I look forward to winter temperatures, streets decorated with holiday lights and chestnuts roasting in our kitchen. Dishes like greens and beans, tortellini and broth, and roast chicken and potatoes return to my kitchen like old friends. With every winter season, I seek out new recipes to add to my repertoire. Here are 5 Italian winter comfort dishes that I am adding to my bucket list this season. Seek them out on your next winter trip to Italy or better yet book a custom cooking lesson with Casa Mia Tours.
1. Bagna Cauda
I visit Piedmont yearly. If there’s one winter dish that I must admit I eat year round, it’s bagna cauda, a warm “hot dip” that dates back to the 16th century. It was traditionally served during the autumn and winter harvests as a communal meal.
What’s in it? Anchovies, garlic, and olive oil slowly cooked together. Vegetables are dipped in the sauce and shared around the table — a perfect excuse for lingering over a bottle of Barbera or Barolo.
Where to try it? Torino, Asti, Alba.
2. Pasta e Fagioli
There’s a reason pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans) is a regular in my kitchen. It immediately brings me to my grandmother’s kitchen. Pasta e fagioli is considered one of Italy’s great national dishes: nearly every region has its own version. It dates back to the 16th century, when beans from the Americas became a staple of rural Italian cooking. Cheap, filling, and endlessly adaptable, it became the Italian answer to “everything-in-the-pot” winter soups.
What’s in it? Beans (I use Borlotti as did my Neapolitan grandmother), mixed pasta shapes, small pasta or maltagliati, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and sometimes pancetta or rosemary. In a pinch, I break spaghetti into small sections as the pasta component to this dish. It’s thick, creamy, and hearty — the kind of dish that warms you from the inside out.
Where to try it? I’m biased…Naples, Naples, Naples.
3. Pizzoccheri
If winter had a mascot pasta, pizzoccheri from the Valtellina Valley in Lombardy might be it. It’s rich, earthy, and satisfying soul food. This buckwheat pasta recipe dates back to the Middle Ages, when mountain communities relied on hearty grains to make it through cold winters.
What’s in it? Short, thick buckwheat noodles tossed with potatoes, cabbage, butter, and local cheeses like Bitto or Valtellina Casera.
Where to try it? Bormio, Morbegno, and Sondrio. If you find yourself trekking, skiing or snowshoeing, many mountain chalets make pizzoccheri by hand.
4. Lasagna Bolognese
Lasagna in my southern Italian kitchen is always made with red sauce. It was and is comfort food for me. Layers of pasta sheets, red meat sauce, ricotta, and pecorino make for a hearty, warm winter meal. This knowledge did not prepare me for the iconic Lasagna Bolognese. The first time I tasted it was in the home of a friend from Bologna. Paper thin sheets of pasta, layered with ragù and béchamel melted away in an instant.
Originating in the Middle Ages and refined in Bologna’s noble households, this dish is luxurious, slow-cooked, and perfect for Sunday lunch.
What’s in it? Layers of fresh egg pasta (often green from spinach in the dough), creamy béchamel, and a hearty ragù of beef, pork, wine, and vegetables.
Where to try it? Traditional trattorias in Bologna
5. Strudel
Although strudel is often associated with Austria, it has been a beloved winter staple in Trentino Alto Adige/South Tyrol for centuries. The dish arrived in the region during the Habsburg era. The recipe was adapted to showcase the area’s local tart apples. Did you know Italy ranks second after Poland in Europe’s apple production with 2 million tonnes a year?
I could eat this dessert every day in winter alongside coffee, tea, or piping hot mulled wine.
What’s in it? Paper-thin dough filled with apples, raisins soaked in rum, toasted pine nuts, and cinnamon.
Where to try it? In mountain chalets and bakeries in the Dolomites, Bolzano, and Merano.
