The Best Panini in Rome:

Considered by many to serve the best sandwiches in Rome, this much-loved institution in the brilliant Testaccio food market specialises in panini with an array of elaborate cooked fillings – “nonna’s cooking in a sandwich” as founder Sergio Esposito eloquently puts it. The only problem here is choosing what to order – lesso di scottona (slow cooked beef), picchiapò (a meaty tomato casserole) and polpette di bollito (Roman-style meatballs) are each unmissable. For more adventurous palates, you can try out offal-based sandwiches inspired by the local zero-waste tradition of the quinto quarto – think tripe, tongue or even kidney. If you come at lunchtime, especially on weekends, prepare to queue.

It can be a challenge to work out where to have a decent budget lunch near the Vatican after a morning spent exploring the museums – given the number of visitors passing through the area, tourist traps and high-end options abound. That’s where Panino Divino comes in. We’ve been recommending this friendly sandwich shop to clients for years, and the offerings here are as good as ever. Try one of the gourmet panino offerings like the Cirò, featuring grilled guanciale, sheep’s cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and spicy chili jam.

Another brilliant market-based sandwich joint (starting to see a theme here?) childhood chums Arsenio and Ivo have been serving up porchetta sandwiches for decades from this stall in the Trionfale Market, just north of the Vatican. Porchetta is one of the great delicacies of the Lazio region, a slow-roasted pork made with aromatic herbs and wild fennel kept beautifully tender by a thick ribbon of fat and crackling. The heart of porchetta country is the town of Ariccia in the countryside to the south of Rome, and that’s where Arsenio and Ivo come from – look out for a black and white photo above their stand of the duo slicing up porchetta in their hometown way back in 1975!

One of the city’s great late-night refuelling stops, this retro sandwich truck is strategically located on Porta Maggiore, the gateway that leads to nightlife hotspots San Lorenzo and Pigneto. After an evening dancing the night away at the innumerable bars, clubs and live music venues that dot this area of eastern Rome, you’ll be grateful for the massive panini con salsiccia (Italian sausage) that are served up here alongside cheap beers and music until the dawn. Choose from a wide variety of toppings including cicoria, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and aubergines.

Take a step back in time to a Rome that’s been all but lost at this hole-in-the-wall stop between Termini Station and Piazza Repubblica. On the go since 1890, practically nothing has changed at Er Buchetto (which literally means ‘the little hole’) since the 1950s – and why change a winning formula? Things are very simple here: get yourself a crusty roll stuffed with porchetta, a mercifully cheap glass of wine from the Castelli Romani, and settle down at one of the rickety wooden tables to watch the world go by. Service is brusque but friendly, as only Romans can be. Here’s hoping Er Buchetto resists the winds of change for another few decades!

Octopus sandwiches are a street-food staple in southern Italy, but not so easy to come by in the capital. Head to Apulia in San Lorenzo to get your fix, a little slice of Bari in the Eternal City where a variety of pucce (a typical Puglian roll) grace the menu. Our favorite is the Torre dell’Orso, which features seared octopus alongside creamy burrata cheese and pleasingly bitter cime di rapa greens. Mouthwatering!

You can’t go wrong by stopping off at ‘Auntie Rosetta’ for a snack if you find yourself exploring the lovely Monti neighborhood. A rosetta is a traditional Roman kind of bread roll, so-called because of its resemblance to a rose. At Zia Rosetta you’ll find them stuffed with all manner of fillings, from meat and fish to vegetarian options. Oh, and if you’re looking for gluten-free choices, you’ll find them here too. For something a bit different, try the Elisabetta – salt cod, raisins, pine nuts and cicoria.

Part sandwich, part pizza, the hybrid street-food phenomenon trapizzino was invented by Stefano Callegari in 2008. The word is a portmanteau of tramezzino – an Italian triangular-shaped sandwich – and pizza, and is exactly what it sounds like – a triangular pocket of pizza bread stuffed with an array of delicious fillings. From its local origins, trapizzino has become well known across Italy and beyond, even opening an outlet in New York. But it remains a quintessentially Roman snack, and the most-loved fillings are resolutely Italian – pollo alla cacciatora, polpetta al sugo, melanzane parmigiana, Roman tripe and tongue in salsa verde.

If you spend any time in Rome you’ll soon learn all about pane e mortazza, one of the great street-food staples of the Eternal City. Mortazza is Roman dialect for mortadella, in this case stuffed between two slices of pizza bianca (like focaccia) in a combination that’s as mouth-watering as it is simple. You’ll find pitch-perfect examples in bakeries all across the city, but our favorite address is this historic spot just steps from Campo de’Fiori, where a truly massive mortadella stands guard in a vetrine by the entrance.