It can get quite confusing with all the tourism, food and wine fairs scheduled during the year, but the recent boom of the past few years has now seen a bit of fall out, and clear winners are emerging.

One thing for sure is that the sister show of the all powerful Salone del Gusto in Turin - Wine Show - has now downed her last Barolo Gran Gru to leave Vinitaly as the country's premier wine appointment.

Not taking any chances, the actual website of Vinitaly has blazoned a banner in prime position on its homepage stating 'Important Notice, Vinitaly is no way associated with Fair Guide and Expo Guide' , not that we had noticed in the first place.

Officially subtitled 'International wine and Spirits Exhibition' it takes place every March or April in the Verona Fiere exhibition halls.

Italian food is very regional—but food from Venice is one of our favorites. Seafood and pasta? Wine and pastries? Check, check and check!

Here, three dishes you just have to try while you're visiting Venice.

Sardee in saor

This antipasto sounds odd: It's sweet-and-sour sardines with onions, pine nuts and raisins. But even the name tells you it tastes delicious. The translation of "sardee in saor"w ould actually be "sardines immersed in flavor"! Onions show up often in Venetian cuisine because onions neutralize the bacteria that spoils food—something that Venetian sailors, spending such a long time at sea, would have been very familiar with!

Risi e bisi

Not quite a risotto, not quite a soup, this is a Venetian dish made of rice and peas (in Venetian dialect, "risi e bisi"). It's the dish that used to be offered to the Doge every St. Mark's Feast Day.

Risotto al nero di seppia

You see a lot of risotto in the north, and Venice is no exception. But here's the local twist: risotto drowned in black squid ink. You'll also see nero di seppia served in a variety of other ways, including on vermicelli (long, thin noodles) or served with squid itself.

Venice is much much, more than the tedious annual carnival and references to Casanova. It is a city with a seafaring history, a place where battles won and where commerce was king. An offshore haven  where chancers, survivors and honorable rogues mixed with nobility and kings. Or perhaps they were one in the same?!

One such man could have been Corto Maltese, a fabulous character created by Hugo Pratt (1927-1995), one of the greatest comic book writers in Italy and the world.

We found a great map made by the Consorzio Turistico Auronzo-Misurina together with the Comune di Auronzo di Cadore and Regione Veneto featuring 16 mountain paths for serious bikers through the Dolomites. The map guide also gives a Biker's 10 Rules which we liked and wanted to share here.

This is a typical codfish recipe from the beautiful town of Vicenza in Veneto, it is served in the classic way with polenta

Ingredients

Codfish already cleaned and softened (to serve 6 people you need 1 kg of codfish), flour, onions, parsley, anchovies already cleaned, parmesan cheese, olive oil, butter, hot milk, salt and pepper

When in Venice do not miss out on the typical 'baccalà mantecato' or creamed codfish. It is an easy and daily dish which you can find served as an appetizer with a slice of bread or polenta in any 'osteria' or 'trattoria', but do ask for a 'bacaro' as they say locally. The happy hour in Venice is called 'cicchetti' and walking in Venice stopping for snacks and culinary gems in wine bars is very much part of Venetian life.

Below is the recipe for the creamed codfish or 'baccalà, the Venetian way.

Ever wonder, amid all the festivities, exactly why you’re celebrating Carnival? The word carnival actually derives from the Latin term Carnevale, meaning “farewell to meat”. Simply put, Carnival has come to represent a sort of ‘last hurrah’ before a long period of self-denial.

Although the holiday most likely began in pre-Christian times with the ancient Roman traditions of Saturnalia and Bacchanalia, Carnival is currently known as the days preceding the Christian period of Lent, consisting of forty days of fasting during which the consumption of animal products was strictly forbidden.

As a result, universal feasts were held in order not to waste any perishable foods and drink that were about to be banned, releasing an euphoric atmosphere of giddy over-indulgence before the sober austerity that was about to descend.

While the celebrations of Venice may be the most well-known among Italian carnivals, the more intimate festivities of Verona are considered to be some of the oldest in Italy, tracing their origins as far back as the 1500s.

According to legend, when a famine hit Verona in the early 16th century, the nobleman Tomaso Vico handed out gnocchi, the Italian pasta made of flour and potato, to the poor and starving citizens of the city. After he died, a tradition sprung up from his will, ordering that from then on gnocchi be distributed to the Veronese inhabitants every year on the last Friday of Carnival.

Do make a visit to the large Venice Boat Museum or, officially, Museo Storico Navale. Translated that's the Historical Naval Museum, a glimpse into the military life of the city.

Walking across Saint Mark’s Square in Venice it is interesting to think that there are further three ancient levels below our feet. The oldest stone foundations are located near the Campanile or Bell Tower and date from Roman times and the first refugees to Venice from Aquileia. Further levels of white marble date from the mid 13th to 15th centuries.