What you should eat in Italy
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These are the 10 dishes most tourists never try — and they're the best ones.
You came to Italy. You ordered carbonara. You ordered pizza margherita. Maybe you were adventurous and tried cacio e pepe.
That's fine. Those are great dishes. But you ate the top layer of Italian food and went home thinking you'd seen the whole menu.
You didn't.
The dishes below are what Italians actually eat — the ones we order without thinking, the ones that make us argue with our neighbors about who makes the best version, the ones you walked past a hundred times and never tried because nobody told you to.
This is the list. Order these and your trip changes.
- supplì (Rome)
Supplì are deep-fried rice balls stuffed with ragù and mozzarella. When you pull one apart, the mozzarella stretches into a long string — which is why Romans call them "supplì al telefono" (the cheese string looks like a telephone cord).
They cost €1.50 to €3 each. You find them at every pizza al taglio shop in Rome. They're meant to be eaten standing up, on the street, at 4pm when restaurants are closed and you're starving.
Tourists walk right past them. Italians eat them before their pizza arrives. Every single time.
Do not confuse them with arancini from Sicily. They're cousins, not twins. Supplì are oblong, arancini are round. The filling is different. Saying they're the same thing in front of a Roman is a mistake you make once.
- lampredotto (Florence)
This is the dish that separates tourists from travelers in Florence.
Lampredotto is a tripe sandwich. Specifically, it's the fourth stomach of a cow, slow-cooked in a broth with tomato, parsley, and onion, then served on a crusty roll that gets dipped in the cooking broth. The top of the roll is soaked. The bottom stays dry so you can hold it.
It costs about €4 to €5. You buy it from a street cart called a trippaia — there are a handful still operating in Florence, mostly near the central market and around Sant'Ambrogio.
Most tourists see the cart, see the word "tripe," and keep walking. Florentines have been eating lampredotto for centuries. Workers, butchers, leather tanners — this was the food of people who built the city with their hands.
Try it once. If you don't love it, fine. But at least you ate something real.
- puntarelle (Rome, winter/spring only)
Puntarelle are the shoots of Catalonian chicory — a winter vegetable that's been a Roman staple for generations. The shoots are cut into thin strips, soaked in ice water until they curl, and then dressed with olive oil, garlic, and anchovies.
The taste is bitter, peppery, and bright. It's one of the simplest dishes in Roman cooking and one of the most addictive.
You'll only find it from roughly November through April, because it's a seasonal vegetable. If you visit Rome in winter or early spring, order it as a side dish at any trattoria that serves traditional Roman food. If the waiter brings out a plate of curly, pale-green strips with anchovies on top — that's it.
Most tourists have never even heard the word. But if you order puntarelle at a Roman restaurant, the waiter will look at you differently.
- carciofi alla giudia (Rome, late winter/spring)
Jewish-style artichokes. Whole artichokes, flattened slightly, seasoned with nothing but salt and pepper, and deep-fried twice in olive oil until they're crispy like chips. You eat the leaves with your fingers. The heart melts in your mouth.
This dish originated in Rome's Jewish Ghetto, where the community lived between 1555 and 1870. Artichokes grew nearby, and frying them in olive oil aligned with kosher cooking practices. It became one of the most iconic dishes in all of Roman cuisine.
The artichoke season in Rome runs roughly from January to May (the romanesco variety). Outside of this window, any restaurant serving carciofi alla giudia is probably using artichokes that aren't local or in season — and it won't be the same.
Walk into the Jewish Ghetto neighborhood (near the Theatre of Marcellus), sit down at a traditional restaurant, and order these. You'll understand why Romans consider artichoke season a genuine event.
- trapizzino (Rome)
Invented in 2008, trapizzino is the newest dish on this list — and it's already become a Roman institution.
It's a triangular pocket of pizza dough (think of a thick, warm, soft triangle) stuffed with classic Roman dishes: chicken cacciatore, meatballs in tomato sauce, oxtail stew, or even tongue in green sauce.
It costs about €3 to €5. It's street food designed to be eaten on the move. And it solves the problem every tourist in Rome faces: you want real Roman cooking, but you don't want to sit down for a full meal at 3pm.
Look for the original Trapizzino shops in Testaccio and other neighborhoods. This is not a chain restaurant. It's a Roman invention that takes traditional slow-cooked dishes and makes them portable.
- cicchetti (Venice)
Cicchetti are Venice's answer to Spanish tapas — small bites served at wine bars (bacari) throughout the city. A slice of bread topped with baccalà mantecato (creamed salt cod), a skewer of meatballs, a piece of fried sardine, marinated artichoke hearts.
Each piece costs €1 to €3. You stand at the counter, point at what looks good, and pair it with an ombra — a small glass of house wine that costs about €1 to €2.
This is how Venetians actually eat. Not at the €25-per-plate restaurants facing the Grand Canal. At crowded little bars where locals lean against the counter at 6pm, eat five or six cicchetti, drink two glasses of wine, and walk home happy for under €15.
If you eat at a sit-down restaurant every meal in Venice, you'll spend a fortune and miss the point. Go to a bacaro. Stand at the counter. Point and eat.
- focaccia di Recco (Liguria)
Not regular focaccia. This is completely different.
Focaccia di Recco is two ultra-thin layers of dough with stracchino cheese melted between them, baked until the top is crispy and slightly charred while the inside is liquid and creamy. It's from the tiny town of Recco, near Genoa on the Ligurian coast.
There's no tomato sauce. No toppings. Just dough and cheese. And it's one of the best things you'll eat in Italy.
If you're visiting Cinque Terre or the Ligurian coast, Recco is easily reachable by train. It's a short detour that most tourists never make because they've never heard of focaccia di Recco. Now you have.
- pani câ meusa (Palermo, Sicily)
This is Palermo's signature street food: a soft sesame roll stuffed with thin slices of veal spleen and lung that have been boiled and then fried in lard.
You order it either "schietta" (single — just the meat with a squeeze of lemon) or "maritata" (married — with ricotta and grated caciocavallo cheese on top).
It costs about €3 to €4. The best ones come from street vendors in Palermo's historic markets — the Vucciria, Ballarò, and Capo.
No, it doesn't sound appetizing to most Americans. Yes, it's one of the most beloved street foods in all of Sicily. This dish has been sold in Palermo's markets since at least the 15th century. It's survived that long because it's extraordinary.
- filetti di baccalà (Rome)
Salt cod fillets, dipped in a light batter, and deep-fried in olive oil until the outside is golden and crunchy and the inside is soft, flaky, and savory.
This is classic Roman street food — the kind of thing you eat standing at a tiny counter in a cramped shop near Campo de' Fiori. It's been served in Rome's oldest fritto shops for generations.
Filetti di baccalà traditionally pairs with puntarelle (number 3 on this list). If you find a place that serves both, you've found a place that knows what it's doing.
Tourists order mozzarella sticks. Romans eat filetti di baccalà. For about the same price. The difference in quality is not close.
- maritozzo (Rome)
A soft, slightly sweet brioche bun split open and filled with an enormous amount of fresh whipped cream. That's it. Nothing else.
Maritozzo is a Roman breakfast tradition — or a mid-afternoon treat with an espresso. The bun is light and airy. The cream is fresh, barely sweetened, and piled absurdly high.
You'll find them at Roman bakeries and pasticcerie, usually in the morning. They cost about €2 to €4 depending on the shop.
Most tourists eat cornetti (Italian croissants) for breakfast every day. Cornetti are fine. But the day you switch to a maritozzo, you'll wonder why you waited.
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Those sound pretty good!!!
