Now if you have spent any time with me you would quickly learn that there are certain things I absolutely love. Some of those things include wine, cheese, olives, and bread. One could imagine my excitement when I dug into my first Italian style cheese plate. I knew before visiting that Italians loved their mozzarella, but I had no idea that they really truly appreciated a wide range of fine cheeses quite as much as they did. I saw an incredible amount of amazing cheese plates fly by me in restaurants and every time just their whizzing image was enough to make my mouth water.

Now if you have spent any time with me you would quickly learn that there are certain things I absolutely love. Some of those things include wine, cheese, olives, and bread. One could imagine my excitement when I dug into my first Italian style cheese plate. I knew before visiting that Italians loved their mozzarella, but I had no idea that they really truly appreciated a wide range of fine cheeses quite as much as they did. I saw an incredible amount of amazing cheese plates fly by me in restaurants and every time just their whizzing image was enough to make my mouth water.

An antipaste plate served to us during our wine tour in Tuscanny

The typical “rules” (I use this term loosely, because I never follow them) for a cheese plate are that it should contain a variety of cheeses with different consistencies, some crusty bread or crackers, something crunchy, such as nuts or pickles, and something sweet such as fruit, dried fruit, a sweet spread or honey. Seems simple enough right? Well, let me tell you, the Italians make it even simpler, while casually tossing in an appetizing array of cured meats. But, of course, they do.

A typical afternoon snack at our apartment in Rome

Most of the cheese trays that I saw contained only 2 to 3 types of cheese including a mozzarella (sometimes a smoked mozzarella, which is my personal favorite or a combination of the two), a gorgonzola, and a pecorino. Next, there were a similar number of meats, which were typically salami, prosciutto, and bologna. To accompany the plate there was typically some good crusty bread, or toast, and almost always a few olives, or an olive tapenade.

This combination of flavors is simple and rustic, much like the majority of the delicious Italian meals that we had throughout our trip. I think that the simplicity of this type of cheese plate, as well as its flavor combination, is one of my favorites. It’s definitely something that we will be trying out more often now that we are back in the states.