One of my fondest memories from my trip to Tuscany last summer was Autogrill. So when we spotted one out on the highway outside Palermo I knew we had to stop.
Autogrill is a fast food chain located inside gas stations. They have fresh-squeezed orange juice from local oranges, fresh-made espresso, and fresh-made panini. Those 3 things alone represent such a vast difference between the food culture here and there.
You’re not going to have the best espresso of your life there. But you’re going to have a really, really good espresso, and it’s a gas station. In Italy, just because you’re on the road, it doesn’t mean that you should sacrifice the way you’re eating. You know the sickening smell you’re usually met with at gas stations in the U.S? Old coffee, cigarettes, food under heat lamps? We never experienced that once in Italy, even in poorer regions. There’s care in that, and work put into keeping things this way.
