Corsetti, the King of “Tramezzino”

Outside the historic center but just outside the Metro C stop “Malatesta”: definitely worth a try!

In Italy, there are three cities known for “tramezzino”: Turin, Venice, and Rome. And in Rome, “tramezzino” means “Corsetti”, a historic gastronomy that serves fresh tramezzini every day, by the hundreds. At Corsetti (https://maps.app.goo.gl/aQjgc1HoeKkv15oLA), you can still enjoy a ham and cheese or mushroom and cheese sandwich for less than two euros.

For two euros, there’s an incredible variety of flavors: chicken salad, egg and salami (the traditional Roman tramezzino), tuna and artichokes, tuna and tomato, mozzarella and tuna, spicy salami and cheese, with truffle, with ciauscolo (a type of spreadable salami), with mortadella, and so on. In short, a huge assortment accompanied by freshly made mayonnaise and incredibly soft bread. You can reach it from the San Giovanni metro station (city center) in less than 10 minutes. A must-try!

The history of tramezzino

No, it’s not a sandwich, and it’s not a panino, it’s a “tramezzino”. Tramezzino is a strange Italian word born thanks to the linguistic creativity of the poet D’Annunzio. But let’s go in order: sandwiches were invented by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), for practical reasons. The Earl enjoyed quick meals while occupied with other activities. In the early 19th century, Anna Maria Stanhope, the Duchess of Bedford, served sandwiches with butter and cucumbers to accompany tea.

In a century, these particular sandwiches spread throughout the Anglo-Saxon world, including the United States. Here, Mrs. Angela Demichelis Nebiolo and her husband Onorino, Italian immigrants, became acquainted with them. On 1925 they decided to return to Turin and buy a place from the Mulassano family in the very central Piazza Castello.

“Caffè Mulassano” began to serve increasingly rich aperitifs, accompanied by sandwiches filled with all kinds of goodness: cold cuts, cheeses, anchovies, butter, veal with tuna sauce. But we are in the 1920s, during the fascist period, and the regime is waging a foolish battle against English terms. So Mrs. Angela couldn’t call those generously filled bread triangles “sandwiches”. Thus it was the poet D’Annunzio who found the name for those beloved snacks: “tramezzino,” something derived from the Italian term “tramezzo,” halfway between breakfast and lunch.