There’s no better place to start your sojourn in Italy than through the aisles of a local grocery store. Italy’s wide range of staples, snacks, and sweets

While it’s impossible to condense all of Italy’s culinary delights into a single shopping basket, this post guides you through what to buy across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, as well as the pantry essentials that locals actually use and the best snacks to bring back home in your suitcase.

This edition of Check Out was completed at Coop—one of Italy’s largest and most recognisable retailers—which prioritises quality regional products, sustainability, and affordable everyday groceries. Founded as part of Italy’s cooperative movement, Coop was first established in Bologna back in 1854.

When travelling through Italy and living la dolce vita, a great way to save is by buying groceries and preparing meals at your accommodation. Start your day off sweet with Gocciole biscuits—a local favourite and a must alongside your morning Moka Express. For Nutella lovers, try Nocciolata on your breakfast bread instead, an organic, palm-oil free alternative.

For pranzo in the piazza, keep an eye out for hole-in-the-wall stores selling pomodorini and fior di latte inside a panzarotto.—cheap, convenient, and delicious. After a siesta, fennel-flavoured taralli, grissini sticks, and San Carlo chips pair perfectly with an afternoon Aperol Spritz aperitivo.

During dinner time, pick up a jar of Barilla’s ricotta and walnut pesto to have with your pasta. This is a forever-favourite of mine and something that I’ve struggled to source in Australia for years! Don’t forget dolce—a scoop of pistachio gelato or a summery Sorrento lemon sorbet to cleanse the palate. Smaller, local stores who display their gelato in covered, silver metal tins (known as pozzetti) are usually the most reliable.

When it comes to Italian staples, no nonna’s pantry is complete without a tin of biscuits that actually contains buttons. Other essentials include savoiardi for a tiramisù pick-me-up; Arborio rice for risotto; polenta, a staple in the colder north; jars upon jars of passata (Mutti brand, or homemade in your cousin’s backyard as an acceptable, non-supermarket alternative); and pasta in all shapes and sizes (Rummo, or made by hand using tipo 00 flour). 

In Italy, DOP and IGP food products reign supreme—denoting high-quality standards from a Protected Destination of Origin or a Protected Geographical Indication—with Prosciutto di San Daniele (origin: Friuli-Venezia Giulia); Parmigiano Reggiano (origin: Emilia-Romagna); balsamic vinegar (origin: Modena); and olive oil all marking essentials in Italian cuisine.

And as for snacks? Baci chocolate kisses, Baiocchi biscuits from Mulino Bianco, and Novi chocolate bars are all musts—but it was Ferrero’s Pocket Coffee that captured my curiosity at the check out. Pods of individually wrapped chocolates filled with liquid espresso are the perfect pick-me-up, a product that only the Italians could perfect. 

Buon appetito!