A classic in Italian pastry and the symbol of the city of Pavia, torta Paradiso is a simple sponge cake variation that mainly uses the three essential cake ingredients - sugar, flour, and butter. Created by Enrico Vigoni in the early 1800s, Torta Paradiso lends itself perfectly as a dessert all on its own, or to various tasty fillings like creams, custards, or spreads.
The unmistakable softness, fragrance, and sweetness also make it a popular choice for a breakfast treat - accompanied by espresso, milk or tea.
MOST ICONIC Torta Paradiso
Stracciatella is a variety of Italian gelato (ice cream), consisting of milk, cream, and sugar, with chocolate bits swirled inside the mixture. It was originally invented in 1962 at the Ristorante La Marianna in Bergamo by Enrico Panattoni, who first decided to crack pieces of chocolate into the ice cream.
He was supposedly inspired by the soup of the same name, made by cracking eggs into a broth, a process similar to cracking chocolate into gelato. Stracciatella is characterized by its smooth texture with a slight crunch. Its name is derived from the Italian stracciare, meaning to tear or shred into pieces.
MOST ICONIC Stracciatella
Colomba pasquale is a traditional sweet bread that is prepared for Easter. It is shaped to resemble a dove, covered in sugar, and studded with almonds. The dough is usually made with sugar, flour, eggs, yeast, and butter. The name of the dessert means Easter dove, referring to its shape.
Spongy, buttery, and sweet, the bread is often stuffed with candied fruit or lemon zest on the interior.
MOST ICONIC Colomba Pasquale
View moreLegend says that these crispy bittersweet cookies were invented some three centuries ago when the Cardinal of Milan visited the town of Saronno in Italy. Two young lovers, Giuseppe and Osolina, presented him with sweets made from a mixture of sugar, apricot kernels and egg whites, wrapped in pairs, which symbolized their love.
The Cardinal was very pleased with the gift, so he gave his blessings to the couple, who got married and lived happily ever after. Although the name amaretti di Saronno is often generically used for any crispy amaretto cookie, the exclusive right to produce these airy Lombardian cookies under that name is in the hands of the Lazzaroni family.
MOST ICONIC Amaretti di Saronno
Sbrisolona is a crunchy, crumbly, buttery cake dating back to the 16th century. It used to be called the tart of three cups because it was made with a cup of cornmeal, a cup of wheat flour, and a cup of sugar, mixed with lard or butter.
Although it started as a poor man’s cake, made with inexpensive ingredients, sbrisolona was also served at the tables of the noble families, enriched with more expensive ingredients such as nuts and spices. Traditionally prepared for Carnival, nowadays it can be found all year long.
Being very crumbly, this cake is not served sliced, but broken into bite-sized pieces, and eaten by hands, preferably dipped in grappa. It is usually served with dessert wines such as the sweet local Malvasia, Vin Santo, or the Passito of Pantelleria.
MOST ICONIC Torta Sbrisolona
View moreBrutti ma buoni are crunchy and chewy Italian cookies believed to originate from Gavirate, a small city north of Milan. The first recipe was supposedly created in 1878 by Costantino Veniani, a pastry chef and owner of Pasticceria Veniani, a pastry shop.
The name of these cookies reveals all – although they are visually unappealing, the cookies taste great, hence their name which can be translated as ugly but good. They are typically made with egg whites, almonds, butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
Torta Bertolina is a simple, golden-brown, round cake made with fragrant uva fragola, also known as Concord or strawberry grapes, as the main ingredient. Its exact origins are unknown, but nowadays it is usually associated with the northern Italian province of Cremona, especially the city of Crema.
Since it is usually homemade, there are many variations of the recipe, but the main characteristics always remain unchanged: sweet golden crust spotted with dark purple grapes and the unmistakable scent of sweet uva fragola.
Offelle di Parona are traditional Italian cookies hailing from Pavia in lombardy. The cookies are made with a combination of wheat flour, eggs, olive oil, and sugar. There's also a version of these cookies with added cocoa, but the original was first created in the 1800s.
The cookies are traditionally oval-shaped with pointed tips, and it's recommended to serve them with cappucino, tea, or hot chocolate, but they can also be dipped into a glass of sweet wine as a sweet snack. Interestingly, a festival dedicated to offelle di Parona takes place annually in Parona on the first Sunday in October.
Elvezia cake is one of the signature dishes of Mantuan gastronomy, created in the 18th century by Samson Putcher, a pastry chef of Swiss origin. In this rich dessert, he combined Swiss pastry techniques with local ingredients by alternating layers of round dacquoise-style pastry discs and a luscious filling consisting of zabaione, butter, chocolate, and Marsala wine.
The versions additionally enriched with whipped cream and chocolate drops also exist, and to fully enjoy the flavors of this refined cake, make sure it is served at room temperature.
Amaretti, the famous Italian almond cookies are so popular in their homeland that almost every region has their version of the recipe, using different proportions and combinations of the basic ingredients: sweet and bitter almonds, apricot kernels, eggs, and sugar.
Lombardy's version, amaretti di Gallarate, are made with sugar, egg whites, and both sweet and bitter almonds – they are very soft, irregularly shaped, and dusted with powdered sugar before serving.
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