To vegetable lovers everywhere: if you have yet to taste radicchio, you must plan a trip to Italy between October and May. When you arrive, go straight to a tiny market or vegetable shop and look for this beautiful leafy type of chicory. Or, if you’re less hardcore, find a restaurant serving risotto made with radicchio or order an insalata mista which will likely have radicchio inside of it in the autumn-early spring months.
It took living in Ukraine to discover how amazing beets and potatoes can actually be, and it has taken life in Italy to discover radicchio. Scrumptious crunchiness paired with aromatic bitterness paired with a vibrant purple-red color make this one of the more interesting leafs to chase after. The best part is, you could eat it with salads or cooked into a meal. My new favorite risotto is with radicchio, which is what the PashbyMauls ate for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, there are only pictures of leftover radicchio, and not risotto. 😉
If you’re in a European country that grows radicchio, you’ll need to give it the chance it deserves!
Intentionally International 
Oh man, radicchio. Our Italian neighbors had so many different recipes as did our local ristorantes, all of them phenomenal. Our neighbor Angela used to make a pasticcio con radicchio e salsiccia that was just indescribably good. Our neighbor Agnese would make radicchio alla grigliata, just delicious. Many times we would dinner upstairs and grilled radicchio with sale e pepe would be the contorni or even part of the insalati. God I miss it. You are killing me Drew, but in a good way.
You made me hungry just reading your comment. This is Alicia and I wrote about that blessed vegetable! One of my favorite things from our time here!