The Delicious World of Italian Street Food

Street food has been integral to local communities around the world for generations as a quick, convenient way to get something delicious and filling to eat. A reflection of the local culture, street food can come in many shapes and forms – portable roasted meats, stuffed and fried doughs, and sticky and sugary sweets are sure to be found around the globe in many variations.

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From North to South, Italy is known for countless street food favorites that all tell the story of different regions. To celebrate the Italian tradition of cibo da strada, Eataly will launch a fresh iteration of its Icons of Eataly series from September 20 to October 6, including special event programming, educational classes, and more. With Icons of Eataly: Street Food, look forward to finding well-loved regional favorites at our restaurants and counters to explore the delicious world of Italian street food. Curious to learn about some of the stars? Read on to learn about the difference between Roman and Sicilian crispy rice balls, the wide world of panini, and how Napoli takes their fried seafood on the go.

Few things feel as quintessentially “street food” as something stuffed with cheese and deep fried. Crispy rice balls have become more popular on menus, but, as with most Italian treasures, each region has its own recipe and history for the dish.

Supplì are a beloved (if not the ultimate) street food in Lazio, especially in Rome. These cylindrical-shaped crispy rice balls are stuffed with mozzarella. The gooey cheese pull that happens when you break one open gives these bites their delightful name - supplì al telefono, or “surprise on the telephone,” for how the cheese and rice ball together look like an old telephone.

While these bites are quick to eat, supplì are a labor of love. A tomato and/or meat-based sauce is simmered to perfection before the rice is added. After that, the same technique for risotto is used to cook the rice — broth is gradually added until each grain of rice is just shy of perfectly tender. Then, a combination of butter, grated cheese, raw eggs, mozzarella, and/or milk is stirred into the rice before it’s cooled (ask any Nonna for her recipe, and you’ll get plenty of different answers for what is added at this stage). Once the rice has cooled, it gets stuffed with a large piece of mozzarella and then shaped into its iconic shape. The supplì are then breaded and fried in seed oil until they’re golden brown and the mozzarella is a gooey, molten surprise.

Arancini, on the other hand, are a staple of Sicilian cuisine. Unlike the bite-sized supplì, arancini are larger (3–4 inches in diameter) and either shaped into a cone (possibly as a reference to Mount Etna) or a ball. Arancini comes from the word arancia for orange, maybe meant for the similar size and dimpled surface. Arancini are a staple for the Feast of Saint Lucia on December 13, and, depending on where you are on the island, they are either called Arancini (masculine) in Catania or Arancine (feminine) in Palermo.

For arancini, rice is cooked in broth or salted water until all of the liquid is absorbed or drained if there’s excess. The rice is then seasoned with saffron to get a beautiful golden color. The traditional fillings include a thick meat sauce, peas, and caciocavallo cheese, but diced ham, mozzarella, and pecorino have also become popular. Once stuffed and shaped, these balls are breaded and fried until crispy. In some parts of Sicily, arancini are considered to be a full meal because of their size and hearty fillings.

Ready to find your favorite rice ball? Stop by for supplì al pomodoro e mozzarella, supplì cacio e pepe, arancino con ’Nduja, and arancino con il polpo.

In the United States, a “panini” is a pressed and toasted sandwich that has an array of fillings inside. It became widely (and incorrectly) thought that “panini” even meant “pressed” in Italian. While some panini in Italy may be pressed, it’s time to discover the truth about the Italian panino — yes, panini is the plural form of panino!

Panino directly translates to “bread roll” or “small bread” in Italian. The history of panini in Italy traces back to the 16th century when it first appeared in an Italian cookbook. But, come the 1970s in bustling Milan, office workers looking for a quick and filling lunch flocked to paninoteca, or sandwich bars, around the area. These speedy sandwiches were carefully layered on high-quality regional bread, like ciabatta or focaccia, and filled with a few simple but high-quality ingredients.

Panini in Italy have a strong foothold as a beloved street food. Each region and city has its own unique twist on the rather simple idea. In Bari (the top of the heel of the Italian boot, on the Adriatic Sea), slow-grilled octopus is layered on a roll and frizzled with a parsley-olive oil sauce to make a panino col polpo. In several central Italian areas, crispy and decadent slices of rolled roasted pork are tucked into homemade bread for panino con la porchetta.

There are countless unique styles of panini found all over Italy. Find your new favorite panino by trying our panino col polpo, panino con la porchetta, and panino con la polpetta (meatballs).

If there’s one city that might be the Italian spot for street food, it’s Napoli. It seems like every corner has some kind of shop with the perfect little bites for an afternoon (or late evening). Naples is home to tons of street food (a bunch of which you’ll find during Icons of Eataly!), including pizza fritta (fried pizza), frittatina di pasta (pasta mixed with a thick béchamel then fried), panini Napoletani (dough stuffed with cured meats and cheeses), and taralli (crumbly and almond-flavored snacks). But the champion of street food, second only to pizza, is a Neapolitan cuoppo.

Served in an iconic paper cone, cuoppo dates back to the 1800s when locals would buy smaller pieces of unsold fish from the market. These pieces were battered, fried, and eaten right there in the street. Now, there are two options when ordering cuoppo in Napoli: di terra (land) and di mare (sea). In the land cuoppo, you’ll find potato crocchè (croquettes), arancini, verdure in pastella (fried battered vegetables), and frittatine di pasta, as mentioned before.  You can even get fried ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers once it’s the right season. For the sea cuoppo, expect calamari, fritters made from baccalà (salt cod) and alici (anchovies), zeppoline di mare con alghe (zeppoline with seaweed), and breaded fried octopus.

Look out for our own Cuoppo Fritto Misto with spicy ‘nduja arancini, anchovy fritters, chickpea fritters, and fried mozzarella.

Already craving some street food? Find your local Eataly or order local delivery to enjoy our Icons of Eataly: Street Food, September 20 to October 6.