Food

The best Italian Street Food to try once in the lifetime

street food
Written by EFW Staff

From fried pizza to focaccia, the unbeatable Italian Street Food

Saying Italy you immediately think to the excellent cuisine. And there’s no doubt about it! But the real, traditional, scrumptious and heavenly food that you can’t refuse is the… Street Food. It is cheap and easy to be eaten on foot along the street or on the steps of a bridge.

Street Food in Italy has a long and convincing tradition, which cross all the country: from fried food to focaccia, from bread with entrails to fried fish, through “panzerotti”, “panelle” and the famous “piadina”.

Discovering the Street Food

Every region and sometimes even every city has its street food par excellence! The main rule is km zero: it means that the ingredients are grown in the place, they are seasonal, with a high quality and home made. The recipes are traditional, ancient, passed down from a generation to another thanks to the love and the abilities of the owner.

Kiosks, peddlers and fry shops: here the best Italian street food take place giving to the Italians the chance for good open air lunches, tasty walks and moments of real culinary pleasure!

Street Food Tour

Street Food lovers here you can find 10 street foods that you have to try once in the life!!

panelle

Bread and “Panelle” in Palermo

Panelle are warm and crispy chickpeas fritters, cut in slightly rectangles with abundant black pepper and a sprinkle of lemon juice. In Palermo they use to close them in a soft white bread. Taste this simple and simple street food. In many bakeries you can find them with “cazzilli” delicious potatoes croquettes battered and fried.

In Naples, pizza… fried pizza!

The Neapolitan street food doesn’t need many words, only two: fried pizza! The dough makes a rising of many hours, and thanks to the mother dough it becomes spumy, light and savoury once fried. It is often seasoned with “ciccioli”, “friarielli” and provola cheese… unforgettable!

Panzerotti in Old Bari

There is a wide range of street food: from the warm croissant by night to the “pittule” (balls of fried rose pasta). But the King of street food is the famous Panzerotto! It won’t be difficult to find fry shops or bakeries which speciality is big, warm and crispy browned panzerotti, filled with tomato sauce and stringy mozzarella.

In Rome… “supplì” and white pizza

There are two great milestones in Rome: “supplì” and white pizza. The former is a fried meatball with risotto (but remember it is NOT an “arancino”); it can be seasoned with tomato, mince and a dice of stringy mozzarella in the middle. The latter is the street food ate by the Romans par excellence. Better if you try the fried pizza of the bakeries, not the touristic take away pizzerias. It has to be few centimetres high with wide alveolus as witness of a long rising. The secret? It is cooked directly on the baking sheet: crispy, oily and unbearable!

Abruzzo, the land of “arrosticini

Tasty lamb skewers that alternate fat and lean meat which give flavour and softness. Rigorously grilled, possibly on the open fire, savoury and ate with a crispy oiled bread. For the lamb lovers this is the right place!

Chicchetti” and spritz in Venice

Fast, cheap, various and delicious: we are talking about the cicchetti that you can find in the Venetian famous bacari. You can eat them in the wood tables, on the foundation of a “calle” or on the steps of a bridge. There is a great variety of choice between fish and meat: the most popular? Sardines “in saor”, creamed codfish and snapper, mixed fried fish, meatballs, octopus salad, cold cuts and cheeses.

Ligurian Focaccia

Both the Genoese soft focaccia and the Recco one, Liguria won for its focaccia! In Recco it is thin and crispy stuffed with the famous soft local cheese mixed with the dough. The Genoese focaccia is soft but higher, cooked in the backing tray and cut in pieces. You can recognize it for the typical holes, salt and oil on the surface.

focaccia

Lampredotto in Florence

If you are visiting Florence, run to any of the covered food and wine markets and take a seat at the counter of a butcher shop where you see boiling and giant pots. Eat the typical crispy bread filled with “lampredotto” or the tripe with tomato sauce. Only for strong and demanding palates!

Romagna=piadina

It is taken for granted, but it is necessary to mention it! The real “piadina romagnola” is fragrant and rich, made with lard and knead perfectly, not too thin, and really tasty. A must is the red piadina with mozzarella and tomato, or the green piadina made with chards and arugula, seasoned with squacquerone DOP.

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EFW Staff