What to eat in Friuli-Venezia Giulia: frico, cjarsons, San Daniele prosciutto and gubana, plus regional cheeses and selected local wine pairings.
Part of our guide Italian food guide, region by region
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Cured meat specialties and cheeses are integral to the Friulian diet. Polenta is a Friulian staple and is typically the carbohydrate of choice over rice and pasta.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia lies on Italy’s northeastern edge, bordering Austria to the north, Slovenia to the east, the Adriatic Sea to the south, and the Veneto to the west. Its cuisine combines Mediterranean flavors and mountain dishes influenced by neighboring Slovenian and Austrian traditions. For produce unique to the region, try rosa di Gorizia, or “Gorizia’s rose,” a rare type of chicory known for its red color, rose-like shape, and milder flavor.
Standout favorite dish
Frico is a potato, onion, and cheese pancake born in Friulian peasant kitchens, created to use leftover cheese scraps, usually from Montasio. Cook grated potatoes, onions, and shredded Montasio cheese like a frittata until the outside turns golden brown and the inside stays soft and gooey. There’s also a simpler, crunchy version called frico croccante, made by cooking grated cheese into a crisp wafer. Frico is served hot as an appetizer or alongside polenta for a hearty main course.
| Destination | Foods to look for | When or where |
|---|---|---|
| Udine & San Daniele del Friuli | Frico, the golden potato-and-Montasio cheese pancake, and Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP | Traditional trattorias for frico; enjoy thinly sliced San Daniele ham as an antipasto. |
| Carnia & Sauris | Cjarsons, filled pasta with sweet-and-savory ingredients, Formadi Frant cheese, and smoked Prosciutto di Sauris IGP | Mountain inns and traditional restaurants; order cjarsons with melted butter and grated smoked ricotta. |
| Trieste | Jota, a hearty bean-and-sauerkraut soup, goulash Triestino, and presnitz pastry | Traditional restaurants and buffets; jota is particularly welcome in winter, while presnitz makes a rich dessert. |
| Grado & the Adriatic coast | Boreto alla graisana, a peppery fish dish prepared with garlic and vinegar | Seafood restaurants in Grado; order with white polenta to absorb the flavorful sauce. |
| Cividale del Friuli & the Natisone Valleys | Gubana, a coiled sweet bread filled with dried fruit and walnuts, and traditional strucchi pastries | Local bakeries and pastry shops; gubana is traditionally associated with celebrations but is now enjoyed year-round. |
Like other Italian regions, Friuli’s diet includes various cured meat specialties and cheeses.
As with other alpine regions, mountainous Friuli is known for exceptional cheeses. Montasio DOP is one of the most prominent, produced in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and parts of neighboring Veneto. Montasio develops a crumbly texture and a more savory flavor as it ages. This semi-hard cow’s milk cheese, known for its delicate flavor when young and characterized by tiny holes throughout, is made in four different aged styles.
Fresco is the youngest, followed by mezzano, stagionato, and stravecchio.
In Carnia, formaggio di malga refers to alpine cheeses named for the alpine huts, or malghe, in which they are produced. These cheeses are generally made from cow’s milk and ripen on wooden boards until they reach a semi-hard texture with intense, grassy, and perhaps slightly bitter flavors.
Another Friulian specialty recognized by the Slow Food Presidium, Formadi Frant, originated in the poor, peasant traditions of zero waste within Carnia. It’s made by mixing offcuts of other cheeses deemed defective or unsuitable for aging. Hence, the name Formadi Frant means crushed cheese in Friulian.
Milk and cream bring the mixture together, along with salt and black pepper. Formadi Frant varies from producer to producer but is generally known for its soft texture and slightly spicy flavor, thanks to black pepper.
Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP is amongst Friuli’s most distinguished food products. Its flavor depends on pork, sea salt, and patient maturation in San Daniele del Friuli. The hams are salted and, according to tradition, rest for as many days as their weight in kilograms. The hams are pressed to give the meat the right texture for curing. They mature for at least thirteen months from the beginning of processing.
The result is rosy-red colored prosciutto with delicate aromas and flavors of dried fruits, barley malt, and crusty bread.
Wine pairing: Ribolla Gialla – Choose a fresh, dry, unoaked version. Its light floral character and lively acidity refresh the palate without overwhelming San Daniele’s delicate flavor.
Beyond prosciutto di San Daniele, try Prosciutto di Sauris IGP, a smoked ham from the Carnian Alps. The ham is seasoned with garlic, salt, and pepper, then gently smoked with beechwood.
That smoking gives it a distinct fragrance without overwhelming its sweetness. The texture remains soft and delicate. The ham matures for at least ten months.
For produce unique to the region, try rosa di Gorizia, or “Gorizia’s rose,” a rare type of chicory known for its red color, rose-like shape, and milder flavor. Friuli also cultivates white asparagus, particularly around Udine. Finally, given the freshwater lakes and rivers throughout Friuli-Venezia Giulia, smoked trout is also a regional specialty.
related tour
To enjoy these dishes alongside the region’s wines, take a look at our private Friuli wine tour. We arrange private appointments at family estates, with chauffeured touring through Collio and Colli Orientali and time for the region’s food and historic towns.
Also known as cialzons, cjarsons are a filled pasta resembling ravioli and are a signature dish of the Carnia region. Some versions use potatoes in the pasta dough, while others use flour and water. The pasta is filled with ricotta and a range of ingredients, including dried fruits, apples, spices, aromatic herbs, and more. Traditionally, cjarsons are topped with melted butter and grated smoked ricotta.
Popular in Trieste, jota is a winter staple: a comforting stew of beans, potatoes, and tangy sauerkraut that’s ideal for warming up when temperatures drop. The sauerkraut, known locally as capuzi garbi, is cooked with beans, bay leaves, potatoes, and pancetta to make this thick soup.
Although its main ingredients are vegetables, check the preparation before ordering it as a vegetarian dish, as it may include pork, meat stock, or lard.
Another traditional soup of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, ideal for cooler months, is paparot, made from spinach, cornmeal, flour, garlic, and other seasonings. Adding sausage or lard can make the soup even heartier.
Especially prominent in Trieste yet enjoyed throughout the region, gnocchi di prugne are plum-filled potato dumplings. They can be served as dessert, though gnocchi di prugne are often presented as a primo piatto in the region.
The salted potato dough encloses tart plums, with sugar and cinnamon bringing sweetness to the dish. The gnocchi are seasoned with melted butter and toasted breadcrumbs. As a result, gnocchi di prugne offers a surprisingly delicious sweet-and-savory dish.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia enjoys both sweet and savory versions of strucolo, the region’s take on Austrian strudel. In either case, strucolo features a dough roll stuffed with a variety of fillings. Savory strucolo is served as a primo piatto, or first course, and contains just about anything. Typical fillings include ricotta, spinach, peas, minced veal, or beef.
Versions may be baked or boiled, then served seasoned with melted butter and breadcrumbs or cheese. In contrast, strucolo di pomi is a popular sweet version similar to apple strudel.
Blecs, or biechi, are a pasta typical of Friuli, traditionally made with wheat and buckwheat flour. Blecs are known for their flat triangle or square shape and are often served with rich butter and Montasio cheese sauce.
Acknowledged by the Slow Food Presidium, pestat di Fagagna was developed by local pork butchers, known as purcitâr, in the commune of Fagagna within Udine. They created it to preserve autumnal herb and vegetable flavors in pork lard, like an old-school bouillon cube. Pestat di Fagagna is made by mixing ground lard with chopped carrots, onion, celery, sage, garlic, rosemary, and parsley. Rather than eating pestat di Fagagna like a salami, it’s used as a base to flavor traditional dishes.
Brovada and muset are a Christmas specialty in Friuli. Friulians place turnips in vats to preserve them over winter, covering them in red grape pomace. After fermentation, they wash and finely shred them, creating a product known as brovada. Today, brovada has a DOP-protected status.
Muset is a sausage made from pork, including snout and rind, spiced with black pepper, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Like cotechino, it’s usually eaten boiled in winter as it’s pretty fatty. This classic dish sees boiled muset served with brovada cooked with garlic, bay leaves, and vegetable stock. Pasted text Pasted text
Wine pairing: Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso – A fresh, savory red whose acidity balances the richness of the pork.
Goulash Triestino is from Trieste, the capital of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Hungarian paprika flavors the dish made with slow-cooked beef simmered with onions, tomatoes or tomato paste, and herbs. Polenta, potatoes, or gnocchi typically accompany goulash Triestino.
In Grado, look for boreto alla graisana, a fish dish with plenty of garlic and black pepper. Vinegar sharpens the sauce, and white polenta is its customary accompaniment. Despite its name’s resemblance to brodetto, don’t expect a tomato-based fish soup: traditional boreto contains no tomato.
The fish varies, with turbot and mullet among the possibilities, and some versions combine several kinds. The polenta absorbs those peppery juices and softens the vinegar’s impact.
Wine pairing: Malvasia Istriana – A dry, aromatic white with freshness and enough body for the flavorful sauce. Its structure suits the fish, while its acidity holds up to the vinegar.
In Trieste, il bollito is a flavorful yet straightforward boiled meat dish featuring different pig parts, such as its ears, tongue, head, pancetta, and knuckles. Serve il bollito hot, with sauerkraut, grated horseradish, and mustard.
Horseradish is called cren, and it’s used grated or in a variety of sauces typically served with meat. Regardless of how cren is prepared, it always packs a flavorful punch.
Traditionally prepared for holidays but now enjoyed year-round, gubana is a leavened sweet bread filled with dried or candied fruits and walnuts. Particularly associated with Cividale del Friuli and the Natisone Valleys, it has a distinctive coiled shape that reveals a spiral of filling when sliced.
Wine pairing: Ramandolo DOCG – A sweet Verduzzo Friulano wine with honey and dried-fruit notes. Its sweetness matches the cake, while its gentle tannins complement the walnut filling.
Adored in Trieste and Gorizia, presnitz is a coiled spiral of puff pastry dough filled with dried fruits, nuts, citrus peel, cinnamon, and rum. It’s baked and then sprinkled with powdered sugar for a heartwarming dessert. Unlike gubana, its rich filling is enclosed in a thin, flaky pastry rather than leavened dough.
These treats feature a sweet nut-based filling between two thin layers of dough. Popular around Carnival or Christmas, strucchi are boiled or fried. Fried versions are finished with sugar; boiled versions may be served with melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon.
These are some of the restaurants we enjoy sharing with guests on our private food and wine tours. Our recommendations draw on personal dining experiences, restaurants in selected itineraries and guest feedback. Each has its own character, reflecting the region's culinary traditions, from the Karst plateau’s family-run restaurants and Collio’s wine country to Trieste’s Central European influences
San Michele del Carso · Traditional Karst cuisine
Why we recommend it
The Devetak family has been welcoming guests since 1870, preserving the cooking traditions of the Karst plateau near the Slovenian border. Homemade pasta, seasonal vegetables, wild herbs and hearty regional dishes are matched by a remarkable wine cellar carved into the limestone beneath the restaurant. Its warm, unpretentious hospitality makes it particularly memorable.
Cormons · Collio wine country
Why we recommend it
Tucked among the wooded hills of Collio, La Subida is one of the region's most atmospheric restaurants. Chef Alessandro Gavagna draws on Friulian and Slovenian traditions, with game, wild herbs and seasonal produce taking centre stage. Look for žlikrofi, delicate potato-filled dumplings served with roast juices and aged Montasio, alongside an outstanding selection of local wines.
Godia, near Udine · Contemporary Friulian fine dining
Why we recommend it
The Scarello family's restaurant has evolved from a village establishment into one of Friuli's leading gastronomic destinations. Chef Emanuele Scarello combines ingredients from across the region, including Godia potatoes, Adriatic seafood and wild herbs, in imaginative tasting menus. His sister Michela oversees the hospitality and wine service, completing a thoroughly personal dining experience.
Trieste · Historic Austro-Hungarian buffet
Why we recommend it
Established in 1897, Buffet da Pepi is a wonderful introduction to Trieste's Central European culinary heritage. Forget the conventional idea of a buffet: here, pork and sausages are cooked in traditional boilers and served with sauerkraut, mustard and freshly grated horseradish. Order a mixed plate of porzina and cotechino, accompanied by a glass of local Terrano.
Trieste · Contemporary Adriatic seafood
Why we recommend it
Set on Molo Venezia, overlooking Trieste's marina and the Adriatic, Pier combines a memorable waterfront setting with contemporary seafood cooking. Expect fresh crudi, seafood pasta and beautifully prepared fish, with a carefully selected wine list. Its maritime atmosphere makes an appealing contrast to the hearty cooking found elsewhere in the region.
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