[OzarkRose]

I am doing parties for a venue in a smaller (50K) community in southern U.S for a family that consider themselves to be Italian, although they have never even visited there! I raise the issue because I am creating "authentic" Italian Antipasto with no real guide (I have been trained and practiced Traditional French). All I have read seems to have no real guidelines ...
so my question is: is the Antipasto Courses only parameter that it be flavored to "start the appetite"?

[even stephen]

My spelling is really bad, so bear with me. anti pasta is just "before
pasta". In some of the italian restaurants I have worked at we would
do something called a picolli. It was a serving not as big as an appetizer
and not as small as an amuse. If it is a family who is from the states and
has an italian backround, then, you want to cook what they like. Talk
with them and find out some of thier favorites. Find out the region of
Italy their family comes from. If you are doing a very nice dinner than
course it as you would a french dinner. Picolli, pasta, seafood, meat, cheese,
dessert and coffee, and then a digestive such as grappa. Of course you
can by a book by mario and learn all about this from the best. A fine book
to learn the better principles of cooking, which transcend Italian, american
or French cuisines is "Essential Cooking". Truly a wonderful book to learn
from. For what its worth.

Stephen

[OzarkRose]

What they want is NOT what they are (Chicago-Italian), thats why I am trying to access someone who has experience with "Italy" Italian antipasto. My question is really more of a conceptual one: what are the "rules" of antipasto in Italy, if there are any!
I think what you are telling me is that, besides the fact that it is based on the order of presentation, it is based on serving size, right? Did you have "real Italian" feedback on what you did?

[Mangilao30]

There are no rules for antipasti (this is the plural) and it varies fron region to region. I am in the North of Italy, Torino while my husband is from Rome.

In Torino, there are grisini, pencil thin bread sticks that you can wrap a slice of procuitto around. Also they serve bread, buffula mozzarella, olives, bagna cauda, roasted red peppers with achovy sauce, white truffle crostini, salami of various types, tons of stuff...

In Rome, we have fried zuchinni flowers, fried balls of rice, olives, bread, bruschetta, fried articokes, frittata, cold meats, seafood salad, stewed white beans, chicken livers on toast, and more.

[OzarkRose]

Eccellente, Grazie!