I recently went to Italy for one very important reason: to eat a lot of pasta. But in addition to suffering from a blissful carb coma for a few nights in a row, I learned a lot about the art of cooking pasta al dente, too. And I'm talking about legitimate cooking lessons from a trusted Italian source - Giovanni Rana, the founder of the fresh-pasta brand of the same name, who has been living and breathing pasta since he started the company in the 1960s. When I got to meet him in the flesh, I knew I wanted to ask him what is the best Italian cooking tip he's ever learned from his decades of experience. His answer surprised me a little. 

"Italian cuisine is not complex like French," Giovanni said in Italian, as his sweet daughter-in-law Antonella translated his words to English. "A big issue in the US is whether to cook pasta al dente or not. In Italy, there's not only one cooking style - al dente is not the Italian way," he continued, explaining that there's not one rigid definition of perfectly cooked pasta. "In the South, like Rome, they like the 'soul' inside . . . still a little crunchy and white inside. Northern Italy, including Verona, likes it a little more soft."