The complete foodie guide to Campania

Travel along Campania's coastline and you'll find some of the best fish and seafood in Italy. One of the region's most delicious products (and one of its best kept secrets), however, is colatura di alici – the fishy by-product of curing anchovies. This beautiful amber nectar is used with aplomb by locals (particularly in Cetara, where it's produced) to season pizza and pasta sauces, or simply drizzled over all manner of dishes.

Buffalo mozzarella started life in Campania over 1,000 years ago, when Capuan monks would make it to feed passing pilgrims and travellers. Today it's one of the world's favourite cheeses, but if you want to taste real, fresh buffalo mozzarella, you simply have to go to the source.

Other well-known cheeses from Campania include Scamorza, which is often smoked and easily recognised thanks to its firm, bulbous appearance, and Fiordilatte also originated from the region. Keep an eye out for fresh Stracciata, too – a soft milky cheese that's similar to the centre of a ball of mozzarella.

Stroll along the stunning Amalfi Coast and you'll see stepped hillsides covered in lemon groves. Amalfi lemons – and indeed, their cousins from nearby Sorrento – are renowned for their wonderful flavour and aroma, whether eaten fresh or drunk in limoncello. Both have earned protected status from the EU thanks to their unique characteristics, and they're one of the most iconic images of Campania's coastline.

You simply can't talk about Campania without mentioning pizza – arguably Italy's greatest gift to mankind. If you're planning a trip to Naples, you're likely heading there for the pizza – the city itself is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site, protected as the birthplace of what is considered one of the world's most culturally important foods. Check out Luciana Squadrilli's fantastic deep-dive on the history of Neapolitan pizza and what makes it so special.

Babà, struffoli, sfogliatelle – just a few of the sweets and pastries that have come to represent the sweet-toothed of Campania. The local bakeries are filled with a huge variety of treats whose origins often have a legend or story behind them. Making the most of Campania's fantastic citrus fruits and dairy products, they're some of the best in all of Italy.

Campanese wines are nowhere near as famous as those from places like Piedmont and Tuscany, but the local climate is actually perfect for growing certain varieties of grapes. In particular, Aglianico red wines and those made from vines grown in the foothills of Vesuvius are certainly worth seeking out.

Spaghetti is a favourite pasta shape along the Campanese coast – it's perfect for swirling around in all those light seafood sauces. Spaghetti alle vongole is one of the most famous dishes, making the most of the lovely juicy clams caught in the Tyrrhenin Sea, and there's nowhere better to eat it than Campania.

If there's one thing you should eat whilst you're in Campania, it's spaghetti with colatura di alici – the incredible semi-fermented anchovy liquid from Cetara. The simple combination of colatura, olive oil, garlic, parsley and chilli is unbeatable and truly captures the essence of the area.

There's nowhere better to eat seafood in Italy than along the Amalfi Coast, and squeezing lemon over a bowl of fritto misto whilst sitting on a sun-lounger overlooking the Gulf of Naples is a bucket list experience. The fresher your seafood, the better your fritto misto will taste, but there are a few other tricks to getting a really crispy finish. Check out Pasquale Torrente's recipe to see how to recreate this dish at home.

Mozzarella di bufala, tomato and fresh basil – that's all you need to put one of the world's great salads on the table. The key, of course, is having the absolute best ingredients you can buy, but there are other ways to elevate it too, as shown in this recipe. Hailing from the seriously luxe island of Capri, every bite of this salad offers a true taste of La Dolce Vita.

Octopus is a favourite in Campania, with boatloads of the cephalopods caught off its coast every day. This traditional Campanese dish shows how simple it is to prepare, searing baby octopi in garlic-infused olive oil before braising them in a chilli-flecked tomato sauce until meltingly soft and tender.

These crispy, many-layered 'lobster tails' are a hugely popular delicacy in Campania – the region where they were first created – and come with a delightful semolina and ricotta filling. It takes a delicate touch and a bit of practice to get these right – which is why they're regarded as an artisan speciality in Italy – but Salvatore Elefante's recipe is a great starting point if you want to try making them at home.

A popular cake to create during Easter all over Italy, pastiera evokes all the typical aromas of Campania with candied peel and orange flower water. There's no reason why you can't eat it year-round though – it makes a great breakfast or snack with afternoon tea. What makes it unique is the inclusion of grano cotto, a type of pre-cooked wheat grain available throughout Italy (although some cooks substitute this with risotto rice for a similar finish).