The best Street Food in Italy according to Gambero Rosso

Japanese Dumplings in Turin, Pizza al Taglio in Milan, Fried Gnocco in Cagliari. It might sound like the beginning of a story, but it's actually a list of the specialties from some of the establishments awarded in the new Street Food 2025 guide, presented at Palazzo Brancaccio (Rome) and available the Gambero Rosso store.

The gastronomic syncretism of big cities

The aforementioned selection showcases how big cities are porous – to borrow an expression coined by Walter Benjamin a century ago about the multifaceted Naples – when it comes to incorporating diverse gastronomic offerings. This tendency towards syncretism is increasingly evident in this tenth edition of the Street Food guide, marking a decade in which Gambero Rosso has chronicled the contemporary trajectory of street food in Italy. Not only international specialties, like the Japanese street food from Kokoroya in Turin or Chinese street food from Xinge Go Go in Florence, but also exchanges between various Italian regional traditions, such as the great Roman-style pizza al taglio offered by Adriano del Mastro in a Milan market or the fried gnocco and tigelle from La Mallicca in Cagliari.

Xinge Go Go - Firenze

Street food is a traditional sector of our culture. Not in all territories, of course, but for some, it is fundamental. Street food is ancient yet increasingly modern, a young people's food, a social equalizer, a vehicle to bring the basic concepts of quality food to the general public. In these times of inflation and rising prices, street food remains an important guarantee of spreading gastronomic culture. Consider the Regional Champion of Puglia, Evviva Maria of Conversano, which brings the great gastronomic knowledge of a skilled cook to everyone’s reach, or the gastronomic shops that condense Italian food excellence into a sandwich (from Scollo's selection in Catania to the mountain productions of Trotta Sapori in Capracotta).

Scollo - Catania

Of course, today street food is not just about this: behind the youthful image of many activities, there is also a lot of fluff, food porn trends, fatty and overdone foods that are not healthy but are popular on social media with increasingly exaggerated reels, spreading bad eating habits. This is not the case with the establishments found in this guide. Our selection moves along two main lines: quality at the right price and preserving popular roots. This doesn’t mean we exclude new or non-traditional activities, quite the opposite. The melting pot exemplified in the list of this year’s twenty Regional Champions shows us migrant activities, great innovation, and the courage to propose others’ traditions: Italians have never been so open and curious about street food.

The best Street Food in Italy

The guide features 639 entries, over 100 more than last year. The first pages list the Regional Champions, the recognition given by the Gambero Rosso team to the 20 establishments – one per region – that have distinguished themselves for their work. The appendix dedicated to itinerant activities, food trucks, and other types of vehicles that bring street food across Italy has also grown. This year, we reintroduced the special Street Food on The Road award to highlight the increased quality of the sector's offerings. In the Street Food 2025 guide, the award goes to Bracevia – A tutta pecora, a great project focused on Abruzzo's gastronomic symbol, arrosticini.

Some of the selected food trucks also participated in a preview event on June 15th among the vineyards of the Terre Margaritelli estate in Torgiano (PG), a partner of the Street Food guide for three editions. The event featured seafood fritters (Alicetta, Frosinone), Nebrodi Black Pig porchetta (Il Vecchio Carro, Messina), stuffed pasta from Emilia (BStradì, Piacenza), and exotic plant-based flavors (PAS a vegetarian trip, Milan).

The Regional Champions

VALLE D'AOSTA
HIBOU - PRODOTTI VALDOSTANI | Rhèmes Notre Dame [AO]

PIEMONTE
KOKOROYA | Torino

LIGURIA
FISH'N STREET OSTERIA DI STRADA | Genova

LOMBARDIA
FORNO DEL MASTRO | Milano

VENETO
VECIA HOSTARIA DAI NANETI | Treviso

TRENTINO ALTO ADIGE
ACQUAEFARINA PETIT | Trento

FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA
CEMÛT  PICCOLA OSTERIA FURLANA | Trieste

EMILIA ROMAGNA
RAGÙ | Bologna

TOSCANA
XINGE GO GO | Firenze

MARCHE
LE PALLETTE DI GIORGIO | San Benedetto del Tronto [AP]

UMBRIA
MACELLERIA PUCCI | Terni

LAZIO
BECCO | Roma

ABRUZZO
TRANCIO PIZZA IN TEGLIA | Castel di Sangro [AQ]

MOLISE
TROTTA SAPORI | Capracotta [IS]

CAMPANIA
ROSTÌ | Pomigliano d'Arco [NA]

PUGLIA
EVVIVA MARIA TRATTORIA VELOCE | Conversano [BA]

BASILICATA
LE STUZZICHERIE STRIT FUD | Avigliano [PZ]

CALABRIA
BREZZA FISH AND CHILL | Soverato [CZ]

SICILIA
SCOLLO SALUMERIA E GASTRONOMIA | Catania

SARDEGNA
LA MALLICCA | Cagliari

Guide's Partner