Florida gets plenty of attention for waterfront seafood towers and beachy brunch, but locals know the state also hides serious Italian cooking in dining rooms that rarely make the tourist brochures.
I am talking about places where the sauce tastes like somebody argued over it for years, where pasta has real bite, and where regulars already know what they are ordering before the menu lands.
These restaurants stretch from Fort Lauderdale to Jacksonville, with stops on the Gulf Coast and in old Florida towns that reward a hungry detour…