Mi piace condire l’insalata con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale.

Because piacere works differently from English to like.

Literally, mi piace condire l’insalata... is closer to Dressing the salad ... is pleasing to me.

• mi = to me
• piace = is pleasing
• the thing that is pleasing is the action condire l’insalata con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale

So Italian expresses the idea from the point of view of what pleases you, not what you actively like.

After piacere, when you say you like doing something, Italian uses the infinitive.

So:

• Mi piace condire l’insalata = I like dressing/seasoning the salad
• Mi piace leggere = I like reading
• Mi piace cucinare = I like cooking

The infinitive works like the English -ing form in this kind of sentence.

Condire means to season or to dress food.

In the case of salad, the most natural English translation is often to dress the salad. It refers to adding things like oil, lemon, vinegar, salt, and similar ingredients.

So condire l’insalata is not about making the salad itself, but about adding the seasoning.

Because la becomes l’ before a word starting with a vowel.

• la + insalata → l’insalata

This is called elision. Italian does this very often to make pronunciation smoother.

Other examples:

• l’acqua
• l’amica
• l’idea

In Italian, when you list ingredients in a general way, especially after con, the article is often omitted.

So:

• con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale = with oil, lemon, and a pinch of salt

This sounds natural because you mean those ingredients in general, not specific ones.

If you said:

• con l’olio e il limone

that would sound more like you mean some specific oil and some specific lemon already known in the context.

It means a pinch of salt.

Breakdown:

• un = a
• pizzico = pinch
• di sale = of salt

This is a very common Italian structure:

• un bicchiere d’acqua = a glass of water
• un cucchiaio di zucchero = a spoonful of sugar
• un pizzico di pepe = a pinch of pepper

Because after a measure or quantity word like un pizzico, Italian usually uses plain di.

So:

• un pizzico di sale
• un po’ di zucchero
• un litro di latte

Using del sale would not fit this structure here.

A simple way to remember it is:

• quantity + di + noun

In this kind of food sentence, limone usually means lemon as an ingredient, often understood as lemon juice or a squeeze of lemon.

Italian often leaves that slightly general.

If you wanted to be very specific, you could say:

• succo di limone = lemon juice

But in everyday usage, con limone is perfectly natural.

Because the subject of the sentence is the whole action condire l’insalata con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale, and that action is treated as singular.

So:

• Mi piace condire l’insalata... = I like dressing the salad...

Even though there are several ingredients listed, they are not the grammatical subject. The subject is the single idea of dressing the salad.

Compare:

• Mi piace questa insalata = singular
• Mi piacciono queste insalate = plural

Yes, but it changes the emphasis.

• Mi piace condire l’insalata... = neutral, normal
• A me piace condire l’insalata... = I like dressing the salad / As for me, I like dressing the salad

So a me is often used for emphasis, contrast, or clarification.

What you cannot say is:

• Io mi piace ❌

That is incorrect.

Normally, Mi piace condire l’insalata con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale expresses a general preference or habit.

It means that this is how the speaker likes to season salad.

If you wanted to talk about what you are doing right now, you would more likely say something like:

• Sto condendo l’insalata con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale = I’m dressing the salad with oil, lemon, and a pinch of salt

So mi piace usually tells us what someone likes in general.

Yes, but the original order is very natural.

• Mi piace condire l’insalata con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale is the standard way to say it.

You could also say:

• Condire l’insalata con olio, limone e un pizzico di sale mi piace

but that sounds more marked or stylistically heavier, because the action is moved to the front for emphasis.

So for normal everyday Italian, the original sentence is the best choice.