There are lots of "rules" when it comes to traditional Italian food. And what you may think would be the same for Italian food in the states can be very different than what you'll find in Italy. Here are 14 things to never do when cooking or eating in Italy.

Note: We base our conversation a lot off this original blog post: http://www.retale.com/blog/culinary-sins-according-proper-italian-chefs/

Topics we cover:

Paul and I agree with this one. It's totally not necessary. While your pasta should have salt to flavor the pasta, the oil doesn't serve any purpose while you're boiling it. It will help as a sauce afterward, and maybe slightly as a non-sticking agent, though you should be tossing your pasta with your sauce right away after removing from your boiling water.

Stir your pasta occasionally while it's cooking and your should be OK.  Be sure to stir spaghetti and other fine pasta right away when adding to your water to keep it from forming a large spaghetti log.

And have plenty of water in the pot so the pasta can move around.

Paul believes you should add the salt after the water has come to a boil. Steven doesn't necessarily agree. Find out why.

This is another one right on the money, except for a key recipe shown below. Never ever add grated cheese to a seafood pasta dish. The restaurant will give you grated cheese if you ask for it, but they'll look at you as barbarian tourist.

The one except I point out for this is Mussels Genovese. Recipe below. NOTE: This is the name the people here in our region of Puglia call this recipe.  I'm sure every region is different.

Essentially, as Paul points out, this is like making a frittata, however it's still breaking the rule.

A lot of adding the cheese to a pasta is a habit we've all formed, just wanting to add cheese to pasta before we've even tasted it. However, in this case, the cheese just overpowers the flavor of most delicate seafood and Paul says it's just not "kosher."

There are other exceptions here, but as Paul points out, they really aren't Italian dishes. Do you know an exception we missed? Let us know in the comments!

This one's totally right. Those dishes you see being passed off as Italian at the big Italian restaurant chain, well, they aren't very Italian.

We couldn't think of a single pasta dish that even includes chicken. In fact, Italians aren't really big on chicken in general.

And, by the way, there is no such thing as Chicken Parmesan or Chicken Parmigiana here. It doesn't exist.

Very very true. They may cook with butter up north, but they really don't do the bread and butter thing.

Bread is set at the table so you have it to act as a scarpetta — the little shoe — to scoop or mop up any remains on your plate. So don't go eating all the bread before your meal is even served!

Also, as we've said before, there is no dipping your bread in extra virgin olive oil here. Just wait until you get home and enjoy some of our oil with some good crusty bread.

Well, you might find them in touristy locations, like Rome and Milan, who make Italian American dishes for the tourist, but they aren't traditional Italian food.

To be honest, I did not know this about Spaghetti Bolognese. And, maybe I'm still too American, but I see no problem with it. There are certain pastas that do go with certain sauces, as they help carry the sauce better, but in this case I think you are OK.

Traditionally, the blogger said tagliatelle is served with the Bolognese, but I've always done rigatoni (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigatoni). I like how the thick meaty sauce can get trapped more inside the pasta.

And we agree that Fettuccine Alfredo, the most famous “Italian” dish in the U.S., is pretty much unknown in Italy.  In the words of Madeline Kahn, "It's trew. It's trew."

This combination just does not exist in Italian cuisine in Italy.

Meatballs can be found in a pasta forno or a ragu, but it's not something you serve with spaghetti. Ever.

Oh, and here we mention Paul's Mother's Ragu recipe. You'll find that here: http://www.livingvillacappelli.com/connie-cappellis-ragu/

This one happened to us when we had some Swedes visit. I still can't believe it happened.

Who does this? If YOU do, leave us a comment below, but beware our wrath!

Oh, and here's a link to our Sun-Dried Tomato Spread we talk about: http://villacappelli.com/collections/antipasta-aka-appetizers-1/products/sun-dried-tomato-spread

Pasta is a primi (first course after anti-pasti) or MAYBE a main dish, but it is never, ever just a side dish.

That big ol' Italian food chain restaurant in the states serves pasta as a side dish if you order something other than a pasta as your main course.  At least it used to. I haven't been there is over 20 years.

Paul also talks here about how we eat things separately here in Italy. You usually have only one part of your meal on your plate at a time.

I grew up never letting any food on my plate touch each other and only ate one thing at time.  So I'd eat my meat, then my green beans, then my mashed potatoes. And they could not touch!  Maybe I really am Italian.

Paul also talks about other guests we had that mixed their salad with pasta. Enough said on that.

We've talked about this many times before. Italians just think the milk is too heavy to have after a meal. It won't aid in your digestions.

Now, for breakfast, it's a whole meal in itself. Especially up north.

"Nonna knows best. She learned the recipes from her nonna, who learned from her nonna, who learned from her nonna and so on and so forth."

This might as well be written in stone.

We talked about this more in depth in that last episode: http://www.livingvillacappelli.com/031-why-your-italian-food-is-probably-not-real-food/

Also, check out our balsamic here: http://villacappelli.com/collections/italian-conserves/products/5-year-aged-balsamic-vinegar

Thick crust pizza is really more a focaccia.

Here, the pizza is more marriage of the thin dough, tomato sauce, cheese and toppings. It's not all about the bread. And you can really taste every ingredient.

Most of the pizzas in the states are there to fill you up with a bunch of bread, as it's cheaper than the toppings.

Here's our pizza crust recipe.  Try it and discover the difference.

The salad, and the roughage you find in the salad, helps you digest after a big meal.

It's all about digestion in Italy, and this is no exception. You won't even find many places that will give you a side salad during your meal.

Ranch. Thousand Island. French. You just can't find it here.

This probably goes back to the fact that you are eating the salad at the end of the meal. To add a bunch of heavy dairy or sugar after eating a big meal would just fill you up., where as the vinegar almost acts as a pallet cleanser.

What do you think? Did we miss a don't when it comes to traditional Italian food? Let us know in the comments or leave us a voice mail.