Tomato Basil Sauce

Tomato Basil Sauce, Italianavera's Sugo pronto al basilico

The Tomato Basil Sauce from Italianavera is a ready-to-use sugo made from tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh basil, bottled in transparent, elegant jars instead of the colorful Veropop cans or nostalgic milk bottles. The simplest recipe in the range gives the tomato and basil the most room to shine.

The Tomato Basil Sauce from Italianavera is a Sugo Pronto Naturale al basilico, born from the best Italian tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, and freshly harvested basil. Unlike the sugo recipes featuring eggplant or colorful vegetables, this sauce deliberately avoids any additional ingredients, allowing the tomato to take center stage. Bottled in clear, simply designed jars, it forms the foundation of the entire Italianavera range.

Spicy, rich, and pure

Spicy, rich, unadulterated: three words are enough for this Tomato Basil Sauce, the simplest sugo in the entire assortment. You will notice the full aroma of ripe tomatoes and the fresh, slightly peppery scent of basil as soon as you open the jar. No vegetables or spice blends distract from the actual flavor; just tomatoes, olive oil, and herbs, as they have been cooked down into sugo for generations.

If you heat the sauce briefly in a pan, within 10 minutes it releases the same fragrance that grandmothers in Neapolitan kitchens knew when they cooked down the first ripe tomatoes with fresh basil in the summer. For many families, this scent of childhood and long summer afternoons is an inseparable part of pasta; it tastes like the nonna who used it to feed the whole family.

For Primi Piatti, bruschetta, and light meat

Tomato Basil Sauce is suitable for classic primi piatti like spaghetti or penne, for bruschetta topped with a little olive oil, or as a side dish for light, seared meat. It can also be used as a base for a quick tomato soup or with stuffed zucchini when there is no time for a more elaborate sugo. One jar is plenty for 2 to 3 portions of pasta; for larger appetites, double the amount is worth it.

Those looking for a spicier sauce with eggplant will find it in the Sugo alla Siciliana from Napoleta', while those who prefer four different types of vegetables in one jar can choose the Sugo alla Vegetariana. More sauces and tomatoes from Campania can be found in the Pasta, Risotto, and Sugo category in our shop.

Diana Attianese and the sugo that does things differently

The tomatoes for all Italianavera sauces come from the region around San Marzano sul Sarno, between the Amalfi Coast in the west and Mount Vesuvius in the east, one of the most fertile growing areas in Campania. Founder Diana Attianese knew the canning business from a young age—her father worked in the industry himself—but she wanted to do things differently than him: more modern, more personal, and with her own name on the label.

"I wanted to do things differently than my father," says Diana Attianese about her entry into the canning business, which she reimagined as a trained business economist. Since 2014, she has been bottling only the best tomatoes in clearly designed jars instead of letting them disappear into plain grey cans. Because the preservation of tomatoes is traditionally a women's craft, the name Italianavera—the true Italian woman—suits her and her 10 employees at the factory near Nocera Inferiore particularly well.

Precisely because it eschews any additional ingredients, this sauce does not forgive a mediocre tomato; any flaw in the raw material would be immediately noticeable. It is exactly this uncompromising approach that makes the Tomato Basil Sauce the most honest of all recipes in the range—a jar that has nothing to hide and nothing to hide behind. Once you have tried it, you will recognize the very same taste that Diana Attianese discovered as a child at her mother's kitchen table.