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Italian Food Trail highlights local cuisine

HOWLAND — The Trumbull County Tourism Bureau is encouraging locals and visitors to take a taste of Italy with its newly launched Italian Food Trail, which spotlights eateries that embody the area’s Italian American culinary heritage.

The trail includes over 50 restaurants from Brookfield to Warren.

Tourism Bureau Executive Director Beth Kotwis Carmichael at Thursday’s launch at Leo’s Ristorante highlighted foods such as hot peppers in oil, Italian greens, white pizza and chicken francaise, saying people who live as close as Cleveland often aren’t familiar with the treasured local treats.

“Italian families who immigrated to the area in the late 1800s and 1900s brought a culinary legacy not found in other places,” Carmichael said.

This is the second year for the program.

This year, 15 restaurants will be featured in a “Passport program.” Guests who make qualifying purchases at the sites will receive a stamp in a passport book. Those who collect a stamp from all 15 locations and return their booklet to the Tourism Bureau by Nov. 30 will be entered in a drawing for one of 15 $50 gift certificates from the restaurants.

The first 100 people to collect eight stamps also will receive an Italian Food Trail baseball cap, Carmichael said.

Passport booklets are available at the Tourism Bureau office, 321 Mahoning Ave., Warren, at participating locations or at italainfoodtrail.com.

Carmichael said Tourism Ohio reached out to the county and asked if there were any local “trails,” which inspired the creation of the unique Italian Food Trail. She said the local Italian food leaves a “lasting impression” and when people move away, it’s often the first thing they want when they return.

avugrincic@tribtoday.com

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