Italian Landmarks Inspiring Our Menu

14 Aug Italian Landmarks Inspiring Our Menu

Italy is famous for a lot of different things from the cuisine to beautiful scenery and of course, world-famous landmarks. Thousands upon thousands of tourists flock to these landmarks every year, but how did the locations of these regularly visited places influence our new menu at Giovanni’s?

Fontana di Trevi

The Trevi Fountain in Rome is a well-known landmark, though many people don’t know it by its name. The fountain is visited by visitors year round and it is traditional for visitors thrown coins into the fountain. If cast over the left shoulder from the right hand, legend dictates the visitor will return to Rome one day.

Unbeknownst to some, the fountain is actually the largest Baroque fountain built from Carrara marble in Rome, meaning it was commissioned in the Baroque era, between 1600 and 1750. The fountain is embellished with several statues and features Neptune at its central point.

The Roman cuisine dates back centuries where Greek customs were introduced to higher class Roman cultures. Food in those times was seen as a luxury, nutritional value meant nothing so long as their dishes were gourmet.

One antipasto dish from our Knutsford Restaurant A La Carte Menu can be seen to be influenced by this Roman culture. Our Funghi Ripieni, which consists of a Paris Brown Mushroom, filled with taleggio cheese, bread crumbs & garlic, served on a rocket salad with balsamic dressing, is similar to the light, mushroom dishes served centuries ago.

Rialto Bridge

This glorious arched stone bridge, which runs across the Grand Canal in Venice is perhaps, the most famous bridge in Venice. It was built between 1588 and 1591 and features 3 walkways, the main, larger walkway is lined with shops whereas the two narrower walkways have beautiful views of the water.

The Venetian cuisine is largely influenced by their growth of crops such as rice and corn, as well as their extensive fishing industry. Popular dishes in this region include a variation of our Fritto Misto, featured in our previous blog post, Popular Italian dishes and their origins.

Another dish, which features on our A La Carte Menu that can be slightly attributed to the Venetian cuisine, is our Gamberoni Pizza. In Venice, seafood pizza is a very popular dish, likely due to the sizeable fishing industry. Our Gamberoni Pizza, topped with king prawns, roasted peppers, fior di latte mozzarella, chilli, pesto and tomato, is Giovanni’s own spin on a Venetian ‘seafood pizza’.

Tower Of Pisa

Located in the seaside town of Pisa in Tuscany, this world famous tower is visited each year by thousands. Many people aren’t aware that the tower was actually part of the Campo dei Miracoli, the Cathedral complex situated next to the tower.

Originally, the purpose of the tower was to be the bell tower for the cathedral. During its construction, however, the soil underneath the towers foundation began to shift, causing the tower to begin leaning. It has since been stabilised and was reopened to the public in 2010.

The Tuscan cuisine, particularly in the region of Pisa, offers a wider variety of traditional Italian dishes. Namely, their popular bavettine sul pesce, which is thin long pasta strands – much like linguine served with seafood. Using this dish as inspiration, we have created our own seafood linguine at Giovanni’s. Our Linguine Marinara, found on our A La Carte Menu, is filled with king prawns, mussels, clams, monkfish cherry vine tomatoes, chilli, garlic and parsley with a fine pasta.

Delicious Italian food in Knutsford, Cheshire

If we’ve made your mouth water and you’re craving pasta, pizza or any other delicious Italian dish, then why not come and join us at Giovanni’s Italian in Knutsford and try our traditionally influenced dishes yourself?

We can be found at 125A King Street, Knutsford, WA16 6EH. View our new menus or book a table in our restaurant  today, call 01565 632 576.