Must eat foods....

For Sorrento it has to be seafood and fish, fresh out of the sea. Also buffalo products eg fresh mozzarella and steaks. Gnocchi alla Sorretina for something filling. The "local" pasta sauce is made with zucchini, my particular favourite.

And of course the ubiquitous pizza. One of the best is from a pizza takeout, Da Franco, although you can eat in if you don't mind plastic cutlery, glasses and sharing a table. Just beyond the railway station on Corso Italia.

For wines try Falanghina, popular with locals and often used for the "house white". Our favourite white wines are Coda di Volpe and Greco di Tufo, all three are good with seafood. Most of the the local Sorrento/Amalfi/Ravello reds are also enjoyable.

Edit - how could I forget the homemade ice cream from Bougainvillea or Davide's. You will be spoilt for choice!

Napoli: definitely pizza. Pizzaria Trianon was worth the effort to find.
Sorrento: drink Melone, a yummy cantaloupe liqueur! We loved the mussels at Trattoria da Emilia at Marina Grande. At first glance the menu is unimpressive. Don't let that scare you. Very fresh and the prices are great.
Just remember to eat what is in season and try to stay away from touristy restaurants.

Roma:

Pasta carbonarra (my spelling may be off...)

Ox tail (forget the Italian name)

James, nooo, nooo, nooo - if you only tried pesto once at one place, try it again! It's the bestest!

Ron, IF you're traveling with another person, a suggestion is to order two different things; if one of your dinners isn't all that great, you can eat the other dinner and perhaps order better next time...live and learn.

And FWIW, since I always take 'food' on the plane ('food' may be STURDY breakfast bars, Snickers bars - very similar to many 'power bars', peanut butter crackers), I always have some snacks in case dinner didn't work out and I get the tummy grumblies at midnight! You may prefer to purchase some snacks there...

Seafood definitely shines in Sorrento. It's hard to beat fish and seafood fresh off the boat. I also recommend Trattoria da Emelia in Marina Grande area below the main town, and I like Ristorante da Gigino in town. If you like veal, try saltimbocca while in Rome. A simple local pasta sauce I like is cacio e pepe (cacio is a cheese of Lazio).

Hi Ron,

Two restaurants we've eaten at more that once in Rome are Trattoria da Lucia in the Trastevere neighborhood in and Cul de Sac not too far from Piazza Navona. Both are very good!

Hope you're enjoying your time in Italy!! It sounds like you are!

James, I'm surprised you don't know that you should ONLY eat Pesto in the place it was born--Liguria. If you try it there you will change your mind about it.

Pasta, pasta and pasta. You could have it twice a day. The bargains are the best when you don't add meat and seafood so pasta with pesto is our #1 choice.
Another would be with oil and garlic. Other pastas would be with any seafood, especially with clam sauce. You have to have tomatoes with Motzorella (spelling). Not to big on ordering meats in Italy primarily the cost goes way up. Ice Cream is excellent all over.
Dean

In Rome, Filetii di Bacala. It's not that easy to find, but well worth it. Just go to Piazza Campo di Flore, head to the southeast corner of the piazza and head east on via dei Giubbonari, to the first small piazza ( largo dei librari ) where the Chisseta di S. Barbara ( small church of S. Barbara ) is located and you've arrived. Try everything on the menu if you can, from the white beans, Roman salad, anchovies, house white wine and of corse the fried cod fish " JUST DIG IN"! Funny thing is that the locals go and stand in front of the kitchen waiting for a piece of cod wrapped in a napkin. You'll see them walking in and out. It's a local hang-out, not a fancy place to eat.

I think they only open in the evening. ENJOY:-)

Wow! Thanks for all the replies everyone. Much appreciated.

Unfortunatly,for me, my wife is'nt too adventurous when it comes to ordering foods and the kids,fuggetaboutit.....if they can have pizza at every meal they're happy so it's up to me to try all these wonderful foods which is'nt really good for the waistline. But gonna try as much as possible.

Thanks again!!

I had really high hopes for Filetti di Baccala.
The atmosphere was fun (outdoor dining with mostly locals). The cod...not so great. Maybe it's because you can find fabulous cod here in the Pacific Northwest? Maybe it was an off night? I hate saying it, but I've eaten better fried cod.

Jeanine - I don't doubt you've had better cod. Baccala is a dried or salted cod. I think it's an acquired taste.

I tried it in Vincenza where it's a featured dish. Blech.

In Rome, artichokes called "carcofi" in Italian (my favorite food of all time).

In the Naples area: sfogliatelle, they are pasteries in the shape of a clam shell filled with custard and also there is a cheese called cacciocavallo, which I was told not to miss.

Torrone candy: just be careful not to break your dental work! Actually, we got some soft kind but I once brought home a hunk that my dad had to break with a hammer and chisle....

Ron, eat as much pizza as you can in Napoli, it is seriously on another level down there, a cut above the rest of Italy.

Difficult to find a truly "great" meal in Rome without spending an arm and a leg but my advice to you is, go check out the USO, near the Vatican. I've always resisted them as I fancy myself a seasoned traveler but in May I finally checked it out and it's awesome, a true oasis in the middle of one of the most touristy areas of Rome. They have computers to check email, Facebook, whatever and they're free as well as free drinks and snacks (cookies mostly) and the staff is very helpful. Recommended a place right around the corner to eat called Vito e Dina...I don't normally follow recommendations from a place like a USO but we were pressed for time and it was very good at prices comparable to what I pay in a regular city (Rome places are usually a lot more expensive as you probably know).

Hit me up on pm if you need more info...

In Rome a great appetizer was the fried zucchini flowers. Also, it depends what time of year you will be visiting. We were there in October and the porcini mushrooms were in season. Any dish with fresh porcini mushrooms was delicious, pasta, pizza, whatever. And of course gelato is a must eat food.

Sounds like the perfect Rome restaurant for you is Le Coppelle Taverna (in Rick's book). The family can enjoy great pizza while you feast on traditional Roman dishes. Not fancy but the food is always good, and their house red wine is exceptional.

You can get this in many restaurants in Rome, Prosciutto with Melon (cantaloupe). It is my favorite!

Rome-gelato, Naples-Pizza, Sorrento-everything.

Hi Ron,

When are you coming to Rome? A lot depends on what's in season. It's bad for local agriculture, for the environment, and for your tastebuds to eat out-of-season foods -- so if you're not coming between February and May, for example, try not to binge on the carciofi (artichokes), which won't be Italian, but actually French.

Some year-round favorites of mine:

-the trifecta of Roman pastas: cacio e pepe, carbonara, and amatriciana. I especially like Roma Sparita's cacio e pepe, presented in a basket of parmesan. The restaurant's on a lovely piazza in Trastevere and has lots of other options for pickier eaters, including pizza.

-thin-crust Roman pizza. Pizzerias like Baffetto or La Montecarlo are right in the center, but I find that while their pizzas are good, the service is incredibly gruff, even by Roman standards. Instead, I'd recommend either Da Remo or Nuovo Mondo, both in Testaccio, or Formula Uno in San Lorenzo, just outside the city center and very easily accessible by bus or taxi).

-Rome's fried offerings, including fiori di zucca (fried zucchini flowers with cheese - in season July through November), olive ascolane (a fried olive mix), and filetta di baccala (fried salt cod). One place that does fried foods really well is Al Pompiere, in the Jewish Ghetto.

-offal. You might even be able to sneak some by the pickier eaters, especially pasta with coda alla vaccinara (oxtail), if you don't say anything! Other things to try include trippa (tripe) and pajata (the intestines of a milk-fed calf). One of my favorite places to try this is called Il Pommidoro, in San Lorenzo.

Thanks again for the info Amanda. We'll be there in a couple of weeks.Staying from 28 Aug till Sept 3.

Lasagna.

In Sorrento.....the fried sardines. My husband is not the adventurous eater that I am, but he absolutely loved them. We'll return in just a few weeks and he continues to talk about getting back to Sorrento to eat the fried sardines.