Bella Via’s Favorite Italian Food, Translated!

If you’ve looked over our widely varied menu, you’ve probably noticed that most of the dishes are listed in Italian, with an English description below. However, wouldn’t it be impressive if you could order in Italian? You’d be certain to impress your date or colleague!

Here’s a quick glossary of and pronunciation for of some of our most popular dishes:

Pollo Caprese. This dish, consisting of a free range chicken breast carefully cooked and topped with fresh mozzarella and fresh tomatoes, is pronounced “POHL-loh ka-PRAY-she”.

Linguini alla Vongole. This dish, prepared with al dente linguini pasta topped with freshly prepared mussels and a white or red sauce, is properly pronounced “leeng-GWEE-neh al-la VONG-goh-leh.”

Gamberi Farciti. This dish is an elegant preparation of jumbo shrimp stuffed with crabmeat. The Italian for “prawns stuffed” is used, GAHM-beh-ree far-SEE-tee.

Scaloppine Pizzaiola. This dish is familiar to many as scalloped veal sautéed with mushrooms, tomatoes and onions; the Italian word translates a “thin slice of white meat covered in pizza sauce”: skal-loh-PEEH-neh peet-tsah-YOH-lah.

Margherita. This pizza is named the Italian word for “Daisy” – it’s basic, with tomato sauce, basil, and fresh mozzarella. The pronunciation is altogether different in Italian than in Spanish: mahr-ge-REE-tah.

Quattro Staggioni. The classic “four seasons” pizza has ¼ white pizza, ¼ artichokes, ¼ mushrooms and ¼ ham. It’s a trademark dish at Bella Via, and is often mispronounced! It should be: KWAH-troh stah-jee-OH-nee.

Feeling a little more confident about dining out Italian? We’ll keep feeding you great Italian food while you learn the language. If it gets to be too much, you can always point to an item on the menu and we’ll know what you mean!