Panino col polpo is a traditional sandwich originating from the Bari area. This simple sandwich is made with a combination of octopus, bread rolls, olive oil, parsley, salt, and black pepper. The octopus is washed, brushed with olive oil, and grilled slowly over embers while being brushed with a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley as it cooks.
Once done, the octopus is placed into a split bread roll, and the sauce is drizzled over the top of the octopus. This tasty sandwich is common during Apulian festivals and it can often be bought on street stands.
MOST ICONIC Panino col polpo
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Panino con mortadella is an Italian sandwich that has mortadella as its main ingredient. There is no set recipe, and there are many variations. The bread can be any kind of bread, but most often, you will see rosetta, a bulbous, slightly hollow bread perfect for holding the filling, focaccia, and ciabatta, or, if in Rome, pizza bianca.
As far as filling, as stated earlier, it can be a mortadella-only filling, but it will usually have additional ingredients, typically some kind of sauce, cheese, and vegetables.
Puccia Pugliese is a type of panini from Salento and Taranto that is made with puccia bread and is usually filled with local cured meats and cheeses such as giuncata, capocollo di Martina Franca or a copious amount of vegetables. The puccia bread is round bread, about 20-30 cm (8-12”) in diameter, and can be made with pizza or bread dough.
It has very little crumb, making it perfect for filling with various ingredients. However, there are other kinds of puccia bread as well, such as the uliate, which are smaller and interspersed with cured black olives, and the puccia that is made with semolina.
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These delectable chickpea fritters are believed to have been introduced to Sicily by the Arabs who dominated the area between the 9th and the 11th century. Today, panelle are one of the most popular street foods on the island, especially in Palermo where they are traditionally served in a round bun with sesame seeds on top.
Best enjoyed warm, the crunchy fritters are typically drizzled with lemon juice and, for a more substantial snack, they can be topped with fresh ricotta cheese.
MOST ICONIC Panelle
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Panuozzo di Gragnano is an Italian sandwich, a sort of large oval-shaped bread or panino that can be filled with various ingredients. It was in 1983, in a small town near Naples called Gragnano, that this specialty was created by Giuseppe Mascolo, whose family has been the exclusive owner of the registered trademark Panuozzo since 1996.
Made with simple pizza dough, the bread is baked in a wood-fired pizza oven, and it is then sliced lengthwise before all the desired ingredients are tucked inside. Then comes the final touch - a second, brief time spent in the oven - a step which gives the bread its distinctive crispy exterior and allows for the filling to blend perfectly with the bread.
MOST ICONIC Panuozzo di Gragnano
Often said to be as old as the Palazzo Vecchio and as loved as Dante's poetry, lampredotto is Florence's favorite street food and a delicacy not found anywhere else in the world. Prepared for centuries as a quick, cheap and easy meal, lampredotto is basically the fourth stomach of a cow (the abomasum), boiled until tender in an aromatic onion, celery, and tomato broth.
This tripe-like dish is prepared as a flavorful, hearty stew that's traditionally used for panini di lampredotto - bread roll sandwiches filled with steaming hot, sliced lampredotto, topped with a spoonful of Italian salsa verde herb sauce.
MOST ICONIC Lampredotto
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A staple street food in Palermo, this simple sandwich comprises of a soft vastedda bun that is filled with strips of fried calf’s spleen and (occasionally) lungs. The star ingredient is the meat and the basic version, known as schettu, is only topped with a squeeze of lemon juice, while the only available other option is maritatu, which includes a topping of shredded caciocavallo cheese.
Believed to have originated in the 15th century, the sandwich is a favorite among the locals, but also a must-try delicacy for anyone who visits Palermo. It is typically sold by street vendors scattered throughout the city.
MOST ICONIC Pani ca meusa
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Created in the 1970s at a bar in Ischia Ponte, zingara di Ischia is a grilled sandwich traditionally consisting of two slices of pane cafone (Neapolitan peasant bread), fior di latte, prosciutto crudo, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. Today, the sandwich will also include some type of a salad.
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Panino Friulano is a type of panini from Friuli-Venezia Giulia that consists of homemade bread, prosciutto San Daniele, and slices of Montasio cheese. The sandwich can also have additional ingredients such as arugula and green pea cream.
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Cuzzetiello is a Neapolitan sandwich that consists of the end part of a rustic bread loaf called pane cafone that is typically stuffed with either Neapolitan sausage and fried friarelli, Genovese sauce, homemade ragù with meatballs, eggplant parmigiana, or a stew of beef and potatoes.
In the Neapolitan tradition, cuzzetiello is considered a marrena, a type of substantial snack during lunch break created to use up leftovers from Sunday’s lunch. Today, even more fillings are on offer, including vegetarian ones with vegetables only and sweet ones with Nutella.
MOST ICONIC Cuzzetiello
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “16 Panini Varieties Ranked From the Best To the Worst” list until March 27, 2025, 627,384 ratings were recorded, of which 404,417 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.