Enjoy a taste of Italian cuisine excellence this Christmas and New Year with Costa Cruises

The holiday menus on board five Costa Cruises ships will showcase the flavour of Italian cuisine excellence from restaurants around the world.

Cracco (Milan), Santini (London), Le Stresa (Paris) and San Pietro (New York) are the prestigious restaurants working with Costa Cruises’ “Made in Italy” concept, creating a festive menu to honour 150 years of the unification of Italy for the festive season.

Each restaurant brings its own unique twist to Italian cuisine: from Cracco, a restaurant in the capital of Lombardy and one of the world’s 50 best restaurants awarded two Michelin stars; to London, where Santini creates Italian dishes with a particular Venetian accent; to La Stresa‘s Parisian take on traditional Mediterranean recipes; to the Big Apple’s San Pietro, a restaurant that focuses on typical South Italian flavours and products.

The executive chefs of the five Costa ships – Costa Pacifica, Costa Concordia, Costa Magica, Costa Luminosa and Costa Deliziosa – will create the dishes for the Christmas and New Year’s menus scrupulously following the recipes of the four Italian restaurants.  The menus will consist of starters, two first courses, two main courses and the classic panettone, and will tantalize guests with such delicacies as steamed sturgeon in beet sauce, marinated pork tenderloin with Sicilian Caponata, cappelletti in capon consommé, and roasted Venetian guinea fowl.

Particular care will be taken in terms of pairing the wines from Aneri, a wine label partner of Costa Cruises, which has made the selections to compliment the menus.  The traditional toast will be celebrated with Aneri Prosecco – the same prosecco used to christen four of the newest members of the Costa fleet – while Christmas and New Year’s dinner will be accompanied by Leda, a South Tyrolean white wine, and Pinot Nero Ale. 

About 15,000 guests will be on board the five Costa ships offering the festive menus.  Overall the Christmas and New Year’s cruises are among the company’s most popular, with more than 500,000 passengers on board the Costa fleet’s 14 ships for the holidays, and sailing to such destinations as the Mediterranean, Canary Islands, Arab Emirates, Indian Ocean, Far East, Caribbean, South America and the Red Sea.

Of the festive menu ships, the sisters Costa Deliziosa and Costa Luminosa, the “top of the range” of the fleet, will take holiday guests on a one week voyage to discover the Arab Emirates from Dubai. The flagships Costa Pacifica and Costa Concordia, the largest of the fleet, will sail to the eastern Mediterranean, Spain, Morocco and the Canary Islands.  The Costa Magica will sail on a one week voyage in the western Mediterranean.

For over 60 years Europe’s leading Italian company has plied the seas of the world, offering the best in Italian hospitality, cuisine and entertainment.  As the ambassador of Italian culture, Costa intends to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of Italy’s Unification with this cross-continental initiative, and with a focus on conviviality represents the spirit of unity that founded Italy by offering a range of regional dishes from across the nation.