This week I reached out for a new Italian Hero at the king of sandwiches, Subway, with 26,646 restaurants in the U.S. and almost 20,000 more spreading American cheer around the world.

This new Italian sub is not to be confused with old-time Subway standards the Italian BMT and the Spicy Italian sandwich.

Here’s the new Italian Hero breakdown: spicy capicola, mortadella and Genoa salami, and your choice of Subway cheese, veggies, condiments and bread. If you just point to the picture of the Italian Hero and grunt, “That,” you’ll get it with provolone, oil, red-wine vinegar and Mediterranean oregano on Italian bread.

Total calories: 550. Fat grams: 23. Sodium: 1,470 mg. Carbs: 47 g. Dietary fiber: 5 g. Protein: 26 g. Manufacturer’s suggested retail price: $4.99 for the six-incher, $7.69 for the footlong. Your mileage may vary.

Let’s “meat” this sandwich: Capicola is a cold cut made from pork shoulder. It’s smoked and cured in a natural casing. It’s a whole-muscle piece of meat, not a processed sausage, usually sliced razor thin. Similar to prosciutto, capicola has a very strong flavor. Genoa salami is very hard and also packs a powerful punch. You know what salami is. Mortadella — ah, here’s the interesting ingredient. Think of bologna with visible chunks of white pork fat. As fans of Emeril Lagasse know, “pork fat rules.”

Sophia Loren made a movie in 1971 called “Lady Liberty,” in which she played an Italian woman coming to America, bringing a giant mortadella as a wedding gift. Naturally, she gets stopped by U.S. Customs, and major hilarity — and also an international incident — ensues. In Italy, the movie was titled “La Mortadella.” Yeah, sausage got top billing over Sophia Loren. By the way, for you movie buffs, “Lady Liberty” marked the film debut of Danny DeVito.

Subway recommends provolone as your cheese, and that’s on the money. If you order a sandwich with capicola and mortadella, and ask for Swiss or American … well, our friendship is over.

Capicola, Genoa salami and mortadella are mighty taste-bringers, so this sandwich may be overwhelming for Subway customers who normally order, say, a turkey club. If you were brought up in Boston or Philly, this sandwich is what your mother packed for school lunch four or five days a week. The ingredients are straight off the menu board at an Italian deli.

If you’re keeping score at home, the Italian BMT contains Genoa salami, spicy pepperoni and Black Forest ham. Originally, “BMT” was named for the Brooklyn-Manhattan-Transit subway line in New York City. But it’s morphed into “Bigger, Meatier, Tastier” for non-public-transportation folks. The Spicy Italian sandwich contains pepperoni and salami.

Clearly, if you’re looking for an authentic Italian hoagie — toned down Subway-style — the new Italian Hero is your smart play. Don’t be put off by the visible fat in the mortadella. It’s not like they’re throwing head cheese on your sandwich. Look that one up.