Despite its fiercely-defended reputation as the home of real food, Italy’s dirty little secret is that its population often indulges in junk – and has created some uniquely Italian offerings.
Italy may have an ever-rising number of international fast-food outlets, but the country has invented plenty of quick and not-so-healthy food options of its own.
We’re not saying this applies to just anything fried and sold on a street corner here – these items tend to come with centuries of history. Arancini and supplì are specialities, not junk food, and nobody would thank you for suggesting otherwise.
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But there’s another layer of Italian eating that’s less often discussed. It’s cheap, it’s everywhere, and it’s definitely not featured in any books about the Mediterranean diet.
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Pizza wurstel e patatine
Italians may be known abroad as food purists likely to become enraged at the very idea of someone ordering pineapple on pizza. Or heaven forbid, pizza with chicken on it.
But there’s one particularly Italian pizza order that’s less well-advertised beyond the country’s borders.
Most pizzerias have a pizza wurstel e patatine on the menu: essentially a margherita topped with sliced frankfurters and french fries.
It’s officially aimed at children, and it’s a staple of children’s birthday parties. But order one as an adult and nobody will bat an eyelid, because plenty of other adults are doing the same thing.
The frankfurters are the pre-cooked sort from a tin, the french fries are, in the better establishments, added to the top after the pizza is baked to stop them from going soggy. (Don’t expect that at the Autogrill, though.)
The Camogli
Every long car journey in Italy involves at least one stop at an Autogrill, the home of various snack and fast food items which have legendary status among Italians who grew up with them. The most famous of these may be the Camogli sandwich.
The motorway service station chain launched the focaccia sandwich stuffed with cooked ham and Emmental cheese in 1981, announcing an upgrade in 2024, when they began using Parma ham.
It’s named after the fishing village near Portofino known for its focaccia, though we’re guessing theirs is probably a bit different.
We’re not saying it’s the worst example of ‘junk’ food out there, but it’s a very Italian one. The Camogli is designed to be eaten in the time it takes your family members to find the toilets or fill up the gas tank.
Italian burger chains
Italy may have plenty of American fast food outlets, but it has also come up with its own versions, even if they’re more sit-down restaurant than burger bar: Old Wild West, the country’s biggest burger and steakhouse chain, first opened in a shopping centre outside Udine in 2002 and had 266 restaurants bin 2025..
These are theme restaurants decked out with cowboy saddles and wooden barrels, serving burgers, grilled meat and Tex-Mex-inspired dishes.
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Its rival Roadhouse has around 165 restaurants, and the group which owns it, Cremonini. also runs Billy Tacos. Anyone missing American burgers or Tex-Mex food in Italy is likely to be left disappointed, but all three chains are a firm fixture of retail parks across the country.
The late-night cornetto
In some countries, a night out ends with a kebab. In parts of Italy, it’s more likely to end with a pastry.
In the early hours, bakeries preparing the morning’s batch often sell warm cornetti from the back door. Rome’s back-door bakeries have become a well-established part of the city’s nightlife.
READ ALSO: Italian pastries: Is it a cornetto, croissant or brioche?
It is something you’re far more likely to see in the south than the north. These cornetti are often the old-school southern type made with struzzo (lard), filled with custard, jam or Nutella.
Panino con salamella
Meanwhile in the north, if you go to a football match or a summer concert you’ll smell the salamella vans before you see them.
The salamella is a pork sausage stuffed into a bread roll and sometimes topped with grilled onions or peppers. So yes, it’s a hot dog, although don’t say that to anyone from Lombardy (where the sausage is traditionally made).
It costs a few euros, it’s eaten standing up and, like all similar snacks worldwide, it’s best enjoyed with a cold beer.
Merendine
If you imagined that Italian schoolkids snacked on homemade focaccine and slices of cake lovingly prepared by nonna, you may be disappointed by this one.
A merenda is a mid-morning break, and merendine are the purposely-designed, individually-wrapped snack cakes that Italian parents put in their kids’ backpacks each morning.
Sugary sponges, cream-filled rolls and chocolate-covered bars from brands such as Kinder and Mulino Bianco take up whole supermarket aisles in Italy. And it’s not just the kids – plenty of adults who grew up with them still keep an emergency stash in the office desk drawer.
Which Italian junk food would you recommend? Share it with us in the comments section below.
