as long as I’ve been cooking!
The Fine Italy box comes with a 250 gram box of Tajarin all’uovo pasta made with durum wheat flour and 35% eggs, which gives it its characteristic golden hue. Although the preparation tips suggest serving 60 grams of pasta per person, I cooked the entire box for the four of us. All I had to do was boil the salted water, set the timer, drain the pasta (reserving one ladleful for serving) and pour over the contents of the 90 gram jar of Tartufo Bianchetto a fette sott’olio: sliced summer truffles in olive oil. Simples.
And oh so incredibly delicious!
The serving size was just perfect, the taste and texture of the pasta – simply heavenly! There were empty plates all around after this course.
Secondo, the second course, was a mouth watering brasato al vino rosso, or slow-cooked beef in red wine. The Fine Italy box comes with two 300 gram jars of this dish, and all you need to do is gently reheat it and serve. I admit I was skeptical of how a jarred meat was going to result in a tender and succulent dish, but I was wrong – it was superb!
The red wine of the Langhe region is among the best known wines in the world. It is used in this second course of tender meat obtained from locally-bred herds.
It was also at this point where the effects of the wine started to take hold and I began to forget to take photographs, being too engrossed in the cooking, eating and chatting with friends environment. All of the happy, I tell you. All of it.
The Piemontese hazelnut is served for the dessert in a lovely hazelnut cake – torta di nocciola; ready to be eaten straight from the packet with some apricots in Moscato wine syrup -Albicocche al Moscato – on the side.
We did find the cake rather on the dry side, but then again it is made, traditionally, without the use of butter or flour. The cake is prepared with 45% Pietmont hazelnuts, eggs, sugar, honey and vanilla only.
Despite its dry texture the cake paired very well with the apricots in the sweet apple flavoured syrup, and there wasn’t a crumb left afterwards.
For the wine, the Fine Italy box includes a bottle of Dolcetto d’Alba Vantrino (2015) DOC. The main features of this wine are its low acidity and pleasant bouquet.
Fine Italy explain: “Dolcetto wine has an intense and complex nose, characterized by fruity and floral notes, with cherries and blackberries immediately recognizable, and often also plum, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry, but also violet, red rose and cyclamen flowers.”
This everyday wine found on Piedmontese tables was a very soft, smooth wine to drink, and it was thoroughly enjoyable to the very last drop.
All in all the entire meal, as a whole, was simply fantastic. Perfection. My husband and I invited another couple over to share the meal with and we spent a good three hours eating, drinking and chatting over the dinner table. A most splendid evening.
The Langhe Truffle Menu is the most expensive menu on the Fine Italy website, but well worth every penny, I believe. It works out to be £26.73 per person for the four course meal with free shipping, which, for what you get, isn’t bad at all. If you find you are particularly enamoured with one of the courses in the box they have an online shop where you can order each individual component separately.
To find out more visit the Fine Italy website, and for mouth watering Italian recipe inspiration you can find them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
FINE ITALY GIVEAWAY
Fine Italy have kindly offered one of their boxes, the Langhe Truffle Menu Box worth £106.97, as a giveaway prize for one of my UK readers. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below!
HOW TO ENTER
For your chance to win a Fine Italy – Langhe Truffle Menu Box worth £106.97 enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Come back and tweet about the giveaway every day for more chances to win!
TERMS & CONDITIONS
This giveaway is open to UK entries only. Entrants must be age 18 or over. The winners will need to respond within 30 days of being contacted; failure to do this may result in another winner being selected.
The prize is offered and provided by Fine Italy. The prize is to win a Fine Italy – Langhe Truffle Menu Box worth £106.97. There is no cash alternative and the prize is not transferable.
There is no entry fee and no purchase is necessary to enter this giveaway. The promoter (Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary) reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice.
Entry into our giveaways will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
If you need some help using Rafflecopter, here’s a quick clip to show you how. Rafflecopter will pick the winners at random from all the entries received. I will be verifying entries and any automated entries or those who have claimed they have made the mandatory blog post comment and really haven’t will be disqualified. It’s mandatory! Please make sure your comment is eight words or longer or Google views it as spam. >>>>> All entries with comments fewer than the mandatory 8 words will be disqualified. <<<<<
Closing date is midnight (that’s 00:00 hours, 12 am on Sunday night/Monday morning) on Monday 22 August 2016 (GMT) and the winner will be announced shortly afterwards.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary received a Langhe Truffle Menu box from Fine Italy for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. This is not a paid post.
Herbed Potato Picnic Bannocks
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I used to be a waitress in an Italian restaurant, and I miss the food that the chef made, I have tried to make several recipes and I can’t make them taste the same, so hopefully with this prize I hope I can do it justice
We went to Verona and Lake Garda in the summer and one restaurant in particular sticks in my mind. Delicious red Bardolino wine and cured meats paired with picked veg- beautiful!
I ate a pizza in Venice, the flavours were so delicious, nothing like I’d tasted before
Pizza at a local pizzeria in Rome at midnight. The buzz, the atmosphere the fresh ingredients. Best pizza in y life
I’ve not been to Italy although I would absolutely love to, especially Rome but Italian is my favourite type of food and there is a local Italian restaurant that me and my partner visit once a month as a treat and we love it 🙂
Italian food is always great for sharing with the family.
My favourite memory of eating Italian food is when me and my husband went to Rome for our first anniversary we had an absolutely massive seafood platter and we just could not eat it all but it was the most delicious food we have ever had, and such a gorgeous city, it was so perfect!
The first time I ate Tiramisu, what a day. Looked a bit odd from the outside, but once I got my gnashers into it, was a veritable taste journey. Delicious ice cream, and alcohol too boot. An illicit pleasure for a 12 year old! 😉
the first time I ate real carbonara in an italien restaurant was amazing and nver looked back
I love all Italian food and one of my happiest memories is going out with a local band to the pizza place and having a meal with them. OK they weren’t going to be huge and have split up since BUT we only said “bring us a pizza back” and they asked me and my friend to go with them instead. Great night, just before their gig. 🙂
Eating spag carbonara with my hubby looking over the beautiful Welsh coast as the sun set
My first experience of eating Italian food was a meal in Zizzi with my daughter. I loved it and since then it’s our favourite restaurant
Taking the children to Zizzi’s for the first time is one of my most memorable days with the addition of Italian food!
i adore carbonara,i was lucky enough to go to italy once and sit down and have a proper pizza and carbonara right near the leaning tower,was awesome
On my first trip to Italy my family and I stayed with a local policeman and his elderly mother. The first night we were there we were treated to an amazing Italian meal. Little did we know that we were going to be treated to 9 courses and not 3. After a fistful of ricotta, a plate of cannelloni, a tomato and olive salad and a roasted fish course it was safe to say I was struggling. My 13 year old stomach could not handle all these delicious, adult sized portions and neither could my other two siblings. The policeman and his mother would disappear on occasion to the kitchen to prepare the next course. Whilst they were gone we would pass our food to our dad to eat. I think by the end of the night he must have had the same meal three times over. I really think he deserves a medal for eating our leftovers. We did not want to appear rude after all! He also deserves a medal for drinking more than one offering of the policemans homemade limoncello. That stuff was lethal!
ive always loved pasta and pizza since i was very young. My husband and i went to rome and pisa and a few other places on our honeymoon and i loved sitting out watching the world go by with antipastis
more funny than fond, my Husband and I had a massive argument when we were not long together over what we cooked our pasta bolognase with, my Mum raised me to use a pot, his Mum a frying pan!
I’ve just got back from rome for my birthday! The food was amazing, i wish i could cook pasta the way they do its just something else!!
My mum used to make one of the best lasagnes I’ve ever eaten, that’s my fondest memory .x
Eating a spicy pasta soup at an Itaian friend’s house – made from the water the joint had been simmered in.
Over the summer I tried truffle honey with goats cheese and it was absolutely incredible. Would love to try these!
enjoying truffle on spahetti at home, simple but so classic and delicious
The first time I tried to make Lasagne everything went wrong! The Bechemel sauce turned out lumpy and bland, and although I thought I had some oregano, it had somehow disappeared. The Lasagne was bland, tasteless and a lumpy consistency.
However, not to be outdone, I determined to do better next time, and did eventually succeed inn making quite a tasty Lasagne dish. Have made many times since as it is one of my family’s favourite meals.
We went to a wedding earlier this year in Italy I have never seen so many courses it was delicious
Eating gelato in Genova harbour and people-watching is one of my favourite memories 🙂
Going to an Italian restaurant after having such a long day and finding it at the last minute it was the best food I’ve ever tasted!
My husband and I honeymooned in Rome. It was the first time that we had ever been and we loved it – the food, the culture, the sights and smells. You have not truly tried pasta and pizza until you have been to Italy – no product here comes close to the amazing, fresh, authentic taste of an Italian meal. We were absolutely spoilt with delicious foods whilst out there – so much so that we both gained a few pounds!
Decades ago an Italian family opened a little deli shop nearby. It was my first introduction to real Italian food. A world of flavours!
It has to be eating pasta in Venice, by the river, it was surreal!
I remember going to an italian restaurant for the firat time and falling in love with tge food. Now my favourite
My sister makes the most amazing vegetable lasagne, very yummy xxx
I think my fondest memory is going for pizza with lots of friends. x
My first trip to Italy and experiencing risotto and pasta at it’s best!
Pizza and Moretti Rossi beer on the seafront just outside Rimini – perfect
What beautiful food! fantastic photos
Sitting in the canaries of an evening with a glass of wine, sunset, my partner, heat blasting from the heaters with a good Italian meal
I went skiing in Sappada when I was 14 and loved the lovely pasta they served up on almost every meal but was dismayed when they made up our sandwiches when we left to go home, as I thought they had given us raw bacon and cheese sandwiches – how naive was I as I realise now it had been Parma ham and goats cheese!
I went to Italy with a friend some years ago. We had a lovely meal in a little restaurant tucked down a small street. The food was delicious and very cheap. I’d love to go back and see if it’s still there.
My wife and I went on holiday to Rome a few years back, found a great little restaurant in the middle of nowhere, ate our dinner in the basement with loads of locals, none of the staff spoke any English and had no menus in English so we had to stumble through with our Italian, and ended up having the most amazing meal – no idea what it was in the end!
I’ve never tried truffle before but this looks so divine. I fancy pasta tonight for dinner!
Ashleigh x
http://www.beingashleigh.com – UK fashion, lifestyle and travel blog
one of my fav dishes in the world
I can remember making home made spaghetti with my nan. It was fab
That pasta dish looks amazing! I’m not actually sure I’ve ever had truffles – definitely something I need to try!
There’s a very famous ice cream parlour in the town where I grew up. It is run by an Italian family and I’d been so many times as a child.
I always knew it had a restaurant section too, but of course a child’s mind is focussed on ice cream. The first time I had “proper food” there, gnocchi to be exact (which I thought I didn’t like), was an utter revelation
Going out as a family to an Italian restaurant, the staff were so friendly and the kids helped to make their own pizza
I remember me and my sister reenacting the Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene when we were younger,
when we went to cavalese we ate traditional meatballs, two each they were so rich and tasty cant remember the name id love to ave the recipe for them !
We like to eat our Italian dishes alfresco on the patio to make it more authentic
I remember taking my younger sister to an Italian when she was about 10 years old… she absolutely loved it
I remember taking my children to an italian restaurant and howling at the fact my youngest daughter couldn’t pronounce what she wanted to order
The food looks fabulous, I wasn’t hungry until I started reading this!!!! I do love truffles with pasta;-)
Making Lasagne for my girlfriend, and receiving positive comments afterwards, is a positive italian cooking (and eating) memory fo rme.
The food sounds delicious and very tasty. What a great idea.,
I absolutely love truffles. It adds such a delicious flavour to food.
I went on a truffle hunting press trip last year and it was incredible. The amount of truffle dishes I ate was insane though haha.
i love my hubbys fresh penne pasta with mushrooms garlic peppers and chorizo delicious
I remember having tea around my friends’ house when I was at school – her parents were Italian. They made me my favourite Italian dish – Ravioli – from scratch and it tasted like heaven…much nicer than the tinned variety mum served up, unfortunately it rather spoilt the taste of the one I had at home from that moment on 😉
I would love to go to Italy and try pasta where it came from – they are the best at making it!
I would love to win! Fine Italy sounds perfect and the Italians really know how to prepare delicious food. For me the basis of many of my true and best friendships start with meals out at Italian restaurants and having a laugh over pasta and pizza.
The first time we had a Florentine steak we were sitting beside Lake Garda, on a lovely summers evening, with just enough breeze from the lake. The steak was sublime, charred and crispy on the outside, rare and melting in the mouth on the inside.nPure bliss!
My son, when he was a toddler, eating spaghetti bolognese and ending up looking like a Umpa Lumpa
Having a lovely spaghetti dish in the evening on holiday in the cool air, memories of relaxing times.
There is an amazing Italian family restaurant in New York whose name escapes me. However, I remember that the portions were so big, a salad for one was as large as a large platter and about 6 inches deep! That was just the starter!!
I grew up in Italy and I still fondly remember helping my mum prepare pumpkin ravioli for special occasions
I’m a huge Italian food fan, the food looks absolutely amazing 🙂
I remember a school Latin trip when I was 18 – time in both Rome and Sorrento! We got to try all sorts of specialities from both areas, including my first taste of limoncello – it’ll always remind me of that school trip now!
I remember arriving in Holland, after a long journey, tired and hungry, late in the evening. The only place open was a small pizzeria and I swear I’ve never tasted pizza so good since.
You’re making me want to travel to Italy again and try some truffles!
Whenever I think of Italian food memories of my kids being covered head to toe in various tomato sauces and pasta come flooding back 🙂
Okay it’s official – I need to visit! I am seriously hungry now x
Every time! Every time I read your posts I end up dreaming of food haha. I love Italian food, my favourite little Italian restaurant shut down last year and I haven’t found anywhere that even comes close to theirs. This is such a great idea, love the giveaway!
Jordanne || Thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk
You making my mouth water and it’s like a waterfall right now. Gosh! I want some of that food in my belly and I miss going to fine italian food.
Wow! That looks absolutely delicious! You can’t go wrong with Italian food!
I have never been to Italy but have lots of fond memories eating PIzza and always say that if i could go anywhere it would be Venice, My latest fondest memory of eating pizza was when my sister and her partner came over to visit me and my partner and we all sat and ate pizza together.
Italy is one of my favourite places ever! I love the culture of the country, but I also adore the food. There is no food like Italian food in Italy. This looks delicious and the perfect menu x
Sharing a bistecca Fiorentina with my boyfriend in Florence, in a cosy Italian restaurant surrounded by locals..it was amazing.
I’ve not long come back from Italy, I absolutely loved it!
Tara xo
Cattitude & Co. – a feminist lifestyle blog
The best Italian food I have ever had was when I went to visit a friend who is married to an italian and his parents were visiting, they had cooked a magnificent meal with quite a few courses and of course lots of lovely wine, it truly was one of the best meals of my life
Romantic dinners in Edinburgh in the ’80s, half pizza half lasagne candlelit restaurant in Leith walk – must have worked, she married me…..
My favourite memory of eating Italian food is being in a restaurant with my family during a warm summer on the first night of our holiday in Florence, with a glass of Chianti in my hand! I love Italy!
a takeaway pizza round my friends whilst watching star wars on DVD :-))
My best memory has to be of our holiday in Sardinia a couple of years ago. The food was simply delicious!
http://lilinhaangel.com/
This sounds delicious. Never been to Italy but would love to go for the food and the scenery!
I went for a lovely Italian meal for my birthday this year. The meal was delicious, best of all was the real Italian style ice cream 🙂
We visited Italy when I was a child and I remember playing up in the restaurant so the lady owner took me from my mum and dad so they could enjoy their meal – she look me into the kitchen and let me sit on the freezer and just kept popping delicious tip bits into my mouth ..I `ve no idea what I was eating but everything was delicious!
Italy is on my list of places to visit! The county and food are divine! This looks amazing!
The first time I went to Italy. I was travelling through Europe with my boyfriend and we got to Italy and I just went crazy over the food. The rich flavours were amazing! I am obsessed with tomatoes and Italian food seems to be packed with them! 😀
I love salmon and spagetti just so fresh and tasty!
My first date in a proper italian restuarant the pizza was out of this world so much better than you get anywhere else, oh and the date went well too 🙂
I like the sound of Fine Italy. Italian food is always so delicious.
Sounds wonderful. I’m planning an Italian meal just now, trying to recreate some of the gorgeous meals we ate during the time we lived on Bella Italia. However; unfortunately truffles won’t be on the menu unless we win this or the lottery.
my mum used to make a wonderful family lasagne – we all used to sit around the table eating and chatting
Oh my goodness this looks like the perfect foodie thing to spoil yourself with – I am such a big truffle lover!
My 3 year old granddaughter loves Italian food. She spends part of the week with us and when you ask her what she would like for lunch – ‘Pasta – rigatoni, sausages and truffle oil’. These days are special and lunch is always highly entertaining!
That meal looked positively divine from start to finish. I hope to one day visit and taste all those delicious dishes.
The best food I have ever had was during my tour round Itsly, I have an obsession for gnocchi!
when we went to italy we had the most amazing seafood pasta which we have not managed to make ourselves
Years ago before we were married,we went to Sorrento on holiday and found a wonderful little place serving the most delicious lasagne and it was so cheap too!
The first time I travelled to Italy we ate in a fancy restaurant and the waiter took a fancy to my friend. So we had free pasta and paired wine all night, it was so delicious!
My favourite memory of eating Italian food is in Venice Italy a little restaurant called Trattoria da Arturo. They make the best pastas with incredible sauces. Simply divine.
Favourite Italian meal was simple lemon spaghetti. Unbelievably good and so simple
I haven’t been to Italy since I was a kid, but can remember the shock of being given a huge plate of spag bol as a starter and being expected to eat another whole course after!
The best meal I have ever had was at a small , family restaurant in Naples, I have never eaten such light ravioli and the clam and tomato sauce was sublime.
I remember, vaguely, a lovely Italian restaurant we visited in Devon about 35 years ago. I don’t know what the name of the dish I had was but it was some kind of veal dish and it was deliciosu.
Mmm all the dishes look really nice. You can’t beat Italian food! xx
I love the simple italian food, light sauces and seafood. I have eaten like this many times with my family.
nothing has ever matched the beef carpaccio I first ate in a restaurant in Edinburgh, if I close my eyes & think hard enough I can still taste the richness of the beef with the salty parmasan & peppery rocket, it was sublime
Eating my first amazing Spaghetti bolognaise ion Rimini in Italy followed by Limochello was amazing!
A simple plate of spaghetti carbonara, cooked with love, shared with friends.
I love the pasta dishes we ate in Cefalu, Sicily, so much so we are going back for second helpings in 2 weeks 🙂
Going to Rome a few years ago and eating real Italian food was just amazing. Nothing like the real thing.
When we went to Rome I realised the food I was cooking was normally like they eat 🙂 their pizza is nothing like I’d eaten before absolutely delicious
We bought a pasta machine several years ago and made our own Spaghetti. First few attempts didn’t work well but now got it down to a fine art.
Taking my husbands grandma to our favourite Italian when we told her we were getting married
pizza in Milan after ballet in La Scala last year, doesn’t get better than that!
I have always loved eating Italian food but probably memories of holidays
It has to be going to an Italian restaurant and tasting the most gorgeous ravioli,bellisimo!
eating truffle pasta at a little restaurant near out hotel in florence for the first time- amazing!
Find memories of eating a pumpkin filled ravioli in butter when I graduated was so so delicious but the restaurant no longer serves them – sad times!
when i went to italy when i was 16 for a wedding we had a 10 course meal and fell in love with the food and tried gnocchi for the first time
I absolutely lovely Italian food. This sounds like a fab box to win 🙂
my dads first ever attempt to cook spaghetti was hilarious i have never again eaten crunchie spag bolognaise
The first time I tried gelato was on holiday in Sorrento – I couldnt’ believe there were so many flavours to choose from and the taste and texture was amazing! The best ice cream in the world. Everything else is so insipid
First time I went to an Italian restaurant as a child, I had ravioli and loved it, my affair had begun from the age of 5… 🙂
I remember eating Ossobuco with my now husband on an early date – I ordered it but had no idea what it was, but thoroughly enjoyed it. It came with gremolata – and I had never heard of that either, but I didn’t want him to think I was a pleb! I often cook it now during the winter months.
We often visit Mama Rosa’s – an Italian restaurant overlooking the sea close to where we live. I always order their risotto as it is the best I have ever tasted! It is a real traditional restaurant and lovely inside and with great food and views!
On my one and only visit to Italy on the first night we ate roasted wild boar. Unforgettable.
The food looks amazing I really do love Italian food.
With the family on holiday in Italy having veal in a creamy mushroom sauce. Portions are very large
Oh wow! What a fabulous idea. Love Italian food & order a lot direct from Italy anyway, but I do like the idea of these boxes too
I dont recall ever trying truffles like this so to speak, more the chocolate kind., so great competition thank you.
Such a great idea. When I’m hosting a dinner, I rarely ever relax. It does spoil the enjoyment of the evening, so having someone else take the strain would be perfect. Great giveaway. Tx
I loved having authentic Italian pizza when on holiday in Sardinia