Street Food Guide 2025: these are the best street food spots in Italy

Street food is defined as food that you can eat immediately and is often sold on the street or to take on the go. What I find most fantastic about it is that you can always fit it somewhere into your day, and it’s often just a little different from what you find on the average menu. Florence has lampredotto, Sicily has arancino and cannolo, in Genoa you eat focaccia and in Puglia panzerotto.

Every year, culinary institute Gambero Rosso awards prizes for the best place in each region to grab a local or non-local bite on the go. The complete guide now features 639 places to eat, with the first pages offering a new annual selection of Regional Champions – one winner per region. In addition to (mainly) Italian classics, the Street Food Guide 2025 also includes sandos, Sui Mei and baos. Refreshing, in a country where the original cuisine does not mix extensively with foreign influences. Andiamo.

Best spots for street food in Italy

Abruzzo – Castel di Sangro – Trancio

After prestigious culinary training and years in a three-Michelin-star kitchen, Stefano De Cesare decided to return to his birthplace and start a business with a partner, focusing on pizza al taglio. You can also eat pizzotelle here, crispy-soft filled rolls made from homemade dough.

Basilicata – Avigliano – Le Stuzzicherie Strit Fud

Last year, food truck Retrò… Gusto in Avigliano was the winner; this year, it’s Le Stuzzicherie in nearby Lagopesole. The name translates roughly as snacks, which is exactly what fills the menu. Pizza, panzerotti, strazzate and fried food.

Calabria – Soverato – Brezza Fish and Chill

This is another reason these kinds of lists are useful; I wouldn’t necessarily walk into a place with ‘fish and chill’ in its name entirely voluntarily, without knowing what to expect. Under the fish heading, you can order sandwiches, friselle, fritti, salads, tartare and crudi featuring the flavors of the sea, while choosing chill means exploring an extensive cocktail menu.

Campania – Pomigliano d’Arco – Rostì

Campania is again represented by the same area as last year (Is Pop). This time, the honor goes to Rostì, which describes itself as a not-so-ordinary rosticceria. You can eat snacks, sandwiches and quick pasta dishes here.

Emilia-Romagna – Bologna – Ragù

A tiny pasta takeaway with a few tables and, naturally, ragù alla bolognese on the menu, which you can even order as a panino. And while you’re in Bologna, stop by last year’s winner, Crescentine, for the fried rolls of the same name.

Friuli Venezia Giulia – Trieste – Cemût – Piccola osteria furlana

Wine and snacks from the Friuli region in a small, cozy spot in Trieste. All the cured meats and cheeses come exclusively from the surrounding area and have been carefully selected. The perfect place for aperitivo.

Lazio – Rome – Becco

It only opened this year, but comes from the same people behind the successful Fischio. Across the street you’ll now find regional winner Becco, where you come for sando-style sandwiches, shokupan (Japanese milk bread), brioche and fermentation experiments.

Liguria – Genoa – Fish ’n Street

Created as an offshoot of a historic fishmonger in the Mercato Orientale. Takeaway and delicatessen food, with a focus on everything from the sea. Here you can eat classically prepared mussels, swordfish croquettes or something more exotic, such as tuna in a sesame crust. Last year’s winner, Rooster, is also in Genoa.

Lombardy – Milan – Forno del Mastro

Last year, the winning sandos came from Katsusanderia in Milan; this year, it’s Forno del Mastro. A bakery that wants to return to the basics of food with a small selection of simple but carefully made products. There is bread, pizza al taglio and sweet treats from the oven.

Le Marche – San Benedetto del Tronto – Le Pallette di Giorgio

Once again in San Benedetto (last year, Gastrò won). At Le Pallette di Giorgio, you can eat the best version of Le Marche’s signature regional product: traditionally prepared olive all’ascolana.

Molise – Capracotta – Trotta Sapori

A cheese shop selling cheeses from the cold, higher-altitude part of Molise, where the same family has been making cheese for years. Like many villagers, founder Sebastiano once fled to the promising city of Rome, but returned to take over his aunt’s little shop. He started with a small stock of caciocavallo cheeses for a few loyal customers and now sells many varieties of cheese and meat.

Piedmont – Turin – Kokoroya

Piedmont once again has an Asian winner. After last year’s dumplings and baos from Mei Shi Mei Ke (meaning always open, which I find quite funny because they’re closed on Sundays), this year it’s Kokoraya. A tiny place with just five seats and excellent Japanese food.

Puglia – Conversano – Evviva Maria Trattoria Veloce

A ‘fast’ trattoria where you can pick up typical Apulian dishes such as orecchiette pasta to go.

Sardinia – Cagliari – La Mallicca

Last year, it was taqueria Taquito from the same city; now it’s La Mallicca’s turn. Salads, tagliere, sandwiches. A little bit of everything.

Sicily – Catania – Scollo – Salumeria e Gastronomia

As you would expect from a salumeria, meat plays the leading role here, but you can also go there for homemade dishes such as lasagna, focaccia and an arancino to eat on the go.

Tuscany – Florence – Xinge Gogo

A very cool Chinese restaurant in Florence with an ’80s atmosphere. It serves Cantonese dishes such as Sui Mei (barbecued meat) and baos. I also want to highlight last year’s winner: A Pancia Piena, a food truck outside Florence serving good burgers, sandwiches and prosciutto in the best possible way: accompanied by exceptionally good wines and champagne.

Umbria – Terni – Macelleria Pucci

Three brothers – now two – once took over a butcher shop out of business instinct and still run the same place together. Butchery, breeding, farming, curing and the shop itself are all handled in-house; there is now also a fresh pasta lab and an expanded range of produced cured meats.

Valle d’Aosta – Rhèmes Notre Dame – HIBOU Prodotto Valdostani

A little shop with all kinds of delicacies from the Aosta Valley, the northern region bordering France. The products come from around a tiny village at high altitude. Think: plenty of mountain cheeses, wines and smoked meats.

Veneto – Treviso – Hostaria dai Naneti

A place for regional delicacies since 1896, especially good wines and boards of cured meats and cheeses. Lovely: no Aperol or Campari spritz here, because ‘wine should be drunk pure’, and no coffee, because ‘they’re not a cafeteria’.

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Source: Italiamo