Discover 15 of the best Italian sandwiches to eat in Italy and in the USA.
Image: ©2foodtrippers
Pasta and pizza may reign supreme in Italy but don’t rule out sandwiches. While Italians have been eating sandwiches for centuries, it’s fair to say that they’ve fully jumped on to the global sandwich bandwagon with a vengeance.
It’s a development that makes sense. Much of the best Italian food, including the aforementioned pasta and pizza, is carb-based. Plus, there’s no debate that Italians produce some of the wordl’s best meats and cheeses. Combining these elements into a portable meal creates the kind of sandwich symmetry that even the French can’t quite match.
You’re never far from an awesome sandwich in Italy. We found this cured pork beauty in Rome. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Don’t feel bummed if you’re not currently in Italy and don’t have a trip in your imminent future. Many of the best Italian sandwiches have gone global and some are even served in America. In other words, you don’t acutally have to be in Italy to eat a superb Italian sandwich.
Discover more awesome global sandwiches.
Our Favorite Italian Sandwiches in Italy
We took a break from eating pasta and pizza to eat this ginormous Paradiso sandwich at the original All’Antico Vinaio in Florence. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Finding and eating the country’s best italian sandwiches has become a goal every time we travel to Italy. Luckily, whether we’re at the shin of the country’s boot in Milan or at just off the westward toe in Sicily, there’s always a great sandwich or two in our horizon.
So far, we’ve eaten tasty sandwiches in ten Italian regions and even more Italian cities. These are our favorites and the ones you shouldn’t miss:
1. Panino con Mortadella
We paused to admire and photograph this Paradiso sandwich before we scarfed it down. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
For the unitiated, panino con mortadella is essentially an Italian sandwich in which mortadella is the star ingredient. However, thanks to social media, it’s also a global phenomenon. We’ve seen about 10,000 social media posts featuring this sandwich, with many filmed in Bologna and Florence. It makes sense.
Bologna is the home city of mortadella, the Emilia-Romagna pork product that inspired Oscar Meyer to call its processed lunch meat bologna. (Kids, along with of their parents, pronounce the farce-based luncheon meat ‘baloney’ in America). In Italy’s fat city, the tasty pork product is sold in both slices and cubes and is often paired with wine or a spritz during pre-dinner apperitivo sessions.
As for Florence, it’s the home city of All’Antico Vinaio, the sandwich shop that started social media’s infatuation with its Paradiso sandwich – a panino con mortadella that’s topped with both pistachio cream and stracciatella cheese and served in a crunchy schiacciata. Crowds happily queue for the famous sandwich at the original Florentine location as well as at locations in other Italian cities plus Boston, Dubai, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville and NYC. The sandwich is so popular that some influencers make a living promoting the sandwich shop’s many competitors.
We ate this cornucopia of mortadella panini in Bologna, Florence, Naples and Palermo. | Images: ©2foodtrippers
Don’t assume that pistachio cream and stracciatella cheese are the only ingredients to add to a panino con mortadella. Some of our favorite versions have been loaded with items like provola cheese, pistachio pesto, tomato, truffle and even a fried chicken cutlet. Don’t ask us to pick a favorite as they were all delicious.
2. Panino con la Porchetta
Porchetta was the star of this panino con la porchetta at Rome’s Porchetteria. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Panino con la porchetta rarely disappoints thanks to the Italian sandwich’s main ingredient – porchetta. The whole roasted savory pork product is typically moist, herbaceous and crispy. Typical herbs include fennel, garlic and rosemary. Salt and pepper add porchetta’s finishing touch.
Porchetta sandwiches are especially popular in Rome where they’re sold at food markets, sandwich shops, street stalls and festivals. Most are served without additional items or condiments since herbaceous porchetta and its crispy skin are full of porky flavor.
3. Panino con Lampredotto
It was a trip to eat this tripe-filled panino con lampredotto at Florence’s I Trippaio Fiorentino. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Most people fall into one of two categories when it comes to eating tripe. Some love the protein made (in the lampredetto’s case) from the cow’s fourth stomach while most won’t eat tripe even if they’re starving. In Florence, people in the first category queue to eat Tuscan sandwiches filled with lampredotto.
Zesty salsa verde, a special Italian green sauce, provides an excellent answer to the sandwich’s fatty, slightly chewy tripe. Florentine kiosks sell lampredotto panini all over the city. Though it was originally a poor man’s dish, all sorts of people now eat this ‘5th quarter’ sandwich.
4. Tramezzino
We didn’t miss the crust when we nibbled on this tramezzino at Rome’s Mercato di Testaccio. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Invented in Turin almost a century ago, the tramezzino is a triangular sandwich filled with ingredients like tuna, cured meat and veggies. Smaller than panini and piadini, this colorful sandwich is ideal to pair with a coffee or beer for a quick snack between meals.
Like many Italian sandwiches, you don’t have to travel to the source to eat a tramezzino. We ate a great version at the Mercato di Testaccio in Rome. We’ve also spotted the colorful sandwich in northern cities like Venice.
5. Alesso di Scottona
We ate this allesso di scottona at Mordi e Vai inside Rome’s Testaccio Market and we’d happily eat the tasty sandwich again. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Alleso di scottona sounds exotic. It’s not. Instead, the sandwich, which literally translates to braised heifer, is filled with tender, fatty, slow-cooked brisket.
Mordi e Vai is the best place to try this particular Italian sancwhich. Located inside Rome’s Testaccio Market, the sandwich stall serves allesso di scottono sandwiches to a steady flow of locals and tourists. It’s the stall’s most popular item. And, whether it’s garnished with tomatoes or chicory, it’s also delicious.
6. Piadina
This compant piadina hit the spot when we ate it during Rimini’s Al Meni food festival. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Some sandwiches are too big to fit into a normal-sized mouth. The slender piadina is not one of those sandwiches. Popular in Romagna cities like Ravenna and Rimini, the piadina is a simple yet buttery grilled flatbread sandwich that’s best eaten when it’s hot off the grill.
Don’t let this Italian sandwich’s simplicity fool you. Thanks to the quality of Emilia-Romagna meats and cheeses like proscuitto di Parma, mortadella and Parmigiano-Reggiano, the piadina doesn’t need to be big to be great.
7. Panci ca’ Meusa
The only way to find out if you’re on team panci ca’ meusa is taste one as we did at Porta Carbone. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
The panci ca’ meusa is Palermo’s signature sandwich despite or perhaps due to its primary ingredient – spleen. But not just any spleen. This sandwich is made with calf spleen plus, occasionally, lungs.
Sicilians have been eating the unusual sandwich since the Middle Ages when Jewish cooks embraced the concept of cucina povera out of necessity. Today, all sorts of Palermo locals squirt fresh lemon juice onto the sandwich and occasionally add shredded caciocavallo cheese.
Tourists can sample panci ca’ meusa at one of Palermo’s bustling markets or at a spot like Porta Carbone. Be warned that it’s not a sandwich that everybody will love. Your best bet is to have a local beer at the ready in case the panci ca’ meusa’s offal flavor isn’t in your wheelhouse.
8. Pane e Panelle
We also tasted this pane e panelle at Porta Carbone. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Don’t feel bad if Palermo’s panci ca’ meusa isn’t for you. Maybe you’re not a meat eater or maybe you simply find the taste of offals to be awful. Instead, focus your attention on Palermo’s #2 sandwich – the pane e panelle.
Popular since the meat-free sandwich was introduced by Arab invaders a millenium ago, the more accessible Sicillian sandwich replaces spleen meat with chickpea fritters. Similar to Palermo’s #1 sandwich, locals typically add a squirt of fresh lemon juice for its bright flavor. Some go a step further by adding crocchè, i.e. potato croquettes, which technically transforms the pane e panelle into a pane e panelle e crocchè.
9. Trapizzino
Eating this saucy, triangular meatball Trapizzinio satisfied our pizza and sandwich cravings. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
A relatively recent Roman creation, the Trapizzino takes Italy’s triangular tramezzino (see above) to the next level by using pizza bianca in its bread pockets. Yes, the Trapizzino is a tramezzino-pizza hybrid.
The Trapizzino’s unique bread pocket is just one reason why we love this hybrid sandwich. The other reason, and dare we say the main reason, is the quality of fillings used to fill those pockets. From meatballs to lingua (tongue) in salsa verde, these meaty fillings take the Roman sandwich concept to a novel, tasty place.
10. Caprese Panino
We didn’t miss the meat when we ate this caprese panino at Palermo’s Crash Pub. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Italy’s insalata caprese, also known as a caprese salad, proves that simple salads can be the best salads. The same concept applies to the caprese panino which transforms the summer salad into a summer sandwich.
Similar to the caprese salad, the caprese sandwich features sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil, olive oil and salt. Both taste great and, as a bonus, both feature the Italian flag’s colors.
11. Pane Cunzato
Our taste buds were happy when when we ate this pane cunzato at Palermo’s Focacceria dei Mercanti. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
We didn’t realize that we were ordering a traditional Sicillian sandwich when we ordered a corsaro sandwich at Focacceria dei Mercanti in Palermo. The sandwich’s combination of anchovy, tomato, olive oil and caciacavallo cheese fondue simply sounded good to us.
As we later learned, that corsaro was acutally a pane cunzato. Similar to the meaty panci ca’ meusa (see above), the fishy pane cunzato’s history goes back centuries and was previously eaten only by peasants. It’s since gone mainstream with sandwich shops using premium ingredients and artisan bread in their corsaro recipes.
Our Favorite Italian Sandwiches in the USA
While we were happy to eat pesto di cavallo crudo in Parma, some of our favorite Italian sandwiches have American roots. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Thanks to Italian immigrants who moved to cities like Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and New Orleans more than a century ago, many of the best Italian sandwiches actually have American roots. Not only do these sandwiches taste great, but they’re also easier to access since a plane ride isn’t required.
Cutting to the chase, these are our favorites Italian sandwich to eat when we’re in the USA:
1. Italian Beef
We ate this giardiniera topped ‘dipped’ Italian beef sandwich at Al’s Italian Beef in the sandwich’s home city of Chicago. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Despite its name, the Italian beef sandwich is an all-American sandwich with deep Chicago roots. To make the sandwich, Chicago cooks follow local tradition by cooking seasoned roast beef in water and keeping it warm in its own juices on a steam table. It’s basically a long roll that’s filled with thinly sliced roasted beef.
The meat’s jus becomes part of the sandwich, adding a juiciness that makes ketchup and mustard obsolete. Locals skip those condiments and instead pile on sweet peppers and/or spicy, pickled giardiniera, both of which provide additional color and flavor.
2. Italian Hoagie
We channeled our Italian-American selves when we at this Italian hoagie at Philadelphia’s Angelo’s Pizzeria. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
A hoagie is the same thing as a submarine, hero or grinder. Regardless of which name you choose to use, it’s a long sandwich that’s topped with a generous combination of meat, cheese, vegetables and condiments.
Hoagie makers fill seeded Italian bread with layers of Italian meats like capicola, mortadella and salami before adding addtional ingredients like provolone cheese, tomato, onion, cherry peppers and lettuce. The best Italian hoagies are big enough to share.
3. Muffuletta
We paired this muffuletta with a Pimm’s Cup when we ate the tasty Italian sandwich at NOLA’s Napoleon House. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Sicillian immigrants invented the muffuletta sandwich in New Orleans more than 100 years ago using Sicilian bread plus a whole lot of tasty ingredients like cured meat, cheese and marinated olive salad. In our opinion, the punchy, acidic olive salad is what makes this sandwich sing.
Originally sold at the Central Grocery in NOLA’s French Quarter, the iconic sandwich is now served at restaurants and bars around the food-focused Louisiana city. And, completing the circle, some sandwich shops now serve muffuletta sandwiches in Sicily.
Mini Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe
4. Roast Pork
Philadelphia’s roast pork sandwich fuses American and Italian sandwich traditions. We ate this beautiful version at John’s Roast Pork. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Popularized by Italian immigrants who called Philadelphia home back in the day, the roast pork sandwich melds American and Italian cuisines in a recipe that features slow-roasted pork, sharp provolone cheese, greens like broccoli rabe and an Italian roll.
The connection to Italy made sense to us once we realized that broccoli rabe is the same thing as the friarielli that’s eaten in Naples. Even before we had that realization, we loved eating roast pork sandwiches at John’s Roast Pork in South Philly. In case you were wondering, John’s cheesesteaks are great too.
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We purchased and ate the sandwiches featured in this article.
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