As they work their way down from Liguria, through Rome and Amalfi and Capri, so the meals lighten from heavy quail, creamy ravioli, roasted lamb, to calamari, linguine, lobster, accompanied by sunshine-coloured wines.
Then pastas: linguine with Sicilian gambero, tagiatelle with beef-cheek ragu, an artichoke risotto; main courses include calves' liver alla Veneziana, bistecca alla Fiorentina, and grilled plaice.
You can buy ink pasta pretty easily from good delis and some supermarkets, where it normally comes in the form of spaghetti or linguine.
Just add the mussels and linguine and you have a winner.
Follow Bill on Instagram at bill.granger Linguine with mussels and fresh tomatoes I do love linguine with mussels in a rich tomato sauce, but at this time of year, when the tomatoes are at their sweetest and most flavoursome, I prefer this fresher, more instant pasta.
There is more on the menu besides charcuterie (shrimp brochettes, linguine with cuttlefish, beef tartare), but I am in thrall to the charcutier, and move on to the truffled boudin blanc with mashed potatoes (£15).
When it is out of bloom, the ghost, which is leafless, looks like flat green straps about the width of linguine.
He prepared linguine with clam sauce for her, let her listen to his house-music tapes, brought her a bottle of her favorite perfume.
I don't know that I ever had an actual recipe; rather, like my Steak and Linguine with Blood on It, I just sort of played it by ear.
His friend Max is a cook: "Max had prepared linguine with a cream sauce containing prawns and aubergine".
The main course was fra diavolo, but instead of linguine it was made with kelp noodles.
