Bread. Cake. In Italy bread is generally white with a crunchy crust while in Tuscany and Umbria itis generally made without salt, making it an especially good partner to foods like salami. In Tuscany and Puglia bread is traditionally held in the crook of the arm and cut towards the chest. Not too many bread boards out in the fields! In the south, where white wheat bread is scarce, it was traditionally kept for the dying and for women just about to give birth. Throughout Italy, but particularly in the mountainous north, all sorts of superstitions surround the preparation and cooking of bread, and particularly when best to bake.

A very thin, crisp, unleavened bread from Sardinia. It has good keeping qualities. It is eaten as is, crumbled into soups or ground into meal.

A large, thick crusted loaf of unkneaded bread from Puglia and Sicily made with douro wheat flour, oil and yeast. It is also home-made or homely.