Panino con Biova
Sandwich on biova (soft, white Piedmontese roll).
Sandwich on biova (soft, white Piedmontese roll).
Thick whole-wheat bigoli in a slow onion-anchovy salsa, spooned into a crusty roll. A Venetian fasting-day pasta turned into a frank carb-on-carb sandwich.
Piedmont's bollito sauce moved between bread: raw parsley pounded with anchovy, garlic, and capers, spread thick over cold boiled beef on a firm country roll.
The red Piedmontese sauce between bread: peppers and tomato stewed down with onion, anchovy, and chilli, spread thick over cold boiled beef. The sweet-sharp half of the bollito pair.
Bagna càuda, Piedmont's hot anchovy-and-garlic bath, smeared thin into a crusted roll with raw peppers and cardoon: a loud table dip forced into bread, where the whole craft is how little goes in.
Baccalà mantecato is air-dried cod soaked for days, poached, and beaten with olive oil into a pale, airy cloud, spread thick on grilled bread: a Venetian cicchetto that eats like whipped sea butter.
Asiago DOP cheese; fresco (soft, mild) or d'allevo (aged, sharp).
Skewered lamb cubes (arrosticini) in bread; Abruzzo's iconic street food.
Fried rice ball (arancina in Palermo, arancino in Catania) in bread; controversial naming, definite carb overload.
Monterosso anchovies (salted or marinated) on bread; the Cinque Terre anchovy capital.
A salt-cured anchovy is almost too strong to eat plain, so a raw parsley, garlic, and caper green sauce dressed onto the fillet does the seasoning. The Piedmontese anchovy-in-salsa-verde roll.
Roman spring lamb (abbacchio) preparations on bread.
Generic Catanese sandwich; often featuring local sausage or horse meat.
Fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, olive oil; the caprese salad as sandwich.
Mozzarella, tomato, basil, olive oil; the caprese salad as sandwich.
The Calabrian panino leads with 'nduja, a fiery pork paste smeared on warm bread rather than sliced, often beside a coin of soppressata piccante. The one regional panino built on a spread.
Generic Bolognese sandwich; often mortadella or other local salumi.
Sandwich featuring black truffle (tartufo nero di Norcia) or truffle products.
Salami sandwich; varies hugely by region (Milano, Felino, Napoli, Calabrese, etc.).
Prosciutto crudo on bread; type varies by region (Parma, San Daniele, Toscano, etc.).
Cooked ham on bread; milder than crudo.
Slow-roasted whole pig seasoned with rosemary, garlic, fennel, black pepper, and salt; crispy skin and tender meat, carved onto crusty br...
At a Florentine trippaio's cart the cook asks one word, "bagnato?", before he closes your panino al lampredotto: dunk the bun's crown in the tripe broth, or not. That dunk is the whole sandwich.
Upscale lampredotto with premium ingredients.