Italian delicacies to tempt your tastebuds in Malaga province: pasta, pizza and more

Around the world it is difficult to walk anywhere without coming across an Italian restaurant that celebrates the flavours and traditions of Italy. From the streets of New York to Tokyo the aromas of pastas, pizzas and antipasti have become universally recognised. In Malaga this trend is no exception. Every corner of the province is home to options for enjoying Italian cuisine, from the popular bruschetta toasts, focaccias or carpaccios, to the irresistible lasagne or the 'cotoletta alla milanesa', a breaded and fried veal cutlet with roots in Milan, the Italian capital of design and style.

Neither can you miss out on sampling Italy's most iconic dessert: tiramisu, made with savoiardi (sponge biscuits), mascarpone cheese, coffee and a touch of amaretto, the bitter almond-based liqueur that gives it its characteristic flavour. On this tour, we discover some of the places where Italian cuisine is fused with local ingredients, reinterpreted by Italian chefs who live in the province, offering a unique and authentic experience for lovers of good food.

If we think of a dish that is characteristic of Italy, of the country of Brunelleschi's Duomo, Michelangelo's David or the famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti, some of those mentioned come to mind, but for Italians, the dish that best represents them is something else. "If there is one dish that unites all of Italy, from Palermo to Milan, it is just one. The most Italian dish of all is alio, olio e peperoncino, which is commonly prepared in students' hostels, with only garlic, olive oil and chilli. Everyone has these ingredients at home, it's not Sicilian, Milanese or from Campania," says chef Carmine Guarino, born in Irpinia in southern Italy, and at the helm of Mura Mura Osteria in the heart of Malaga's old town for the past ten years.

Beyond this basic recipe for a dressing, carbonara is world famous as a sauce. Originally from Rome and the surrounding area, it makes use of guanciale - a typical regional sausage made from pork belly and cured with spices - and Pecorino cheese, made from sheep's milk. "Our signature dish is carbonara. On summer days we sell more than 100 plates. What makes it different from other carbonara? First, it is the authentic Italian recipe: we use guanciale, not bacon, and egg yolk, no cream, salt and black pepper. Secondly, we finish the dish in front of the customer, flambéing a big wheel of Grana Padano cheese with grappa (distilled grape liquor) so that it melts slightly before adding the pasta," explains Raúl Rey, owner of Café Flore in Plaza Puente de Ronda, in the old part of Marbella.

Another iconic Italian dish is undoubtedly pizza. Its success is such that, in order to respect the good work of the 'pizzaioli' masters, Unesco declared as Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity the "culinary practice of preparing pizza dough in four stages and baking it over a wood fire, turning it over and over."

"Pizza is undoubtedly the most recognised Italian dish in the world. If you think about it, pasta is found in several countries with different names and recipes. For example, in the [Far] East, there is a type of noodles made with rice flour. So pizza first and pasta second are the most famous dishes," says Francesco Bernardinelli, a native of Verona, who left his position as manager of a five-star hotel in Brescia to start his personal project here in Malaga city: Única Pizzería Contemporánea.

This restaurant in the heart of Malaga offers something different from the usual: "The padelino is a typical northern pizza. It is baked in a mould, as though it were a pie. We bake the dough with nothing on it, and, once it is taken out of the oven, we add the fresh ingredients, which are warmed by the heat of the dough itself and without reheating it. This makes it smaller than a normal pizza, taller and very spongy. The flavours are more recognisable because if they are not cooked, the ingredients retain their original flavour."

For this chef the dough is fundamental as it is the basis of the flavour: "We use a mixture of two types of flour that is less refined than commercial flour, leaving a bit of uncrushed cereals, together with a percentage of multigrain flour, similar to that used to make bread. This gives it a flavour of its own. You could eat the dough without any ingredients and it would be totally palatable, like cutting a loaf of bread and eating a piece of it."

There isn't an Italian restaurant that doesn't have lasagne on its menu. "It's a dish that doesn't need to be explained, everyone knows it, so we decided to offer something different to differentiate ourselves from other places," says Fabrizio Giuri who, together with his wife Antonacci Liliana, runs Da Lilly, the only lasagne restaurant on the Costa del Sol based in Las Lagunas district of Mijas. His ossobuco lasagne is a customer favourite. "This dish is inspired by a traditional recipe from northern Italy, ossobuco with saffron rice, known as 'a la milanesa'. We reinterpret this popular recipe, cooking the ossobuco at a low temperature, adding tomato and preparing it as a lasagne Bolognese, which we finish with a saffron béchamel sauce."

When we talk about meat, we refer to how done it should be: rare, medium rare or well done. Yet what is the perfect pasta? "Pasta should be cooked in plenty of water to keep it hydrated and one must respect the cooking time. It should be removed from the heat beforehand so that it remains al dente as it continues to cook," says Guarino. Buttering is key. "It should always be made in a frying pan or pot so that everything is well homogenised. The sauce should never be added on top of the pasta in the dish, it should be mixed in a pan so that all the juice sticks to all sides of the pasta. At the end, if desired, you can add cheese or fresh parsley."

"Al dente does not mean that the pasta is crunchy, but it should have some resistance when you bite into it. Although many packages indicate the cooking time, the best way is to taste it," is the advice from Giancarlo Guarnieri, owner of Daytona Ristorante. In this eatery, which opened seven years ago and is located in Puerto Banús, they serve another classic - provolone, a type of Italian cheese that they grill in a wood-fired oven with tomato and black truffle. They also serve tagliata di manzo, similar to entrecote steak but, in this case, the meat comes from Tuscany, a region in the centre of Italy. The dish is finished off with rocket, Parmesan cheese and balsamic cream and paired with a selection of Italian wines.

In short, as with all gastronomic cultures around the world, it is difficult to summarise the richness of Italian cuisine in these few lines. Renowned dishes, such as paella and tapas in Spain, reflect our gastronomic culture. On this occasion we embark on a journey through the most emblematic Italian flavours without leaving this province, enjoying the aromas of Italy with a Malaga touch.

Alhaurín de la Torre 

Alveograma: C/ Salsa, 7 (952 06 67 54)

Benalmádena

La Pala d'Oro: Pasaje Alcalde Valderrama, 6 (952 44 89 07)

Venettis: C/ San Miguel, 1B (951 76 51 99)

Casares

Don Giovanni: On the Manilva road to Gaucín, km 2 (952 93 78 82)

Fuengirola

Limoncello: C/ Larga, 8 (696 83 34 92)

Tutto Bene Trattoria: C/ de la Cruz, 3 (951 13 57 96)

Malaga 

Mura Mura Ostería: C/ Duque de la Victoria, 5 (602 52 41 03)

Ostería Angelino: C/ Pedro de Toledo, 4 (951 77 27 62)

Pizzeria Il Museo: Avenida de Príes, 2 (640 64 95 19)

Spaghetteria Circus: Avenida de Gregorio Prieto, 25 (634 21 84 77)

Única Pizzería Contemporánea: C/ Barroso, 3 (658 09 07 14)

Marbella 

Café Flore: Plaza Puente de Ronda, 5 (952 77 05 35)

Cipriani: Hotel Puente Romano, Boulevard Príncipe Alfonso de Hohenlohe, s/n (952 76 82 77)

Daytona Ristorante: Avenida Julio Iglesias, Complejo Cines 2A (951 56 91 94)

Deluca: Avenida Miguel de Cervantes, 26 (676 30 25 25 61)

Stuzzikini: C/ Alderete, 5 (952 77 59 94)

Mijas

Dalilly: C/ Tomillo de la Torre, 2 (722 76 26 85)

San Pedro de Alcantara

Pasticcio Pizza y Pasta: Urb. Guadalmina Alta Calle, 19, local 5 (952 71 59 31)

Trattoria L'Impronta: Avenida Salamanca, 14 (952 78 59 43)

Torremolinos

Pizzería La Favorita: Avenida del Lido, 11 (654 92 72 18)

Vélez Málaga 

Sale e Pepe: C/ Acuzena, 8 (952 63 93 06)