Italian breads, like focaccia and grissini , are made from basic yeasted dough. Long, slow proofing insures lightness. Baking is normally done in brick ovens. However, home cooks who don't have brick ovens can easily simulate brick oven results in a conventional oven, without the wood smoke, of course. Polenta, cornmeal gruel descended from the Etruscan, was the cheap, filling staple of the poor.
Pasta comes in countless forms and with innumerable fillings.
Some are egg-based, particularly in the north, while others are made from semolina and water alone.