NICOLA RAYNER investigates the new book, The Painter, The Cook And L'Arte Di Sacla', by Dorset's renowned Italian food expert Anna Del Conte

IF there are two things associated with Italy, and there are many more than two, they are good food and fine art. Now a lavish culinary travelogue, The Painter, the Cook and L'Arte di Saclà, celebrates the sights and tastes of the world's most sensuous country. The special edition book is the brainchild of Saclà, best known in the UK for its pesto and antipasti; was written by Anna Del Conte, one of the greatest living experts on Italian food who lives in Fontmell Magna; and illustrated by British artist Val Archer.

The exquisite tome takes the reader on a gastronomic journey through six of the lesser-known regions of Italy - Piedmont, Veneto, Liguria, Le Marche, Puglia and Sardinia - and highlights the local produce and traditional cooking styles of the regions with a selection of recipes and stories.

"The art of the painter and the art of the cook are similar in so many ways it is surprising a book like this has never been published before," says Giuseppe Ercole, the chairman of Saclà UK, whose family hosted Anna and Val's culinary odyssey.

Anna agrees: "It is the only book, as far as I have been told, done in this way. Usually, the writer writes the book and it is illustrated afterwards. We went together and chose together what we would talk about. I didn't know Val before and we got on very well. She's a lovely woman and we were totally in tune. Only once did we disagree, when we were in Veneto and I said we have got to illustrate polenta and she said, I can't, it's just a yellow blob.'"

Did Anna win? "Yes, of course," she smiles. "You cannot talk about northern Italy without talking about polenta."

Anna, who has worked alongside the Saclà family before and now considers them close friends, was well looked after on the various research trips for the book, which took place in 2006 and early 2007.

She explains: "They provided the cars and Lucia Ercole, the marketing manager, and Sara Sacco Botto were there to guide us. Otherwise, Roger Jupe, the husband of Val Archer drove us, while Saclà made the arrangements for us to meet the right people and I gave them some names too."

The pair met up with various local producers, cooks, food lovers and experts.

What were her culinary highlights? "There was a wonderful meal we had in Puglia on the heel of Italy," she says. "All the VIPs of the town were there - the mayor and the museum curators -and we were received like royalty. The meal started with the 12 antipasti of Puglia -they're great on antipasti - then there were two pasta dishes, the meat dish, the platter of cheese and the pudding. The cheese comes before the pudding. The pudding is usually something light like a fruit salad, that sort of thing, especially in southern Italy."

Is it true, I wonder, that Italian cuisine is one more defined by regions than a country as a whole?

"For us Italians, there is no such thing as Italian cooking," says Anna. "There is Milanese, Sicilian, Neapolitan; it's extremely different. It's not just one dish, but a lot of the food is cooked in a different way. For example, in northern Italy, the traditional Mediterranean' olive oil was not used until 30 years ago. It was used only in salads, but not in the cooking for which butter, pork fat and lard were used."

The reason for this, Anna explained, was simply because olives do not grow in the north, but in the south, in Puglia, for example, where they abound. As for Anna's favourite region of the six, she says: "When I'm there, I love all of them. Probably I would choose Liguria simply because I love the sea and it's a lovely cuisine - fish, vegetables - a poor cuisine, but they make the food go a long way with stuffing and herbs. Pesto comes from Liguria; it epitomises the type of cooking of the place."

How did Anna, who was born in Milan, come to live in Dorset? "We came nearly 10 years ago because my daughter, Julia Cardozo, lives here and we decided to move near to one of the family to be close to the grandchildren.

"What I do miss is good vegetables and fruit. You cannot import the sun.

"Italian cuisine is simply enhancing the flavours of the main ingredients," Anna continues. "Here there are a lot of contrasts, too many flavours. But the meat is good," she adds. "I buy from Brokewood Farm in Bishops Down near Sherborne, Holbrook's in Sturminster Newton and Prime Cuts in Shaftesbury; at all of them the meat comes directly from the farms. I also buy fresh eggs and I've got a lovely man, Paul Williamson, a fishmonger, who comes to the door. There's also a wonderful place in Shillingstone with tanks of seawater where they keep oysters and mussels."

Speaking to Anna about food is a mouthwatering experience. The first cookery writer in England to specialise in Italian cuisine, Anna has written some of the most authoritative books on the subject and her expertise and passion make her latest offering a gem of a book.

  • Win a copy of the book See today's Dorset Echo for details