Throughout the province there are a number of excellent restaurants and bars to offer the best cuisine of “La Spezia”, a simple cuisine, characterized by the use of simple ingredients but which are flavored with many herbs of the region and with the main condiment,the delicate olive oil. Along with black pepper, these elements are the basis of some typical recipes. Among these well known is a soup of vegetables and cereals called “mescciüa” and “Tagiain to fasei” or topped with pesto, and the particular capponada made with stale bread, soaked in water and vinegar, to which are added anchovies, onions, tomatoes, basil, capers and red pepper. And yet, the Testaroli (a special type of “focaccia” unleavened, which is cooked in the traditional “testi” of earthenware) also flavored with pesto or sauce. Among the dishes of fish it is important to point out the famous Monterosso anchovies preserved in salt in clay pots, which together with the salt cod and muscles fried, stuffed or marinated (in scabeccio) are the basis for many recipes of La Spezia, very popular throughout the province. As for meat dishes instead are highly appreciated the “gambetto” (obtained from the paw of the pig), rabbit stew or fried, chicken “cacciatora”, the tripe stew, the sautéed kidneys. The desserts are the traditional pudding made with eggs, milk, sugar and cooked in a water bath, the chestnut cake made with chestnut flour and covered with pine nuts and raisins, and finally the famous Spongata Sarzanese, full of candied fruit, jam and dried fruit. The dishes are accompanied by wines almost exclusively white as Sciacchetrà, the white wine DOC of Cinque Terre, Levanto and Vermentino of Montecchio, Marciano and Sarticola.