"Happiness is a glass of wine with a panino," it says at the entrance of Santo Porcello, one of the leading places in Barcelona to eat Italian sandwiches. The speed of service, reasonable prices and quality Italian products such as mortadella, burrata, porchetta and ricotta cheese have turned these businesses into a model of success.
The Italian panino has nothing to do with the paninis that became popular in our country years ago, those baguettes opened in half, stuffed and au gratin, like a kind of mini-pizza on loaf bread. The authentic panino is a sandwich that is usually made with focaccia or a ciabatta-type bread and that, as a general rule, includes some sausage, cheese and vegetables.
In Italy it is typical as fast street food, just like sliced pizza. "There is a lot of tradition of panino, of coming down from work at noon and eating something quick. You can go to any delicatessen and they will make you a sandwich," explains in RAC1.cat Toni Pol, co-founder of Santo Porcello (151 Sepúlveda Street) together to his wife, Nicoletta Acerbi.
Pol and Acerbi had an Italian restaurant in Barcelona, but in 2018 they opted for sandwiches: "I realized that there was a void here, they didn't make those sandwiches," says the co-owner of Santo Porcello. He does mention two places that already offered something similar, and that are still open: Narciso and Gallo Nero, both next to Jaime I.
Another place that has also become a reference is Compá, opened by Vittorio Cicero in 2021 in Barceloneta. This Italian, who has lived in Barcelona for 24 years, has done so well in his business that he has already opened two other stores, in Gràcia and Sants. "He has gone better than he thought," he admits in conversation with RAC1.cat.
Vittorio is from Castrovillari, a town in Calabria, and is committed to "genuine local products, not industrial ones." He buys them from small producers in the region and puts them inside a "very light" artisan focaccia with many hours of fermentation that "makes the difference." Provola and pecorino cheeses, 'Nduja (a type of sobrassada) and pistachio pesto are some of the star ingredients in his paninis.
On the other hand, in Santo Porcello they use a cake bread that is expressly made by a Barcelona oven, and they offer characteristic products from the Emilia-Romagna region. "Italy is very large and has a very strong culinary wealth, it is good that we can differentiate ourselves a little by region," celebrates Toni Pol.
Top quality ingredients and close contact with customers are essential, which has made them reference establishments within the growing offer of Italian sandwiches: "For more than a year there has been a boom of similar places that are opening "says Toni Pol. "People in the sector have seen that this business model is expanding," adds Cicero.
They are first-hand witnesses. Santo Porcello has just opened a second location in Plaza de Artós, and Compá received offers to open franchises in other cities in the state such as Valencia, Madrid or Málaga.
In Barcelona, there are currently about twenty similar establishments, and the two restaurateurs agree that there is a market for the trend to continue spreading: "I think it will increase, because people like it," says Toni Pol. "There are a lot of room to continue growing, it is a successful idea that is replicated quickly," agrees Cicero.
The founder of Compá predicts that "three or four more stores will open before the summer," but he is not afraid of competition: "There is a market and an audience for everyone."
Not in vain, the Italian community is the largest by far among the foreign population in Barcelona. More than 44,600 Italians live in the Catalan capital, according to the latest official statistics. This is almost double that of the next nationalities in the ranking, Colombian and Pakistani.
Santo Porcello and Compá recognize that there will surely be some "industrialization" of the sector, as has happened with Argentine empanadas, but they are not afraid of losing customers. "This is not my path," insists Vittorio Cicero. "Maybe they will try another panino, but if they know us, they will come back," concludes Toni Pol.
This article was originally published on RAC1.
