Italian cooking aims for simplicity, relying on the quality and freshness of the local and seasonal foods to speak for themselves. Fish are often simply grilled, splashed with olive oil and dressed with a wedge of lemon. Italian cooking methods and techniques allow the exquisite and delicate flavors of the food to come through in all their glory, not disguised or amended with overpowering sauces.
Italian cooks have dozens of variations of pasta suitable for any dish. Long, flat, ribbons, spirals and curls are some of the common shapes. Italian cooking matches the pasta to the ingredients. Spirals and curls are designed to capture a thick or meaty sauce, while the long flat types are best with delicate thinner sauces.