What was Italian food like before tomatoes were brought over from the new world?

by dkamkar

When I think of Italian food, the first thing I think of is marinara sauce. But tomatoes are a new world fruit and were only brought over to Europe after the Americas were discovered. So my questions are:

  1. What was Italian food like before tomatoes made their way over?

  2. How/why did tomatoes and tomato sauce overtake "traditional" Italian foods?

Searocksandtrees