Okay dramatic title, I know- but when my husband and I visited Florence, Italy in April of 2025 for our honeymoon- we stumbled upon the restaurant 54 Rosso and I had a buffalo mozzarella cheese sandwich that LITERALLY changed my life. I dream about it to this day. I want to go back and eat it everyday for lunch. It was light, creamy, crunchy, and had so much flavor!
https://www.54rosso.it this is the link to their website in case you find yourself in beautiful Florence and need a little excursion for the perfect sammi! (Below is said sandwich)
This specific sandwich is the E6 on their menu- and has Buffalo Milk Mozzarella cheese, dried tomatoes, Riviera Olives, tons of zesty olive oil, and lettuce. Simple, I know- but there is just something about it that I can’t explain. Maybe it’s the Italian nostalgia or that feeling like everything is going to be okay in one bite, but dang that sandwich has me dreaming for another. So anywho- this recipe is my spin off of that sandwich- it isn’t identical, and you can see I’ve really jazzed mine up, but the flavors are there and it is just as juicy, tasty, and Italianesqe as any sandwich I’ll ever make! Enjoy!
Ingredients for Italian Sandwich:
As someone who has made this sandwich, below are going to be the ingredients I used plus a * next to what I’d do differently next time because this sandwich could be varied a million ways but I’m specifically trying to replicate the one I had in Florence with a little added pizzaz.
- I used a blend of green and purple radicchio mixed with arugula *next time I would use a handful of chopped romaine or shredded iceberg lettuce
- drizzle of olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 fresh basil leaves
- 3-4 large buffalo mozzarella balls, roughly chopped or mashed (could also use burrata)
- 8 slices of pepperoni
- 6 small slices of salami
- 3 sun-dried Italian herbed tomatoes (I use the ones in a jar, marinating in vinegar or oil)
- handful of roasted red pepper slices (around 3-4 slices)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 7 Pitted fresh Frescatrano Olives (finely chopped) & some of the juice from the olive jar
- 2 good pieces of sourdough, ciabatta or a good sandwich vessel
Directions for Italian Sandwich
- Roughly chop/mash the mozzarella balls, finely chop the olives, and lightly toast your bread.
- Drizzle olive oil on both pieces of bread.
- On one piece of bread, add lettuce the 2 fresh basil leaves, and then smear your smashed/chopped mozzarella or burrata cheese onto that side. The lettuce prevents your toast from getting soggy.
- On the other piece of bread- add your salami, pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red bell pepper slices, and finely diced olives.
- Make sure to drizzle some juice from either the green olive jar or sun-dried tomato jar onto both slices of bread- it should be acidic (so containing vinegar), this gives everything a nice zest.
- Do another drizzle of olive oil over everything (yes, I know, it’s a lot but it’ll make it creamy!). Top with salt, pepper, and could also do a little dried basil.
- Your sandwich is done here! Carefully fold together, cut down the middle, and enjoy!
- **Extra ways you could jazz this up: adding balsamic vinegar or glaze over everything (got this idea from my cousin Nikki who made this sandwich!), could do lemon juice, could add more cheese, could also use a flavored olive oil like garlic or basil!