55 Delicious Italian Food Quotes and Sayings to Savour

Food is central to the lifestyle and culture of Italy. It extends way beyond simple nourishment, going straight to the heart of what it means to be Italian.

The magic of the country’s cuisine has inspired quotes about Italian food from actors and authors, foodies and filmmakers.

Whether you are looking for an Italian food quote to use as an Instagram caption or to simply inspire you, dive into my hand-curated collection of famous sayings about Italian food.

display of different gelato in a metal container

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Italian Food Quotes to Savour

1. Polenta is to northern Italy what bread is to Tuscany, what pasta is to Emilia-Romagna and what rice is to the Veneto: easy to make, hungry to absorb other flavors, and hugely versatile. – Yotam Ottolenghi, chef

2. I grew up in Italy, and our country is a country of great agriculture and food produce. It wasn’t like I was urban and only knew about high-heeled shoes and purses and never knew where my eggs came from. –  Isabella Rossellini, actress

3. The commonplace about Italian cooking is that it’s very simple; in practice, the simplicity needs to be learned, and the best way to learn it is to go to Italy and see it firsthand. – Bill Buford, author

4. I’m definitely looking forward to the day when I stop working – if I ever stop working. I like the idea of keeling over in my tomato vines in Sardinia or northern Italy. – Anthony Bourdain, chef

5. I love the simplicity, the ingredients, the culture, the history and the seasonality of Italian cuisine. In Italy people do not travel. They cook the way grandma did, using fresh ingredients and what is available in season. – Anne Burrell, chef

6. Italian food is seasonal. It is simple. It is nutritionally sound. It is flavorful. It is colorful. It’s all the things that make for a good eating experience, and it’s good for you. – Lidia Bastianich, chef

7. Like most of Italy, Neapolitans like their food, and there are restaurants everywhere. But to make like a true Neapolitan, grab a pizza from a street vendor and eat it there and then. We tried a pizza that’s folded over four times to make it nice and portable, then you eat it straight out of paper, like fish and chips. – Paul Hollywood, chef

8. I think that lunch is one of the most enjoyable and important things in the day. But you need to create the space and the time to do just that. And in Italy, we do that. – Lidia Bastianich, chef

illustration of one of the best Italian food quotes

9. As they say in Italy, Italians were eating with a knife and fork when the French were still eating each other. The Medici family had to bring their Tuscan cooks up there so they could make something edible. – Mario Batali, chef and restauranteur

10. I spent a college semester in a small town in Italy – and that is where I truly tasted food for the first time. – Alton Brown, chef

11. You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it’s for the same two things. What? Love and gelato.Love and Gelato, Jenna Evans Welch

12. It was the greatest thing in the world getting fat. Every meal out was an event. Or we’d go to Italy and we’d have pasta, truffles, and dessert and then plan the next incredible meal. It was a happy-go-lucky time. I never had so much fun. – Kirstie Alley, actor

13. Italian cuisine is the most famous and beloved cuisine in the world for a reason. Accessible, comforting, seemingly simple but endlessly delicious, it never disappoints, just as it seems to never change. – Matt Goulding, author

14. In the 20th century, the French managed to get a death on the myth that they produce the world’s best food. The hype has been carefully orchestrated, and despite the fact that the most popular food in the last quarter has undoubtedly been Italian, the French have managed to maintain that mental grip. – Clarissa Dickson Wright, chef

Quotes on Italian Food and Culture

15. In Italy, food is an expression of love. It is how you show those around you that you care for them. Having a love for food means you also have a love for those you are preparing it for and for yourself. —Joe Bastianich, restauranteur

16. Wherever I go, I am Italian. The way I talk, the way I eat, the way femininity is important to me. The way I love Italian food. – Monica Bellucci, actor

17. I think people in Italy live their lives better than we do. It’s an older country, and they’ve learned to celebrate dinner and lunch, whereas we sort of eat as quickly as we can to get through it. – George Clooney

18. It’s in the nature of Italians to live life with a positive tone and to celebrate the invitations that come along in life. Italian food is so conducive to all of that. – Lidia Bastianich, chef

19. Watching Italians eat (especially men, I have to say) is a form of tourism the books don’t tell you about. They close their eyes, raise their eyebrows into accent marks, and make sounds of acute appreciation. It’s fairly sexy. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver

20. Italian food really reflects the people. It reflects like a prism that fragments into regions. – Lidia Bastianich, chef

21. We always ate with gusto…It would have offended the cook if we had nibbled or picked…Our mothers and zie [aunties] didn’t inquire as to the states of our bellies; they just put the food on our plates.
‘You only ask sick people if they’re hungry,’ my mother said. ‘Everyone else must eat, eat!’
But when Italians say ‘Mangia! Mangia!’ they’re not just talking about food. They’re trying to get you to stay with them, to sit by them at the table for as long as possible. The meals that my family ate together- the many courses, the time in between at the table or on the mountain by the sea, the hours spent talking loudly and passionately and unyieldingly and laughing
hysterically the way Neapolitans do- were designed to prolong our time together; the food was, of course, meant to nourish us, but it was also meant to satisfy, in some deeper way, our endless hunger for one another.  – Passion on the Vine, Sergio Esposito

Italian Food Quotes About Pasta and Pizza

22. Everything you see I owe to pasta. – Sophia Loren

23. Life is a combination of magic and pasta. – Federico Fellini, filmmaker

24. Life is too short. If we’re in Italy, have pizza and pasta. But not every day. – Harley Pasternak, nutrition expert

25. In heaven, after antipasti, the first course will be pasta. – Steve Albini, musician

26. You can do irrefutably impossible things with the right amount of planning and support from intelligent and hardworking people and pizza. – Scott M. Gimple, writer

27.  Life is too short, and I’m Italian. I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0. –  Sophia Bush, actor

28. I do love Italian food. Any kind of pasta or pizza. –  Jennifer Love Hewitt, actor

 29. Ideas are like pizza dough, made to be tossed around.Anna Quindlen, author and journalist

illustration of a pasta quote with person holding a white dish

Italian Food Puns

Are you in the mood for some seriously silly wordplay? The pesto’s yet to come.

Here is a generous helping of pasta puns

30. How pre-pasta-rous

31. I walked right pasta restaurant without realizing it.

32. I’m feeling a little saucy today.

33. Pasta la vista, baby.

34. The pastabilities are endless!

35. Think about the pasta-bilities.

36. You’re pasta-tively amazing.

37. Life is about exploring pasta-bilities.

38. You are tortellini awesome.

39. Everything is sauce-some

40. Dressed to im-pesto

41. It cost a pretty penne

42. Penne for your thoughts.

43. Holy Cannelloni!

44. I Cannelloni laugh at my mistakes

45. I’m laughing so hard I’m ravioling on the floor

46. It’s the pesto both worlds

Quotes about Italian Food for Instagram

There are times when only a caption will do. Here is a selection of short quotes on Italian food that you can use for your Instagram, Twitter or Facebook feed. Simply copy and paste.

47. In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine. – Robin Leach, reporter

48. The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again. – George Miller, filmmaker

49. There’s nothing more romantic than Italian food. – Elisha Cuthbert, actor

50. If your mother cooks Italian food, why should you go to a restaurant? – Martin Scorsese, filmmaker

illustrated italian food caption for instagram with a slice of pizza

51. Italy will always have the best food. – Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer

52. So… Italian gelato. Take the deliciousness of a regular ice-cream cone, times it by a million, then sprinkle it with crushed-up unicorn horns. – Love & Gelato, Jenna Evans Welch

54. Espresso is a miracle of chemistry in a cup. – Andrea Illy, businessman

54. Italian food is all about ingredients and it’s not fussy and it’s not fancy. – Wolfgang Puck,  chef

55. Buon cibo. Buon vino. Buon amici. This translates to ”Good food. Good wine. Good friends.”

Buon appetito!