While a Roman holiday may be off the cards for now, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the flavours of the Beautiful Country with our brand new Italian issue, on sale now.

This month, Monty Koludrovic, who honed his Italian skills at Icebergs before heading to LA, presides over the pasta bake. If you love carbs with cheese, prepare to discover a whole new world of great bakes, from sausage and sage-stuffed conchiglie to four-cheese cannelloni with rocket and lamb shank malloreddus. Pasta night will never be the same.

From Parmigiana Reggiano to pecorino and ricotta, we’ve never met an Italian cheese we didn’t like. This month, we pay tribute to the king of cheeses, Parmesan, and its crowning role in risotto and ribollita, veal cotolletta and focaccia.

What could be better than eating Italian food and drinking wine with friends? Set the table, we’ve got the ultimate aperitivo menu for your next get-together. Carlo Grossi shares some of his favourite recipes from his new book Ombra, named for his brilliant salumi bar in Melbourne. Pour yourself an Aperol spritz and get the snack party started with Carlo’s gnocchetti tirolese, broccoli ‘nduja, and ricotta and cherry crostata.

Make sure you save some room for our six new tiramisu recipes, created by some of Australia’s top chefs. How to choose between Nino Zoccali’s secret Pendolino recipe, Matt Morans’s beautifully assembled amaretti version, or Silvia’s Colloca’s pistachio and limoncello tiramisu? We’ve got room for every single one.

And for those nights when you don’t have time to roll-your-own, Phoebe Wood delivers with her Italian pantry favourites. Turn that packet of dried spaghetti or penne into a quick and easy weeknight meal that will have you coming back again for more. There’s tomato vodka rigatoni as well as an orecchiette with walnut and pea pesto that will leave you with a saucy grin.

How much are you missing Italy? Truly, madly, deeply. We’ve included stories from near (South Coast wineries) and far, such as Puglia and Rome. With some of our contributors based in Europe, we felt it was important to keep talking about travel. To keep dreaming, and planning because we cannot let ourselves shut out this beautiful part of the world forever.

Pick up a copy of our July issue from your local newsagent or supermarket now.