Olive ascolane are highly addictive snacks originating from the town of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region of Marche. These snacks consist of pitted, meat-filled, breaded and deep-fried olives. Ideally, the large, green local Ascolana Tenera variety is used in the preparation, but any large, mild, brined green olives will also do.

Each local family has their own recipe for the filling, but it usually consists of three kinds of meat: chicken, veal, and pork, sautéed in butter then flavored with Parmigiano and nutmeg. Olive ascolane are very popular throughout central Italy, served as street food, an aperitivo snack, or finger food at cocktail parties.

Fritto misto is one of those dishes that differs widely across the country. Along the Italian seaside, it will always include crustaceans and mollusks, typically shrimp and squid, and often paranza, which is a collective name for very small whole fish such as fresh anchovies, sardines, baby mackerel, or mullet.

In northern parts of the country, particularly in Piedmont, fritto misto is mostly made with vegetables and, depending on the season, includes semolina, veal brain, brochettes of cheese and prosciutto, sometimes even apples and amaretti biscuits. 

Vinciscgrassi is a traditional pasta dish originating from Marche. This multi-layered baked lasagna dish doesn't have a definitive recipe since every cook and local kitchen makes their own personal version. However, apart from the sheets of lasagne pasta, most vincisgrassi versions include béchamel sauce and a ragù that contains pancetta, prosciutto crudo, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, white wine, tomato purée, and chicken giblets.

There are also versions with added ground meat, brains, sweetbreads, and chicken livers. Once assembled and sprinkled with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, vincisgrassi is slowly baked in the oven until the top becomes golden. The dish is supposedly named after the Austrian Prince Alfred zu Windisgrätz, who commanded the troops occupying Ancona in 1799.

Also known as arrustelle or rustelle in local dialect, arrosticini are skewers made with castrato, the meat of castrated sheep, mutton, or sometimes even lamb, traditionally grilled on an elongated, charcoal-fired brazier called fornacella.

One of the most popular meat dishes of modern Italian cuisine, these skewers were once a staple of shepherds who lived in the mountainous areas of Abruzzo, prepared merely with leftover sheep meat of lesser quality. Today, arrosticini are made with well-marbled, more tender cuts mixed with hefty chunks of ovine fat, which makes them particularly succulent. 

Calamari ripieni is a flavorful Italian seafood dish consisting of stuffed calamari. The calamari are stuffed with a variety of ingredients including garlic, breadcrumbs, capers, pine nuts, parsley, and onions. It is recommended to use only the freshest calamari, which is also the trickiest part of the dish, as cleaning and preparing it is a lengthy process.

Stuffed calamari are often paired with tomato sauce, sometimes with the addition of anchovies, and the whole concoction is then baked in an oven until tender.