Amordivino Wines
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Matching food with wine means creating a harmony of smells and tastes, to exalt the characteristics of both. The choice and sequence of the wines during a meal has to be done according to the sequence of the courses.

To establish definitive rules of matching is difficult because both food and wine are complex substances capable of giving very different sensations. As a general rule, in a good match the wine should not cover the taste of the food and vice versa: the body of the wine should be adequate to the structure of the meal - a light meal requires a light-bodied wine, while a rich food requires a well-structured wine.

Antipasti and aperitifs
Antipasti usually require a light-bodied wine, considering that the food should be light and the serving sequence of the wines during a meal should follow an ascending criterion.  Dry white wines, also sparkling, are suggested; rose’ or young reds if the food is more structured.
As antipasti and aperitifs can vary considerably, the only wines capable of a good match with such a variety of flavours are the fine, traditional method, sparkling wines. A millesimato (vintage) sparkling wine can brilliantly accompany the whole meal with the possible exception of the dessert.

Pasta and rice
Pasta and rice are neutral and a good match depends on the sauce chosen.
If the sauce is fish-based, the preferred wine is white, light or medium bodied according to the fish.
With meat-based sauces, the preferred wine is red, but not full bodied.
If the sauces are very perfumed, such as a truffle sauce, the wine should also be rich in flavours.

Meat
As a general rule, red meats prefer red wines, while white meats prefer white medium or full-bodied wines.
If a wine is used in the cooking, it should also be served with the meal.
Game matches full-bodied, aged red wines.
If the meat has a heavy gravy, better if the wine is tannic and correctly alcoholic.

Fish
Fish generally requires white wines, but there are exceptions: fat, stewed fish goes well with light reds. Poached or boiled fish requires a light-bodied wine; oven roasted fish requires a medium-bodied wine; deep-fried fish needs a dry white wine with good acidity.

Cheese
Matching wine and cheese is very complex. To simplify, it is possible to say that soft cheeses and young cheeses require red or white light-bodied wines, while hard cheeses and mature cheeses prefer a more structured wine.

Desserts
Contrary to common use, it is not generally good to match dry sparkling wine, such as champagne or Franciacorta, with desserts. Sweet dishes, on the whole, require sweet wines.

The described rules follow the matching by similarity, but it is also possible to successfully match by contrast. In this case a very savoury food can be combined with a sweet wine or a sour food with a soft wine.

Cooking with Flowers
There have always been flowers in traditional Italian cuisine, such as risotto ai fiori di zucca (risotto with pumpkin flowers), but a mixed fried plate of rose petals, tulips and acacia or caciocavallo cheese on a bed of bocche di leone and tageti are really surprising dishes.
According to what emerged at a convention during the last Euroflora in Genova, chefs around the world are increasingly interested in the power of flowers and aromatic herbs.
They started using the colourful flowers to decorate their dishes, but now they use them as a precious ingredient to add value to recipes and enrich whole menus.
So a menu can sound more or less like this:

Starter – Smoked scamorza on a bed of petals with sweet and sour camomile sauce
Main Course – Risotto with lavender flowers or potato cake with marigold flowers and pecorino
Dessert – White chocolate mousse with begonia syrup, marigold and rose flowers tart

Sounds so nice that is certainly worth a try. Just be careful that the flowers have not been sprayed with tons of pesticides!

Here starts a perfumed, colourful and tasty journey. Flowers come back to bloom on our tables with lots of recipes from the Middle Ages but also from exotic countries such as Pakistan, Seychelles, Caribbean, Lebanon, China, Japan and Peru - where flowers are a valuable ingredient as well as spices and herbs. 
From poppies to lindens, orchids to roses, violets to magnolias, the most important thing is to find the right raw materials. Most of the flowers that we want to use for cooking, apart from courgette flowers and artichokes, cannot be purchased in a grocery or a flower shop. The flowers need to be grown naturally with no pesticides or chemical fertilizer. Best if they come from a garden or a field far from pollution.  Therefore, before planning our flowery menu, we need to check our gardens or balconies to see what nature can offer at the moment. Unfortunately it is not possible to freeze the flowers, because they would lose all their aromas. Therefore, cooking with flowers means to have strictly seasonal food, which is always the best in any case, in accordance with the rhythms of the nature.

Here are some recipes with flowers:
Palline Azzurre (Baby Blue Balls)
Minestra di Girasole (Sunflower Soup)
Frittata ai Fiori (Flowery Omelette)
Sogliola alle Violette (Sole with Violets)
Insalata di Campo (Field Salad)
Macedonia al Tulipano (Fruit Salad with Tulips)
Biscottini alla Rosa con Sesamo (Little Rose Bisquits with Sesame)