The Epcot Italy menu 2026 for the Food & Wine Festival features three new dishes, including a ham stromboli that raises a fair question about authenticity.

Somebody has to say it, and it might as well be me. The Italy Marketplace at the 2026 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival has three new dishes this year, and only one of them is doing much to earn the pavilion a reputation as one of World Showcase’s most beloved food stops. If you have ever wanted to watch a food reporter take the laziest possible layup shot, congratulations, you found the article. However, you might be surprised by the review of one of the three new menu items.

To be fair to Italy, this is a genuinely easy booth to pick on. It sits between Germany and America, two marketplaces that reliably swing for the fences. It has spent years leaning on crowd-pleasing basics rather than reinventing anything. NO ONE says that this is authentic Italian cuisine…for good reason! This year’s new lineup does not break that pattern. However, it offer one solid step in the right direction.

What to Know About the Italy Marketplace

• Location: World Showcase, at the Italy pavilion, between Germany and the American Adventure
• Festival dates: August 27 through November 21, 2026
• No separate ticket needed: the festival is included with valid Epcot admission, though food and drinks are purchased separately
• New for 2026: Stromboli ($8.00), Pollo al Marsala ($9.00), and Almond Panna Cotta ($6.00)

As with every Global Marketplace at the festival, Italy is an à la carte, walk-up stop. There is no reservation involved. Guests simply order at the window, grab a spot somewhere in World Showcase, and decide for themselves whether they agree with a certain theme park writer’s takes. You can view current pricing and the full posted menu anytime on Disney’s official Italy Marketplace menu page.

Epcot Italy Menu 2026: Stromboli ($8.00)

First up is the Stromboli, described as a baked ham and provolone roll with Parmesan and tomato sauce. Eight dollars for a ham and cheese roll is not exactly a scandal by festival standards. Still, it is also not the kind of item that makes anyone rearrange their World Showcase route to get there first.

Here is the part that actually bothered us enough to look it up: Is a ham stromboli even Italian? The short answer is no, not really, and it is not particularly close. Stromboli, the food, did not originate in Italy at all. Stromboli is an Italian-American creation that traces back to Philadelphia in the mid-20th century, generally credited to Nazzareno Romano of Romano’s Italian Restaurant in Essington, Pennsylvania, around 1950. The name reportedly comes not from the Sicilian volcanic island of the same name, but from the 1950 Roberto Rossellini film Stromboli, starring Ingrid Bergman, which was making headlines at the time for an off-screen scandal involving Bergman and Rossellini.

So the dish sitting on the Italy Marketplace menu is, by most documented accounts, a Philadelphia invention named after a movie scandal rather than a dish with roots in Italy itself. That does not make it a bad sandwich. It does make it a slightly funny choice for the pavilion representing actual Italy to lean on, especially when entire regions of genuinely Italian bread, cheese, and cured-meat traditions sit right there unused. That would be superior to this ham sandwich wearing a mustache as a disguise.

How Did the Stromboli Taste?

Okay, let us get to the good stuff…or, in this case, the not-so-good stuff. We had this twice. Both times, it was challenging to cut. The sauce adds an element of dining danger for those averse to messy theme park dining.

The pastry component comes across as a typical frozen food option at your local grocery store. However, that does not work for this marginally Italian dish. Based on our experience, guests can expect either a lack of ham flavor (or lack of any real ham at all) or an odd, slightly ham-forward flavor. We wish you good luck. However, the sauce, though potentially messy, does offer reasonable flavor. To no one’s surprise, we suggest passing on this Food & Wine offering on the Epcot Italy menu 2026.

Epcot Italy Menu 2026: Pollo al Marsala ($9.00)

While we beg you to leave the stromboli, take the Pollo al Marsala. This roasted chicken drumstick dish comes served with a sort of creamy potato gnocchi, mushrooms, and Marsala sauce. Walt Disney World has tagged this one as a 30th Anniversary Legacy Item, which tracks, since the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival first debuted in 1996 and 2026 marks its 30th year.

Chicken Marsala is a legitimate, well-established Italian-American classic, so no authenticity complaints here. The bigger issue is that at nine dollars for a single drumstick, gnocchi, and sauce, this is one of the pricier single-plate items in World Showcase this year. Also, a chicken drumstick has never once been the dish that convinces someone to skip the entrée-sized options elsewhere in the park.

Nonetheless, we had this two times. Both times, the chicken was very well prepared. The Marasla sauce and mushrooms elevate it pairing well with the chicken. Also, the gnocchi tasted better than we expected. The portion size of chicken might be a bit small. Still, for the Epcot Italy menu 2026, this is the star!

Epcot Italy Menu 2026: Almond Panna Cotta ($6.00)

Rounding out the new lineup is the Almond Panna Cotta, served with orange marmalade, whipped cream, and candied almonds. This is at least squarely within Italian tradition, since panna cotta is a genuine northern Italian dessert with real roots in the Piedmont region.

Even so, it is hard to get too excited about a panna cotta when the festival’s dessert competition includes liquid-nitrogen creations, mousse trifles, the fabulous Chocolate-pistachio Cookie, and fully staged sundaes and funnel cakes at other marketplaces. A panna cotta in a cup is a perfectly nice way to end a meal. It is not the kind of dish guests build a festival itinerary around, and Italy’s menu could use one of those. Most guests will think this is fine but nothing more. When we had it, it tasted like a good pre-made dessert from a grocery store like Publix or Kroger.

So, Should You Stop at Italy During the Epcot Food & Wine Festival in 2026?

None of these three new dishes are bad on paper. They also aren’t a reason to plan a special trip to this marketplace. If you are already walking past on your way around World Showcase and want a reliable, low-risk bite, Italy will probably not let you down. If you are trying to prioritize a short list of must-try festival stops, only the Pollo al Marsala should not make the cut. Also, if a cast member at the window tells you the Stromboli is an old family recipe from the old country, feel free to smile, nod, and think about Philadelphia.

Epcot Food & Wine 2026 Festival Details

The Italy Marketplace is just one stop among more than 30 Global Marketplaces spread across Epcot for the 2026 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which runs through November 21, 2026. We rounded up every Global Marketplace menu, including new dishes, returning favorites, and plant-based options, in our complete Epcot Food & Wine 2026 menus guide.

A few practical notes for guests unfamiliar with the festival format:

• The festival is included with valid Epcot theme park admission. There is no separate festival ticket.
• Food, beverages, merchandise, and certain experiences all require separate purchases on top of park admission.
• Some Global Marketplaces open on a phased schedule throughout the festival rather than all on opening day, so check official sources before finalizing dining plans for an early-festival visit.
• Beyond eating, the festival includes the Eat to the Beat Concert Series at America Gardens Theatre, Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak scavenger hunt, and Emile’s Fromage Montage cheese-focused food stroll.

For more theme park dining reviews, visit MSM News every weekday at noon Eastern Time. Additionally, we sometimes post bonus theme park dining reviews. As always, eat like you mean it!

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