UPDATED: I went back to Milan in March 2018 and the shop had closed. :(…read more We came into Piadina Carletto because an Italian friend recommended we try piadina and gave us the name of this shop in particular. We sort of blundered in, not sure if we were at the right place, because we had not realized that piadini could be either savory or sweet, and were looking for more of a dessert-type place, along the lines of a crepery. Luckily, the owners were warm and welcoming and encouraged us to come in. The owner, Laurie, is originally from Saint Louis and met her Italian husband while in college. It's funny old world! Laurie took the time to explain that a piadina is pretty much the oldest street food in Italy, and consists of a grilled flatbread stuffed with a variety of cheeses, cold cuts and vegetables if you opt for savory, or you can also get them with sweet fillings such as jam or Nutella. Being from Colorado, my immediate thought was a Piadina is like an quesadilla, but it's only like that a little bit as far as a round, flat piece of bread is involved. :) There were about sixteen savory options on offer and about six sweet ones. Some were vegetarian. I am not sure they had vegan options, but I bet they could! Vegans, just make sure to ask if the flatbread is made with olive oil, because in some regions, lard is used. Laurie cheerfully answered all our questions. In the end, we decided we wanted to try the most authentic/traditional kind, so we went the savory route and did cheese - Squarquerone which I have decided is pretty much unpronounceable but delicious,arugula, and prosciutto di Parma (DOP, protected nomenclature for you foodies out the re). For those of you going "what's prosciutto?" - it's a dried/cured ham. Very rich and savory. The fresh, crisp bread and the creamy cheese, combined with the slightly bitter rocket, and the incredibly savory and rich proscuitto was a revelation. It made us very happy. We sat and ate our yummy piadini, chatted with Laurie and watched her greet her regulars, help new customers and had a refreshing break. Piadina Carletto is unusual in that they make their piadina dough daily (and fresh, and they let us see the mixing machine and the fresh dough, and we watched the piadini bread being made on the grill! Piadini dough consists of white flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water. Simple but requiring good, quality ingredients in order to shine. Piadini Carletto obviously uses the good stuff. During the rest of our trip, I didn't see any other piadiniera making their own and to be honest, their flatbreads didn't look as nice. I am assuming they use commercially made pre-made ones. We even saw piadini in the supermarket, but they looked pretty sad and we didn't even bother to try them. When we were done, Laurie gave us some advice on what to not to miss as far as sightseeing, as well as directions for getting there. She teven walked us to the corner to make sure we got off to the right start and sent us off on our way! Piadina Carletto offers menus in several languages as well, a welcoming gesture. Don't be afraid to give it a try! Seating for about a dozen folks on bar stools at a counter. It's totally okay to take your piadini to go, because, after all it's street food! Easy to eat while walking around, but I recommend you sit for a bit in the clean and tidy shop and chat with the owners. We're glad we did.