Italian food before tomato cultivation?

Today, you can hardly a make an Italian dish without using tomatoes. Since tomatoes are a vegetable/fruit (who knows? I've heard both arguments) native to the Americas, what did Italians use in their cooking before 1492? Plus, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous because they are a member of the nightshade family, so it took people even longer to begin cultivating them for food. When did the advent of cooking with tomatoes occur?