almost the way nanna made it. Most authenic I've seen on here.

good but not great. expensive to make

This is a great appetizer, lovely presentation, great flavor! It's only draw back is that it is very expensive to make.

Didn't have the lettuce and just ended up making a pretty layout of the meats and a variety of cheeses. It was gone by the end of the party and everyone loved it! People were so glad that I brought it because it was a good assortment of a variety of foods that were different from the typical "veggie plate".

Fabulous! I added some sliced tomatoes. This salad goes a LONG way! I halved the recipe and served 8 people with mucho leftovers (also had burgers, dogs, etc). Unfortunately the leftovers were fairly soggy the next day. Next time, if I'm not serving this as a main course, I'll make a LOT less. But it does look lovely as well as taste yummy!

very good, but very filling. I served as a first course for an Italian dinner and guests were almost too full to eat the main dish...will make again though. would be perfect for a luncheon.

The hit of the party!! Instead of bottled italian dressing, this recipe is far better with balsamic vinegar and olive oil sprinkled just before serving. Reduce the provolone and use whichever ingredients you have available and it is also superb. I do not always use every ingredient- usually omiting roast beef and the gorgonzola. I get asked for the recipe every time!

Fairly inexpensive to make and when served it was a hit! People even started putting on bread a making sandwiches.

Absolutely phenomenal! I made this platter a day in advance...and it was still the hit of the party. It makes a beautiful centerpiece serving dish. As suggested in some of the other reviews, I decreased provolone to one pound. I also omited mushrooms and gorgonzola cheese. I cut the platter into serving pieces before adding the "toppings" (olives, artichokes, etc) which seemed to work well. I also added dressing just before serving to prevent everything from getting soggy. If you need to make this a day in advance, I would suggest using romaine lettuce instead of iceberg-- it would hold up a little better. I highly suggest this recipe!

I made this on New Year's Eve. It was a hit. Everyone loved it. It made a HUGE platter. Next time, I might make a half-sized version. The lettuce gets a little soggy when eaten the next day.

I began serving this recipe for family gatherings last year. Everyone in my family raves about how wonderful it is. I convert the recipe to 20 servings, which amounts to two platters, and it is always finished. Wonderful recipe! My italian family gives it 2 thumbs up!

YUM!! It was a bit expensive to make, but, the taste and the compliments were well worth it! We cut the cheese and meat into cubes or strips. I would add sliced red onion and garlic croutons next time. A must for pizza or spaghetti parties. We only used about 1 lb. of parmesan cheese to top.

Really fantastic. Fresh meats from the butcher made this exciting platter a rave at our Holiday party! Authentic Italian style.

My family loved this one... I will however use a bit less provolone next time.

This was very good --- I'd make it again.

My wife made this for the first time recently and never stopped getting compliments the whole day. It was easy and everyone enjoyed it very much. Everyone wanted the recipe. She made it on a round platter about 14" in diameter- not sure if that was what was intended. It cut into nice squares quite easily and was easy to serve. She also found it hard to use up 2 1/2 pounds of provolone cheese without it dominating too much. I think she used about a pound.

I tried this exactly as the recipe calls for and ended up with soggy lettuce in between layers of meat and cheese. The instructions for the provolone was way too much cheese and I would cut in half. I would agree with the review with suggests simply laying all the different ingrediants side by side on a platter. Great ingrediants, but be prepared to spend a few $$. This is not an inexpensive recipe! I'll try it again, and see if laying all the ingrediants side by side helps. Nov. 2004 - Back again! I tried this again with a few modifications and it was great. Left out the lettuce, fresh mushrooms, green olives and gorganzola. I was going for a very firm, compact dish and wanted to eliminate soft ingredients or anything that might be hard to cut. I layered all the ingredients in a 13x9 dish and then place it into the freezer, just until it was very cold. (not frozen, though). This enabled me to slice the dish into neat, bite sized squares which I then stuck a toothpick in and made an appetizer platter. Great hit because of the small bite-sizes and all the low-carb dieters loved it!

Everyone went nuts over this one! Presentation was beautiful. I left out the mushrooms because I had used them all up in another recipe. I also cut the mozzarella into strips and layered on top because I wanted some of the other colors to come through. Made this the night before and put in the refrigerator; thought the lettuce might get soggy but it didn't. Again, this was a winner during my "Italian Buffet Party." I needed to serve a big crowd and it worked great. A little hard to slice into pieces but we figured it out.