If you think of Italian food, pizza, spaghetti, pasta parmigiana, mistrone, and ravioli will definitely cross your mind.  This is perhaps, because these are the most common dishes served in restraunts and homes around the world.  However, not a lot of people know that Italian cuisine is extremely varied and diverse.  There are a variety of dishes that are unique to places that they come from.  You have the popular dishes like risotto (saffron-flavored rice) of Milan, fegati ala Veneziana (wafer-thin slices of liver with onions) of Venice, tortellini (meat or cheese stuffed in little rounds of dough) of Bologna, and a lot more. 

If you live nearby Highway 5 in La Jolla, California and suddenly got a craving for Italian food, you can drop by La Jolla restaurants like Tratorria Acqua. They serve Calamari Fritti, Portobello Polenta, Muscoli Gratini, and a lot of other popular and not-so-popular Italian food.