Risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy. Its origins are in North Italy, specifically Eastern Piedmont, Western Lombardy, and the Veneto (where Vialone Nano comes from), where rice paddies are abundant.

It is one of the pillars of Milanese cuisine. As far as Italians are concerned, to be correctly described as a risotto a dish needs to be made following the established process described below; otherwise the dish is a rice dish, but cannot correctly be called a risotto.[citation needed] A high-starch (amylopectin), low-amylose round medium grain rice is used to make risotto. Such rices have the ability to absorb liquids and to release starch and so they are stickier than the long grain varieties.

The principal varieties used in Italy are Carnaroli and Vialone Nano and to a lesser degree Arborio. Carnaroli and Vialone Nano are considered to be the best (and most expensive) varieties, with different users preferring one over the other. They have slightly different properties: for example Carnaroli is less likely to get overcooked than Vialone Nano, but the latter being smaller cooks faster and some say[who?] absorbs condiments better.

Other varieties like Roma, Baldo, Ribe and Originario may be used but will not have the creaminess of the traditional dish. These varieties are considered better for other non-risotto rice dishes and for making sweet rices. Rice designations of Superfino, Semifino (varietie Maratelli) and fino refer to the size and shape (narrowness) of the grains, not the quality.

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