Piedmont's signature pralines are made with gianduia — a silky smooth cocoa, sugar, and hazelnut paste that owes its unmistakable flavor to roasted Piedmontese hazelnuts of the Tonda gentile variety. Even though some sources claim the blend was invented in the early 1800s, it wasn't until half a century later that gianduia was perfected by a Turinese chocolatier named Caffarel.

According to one legend, the first gianduia pralines were introduced in 1865 during the Turin carnival. They were originally called givù, which means tidbits in local dialect, and supposedly gained the name gianduiotto after being handed out to the people in the streets by Caffarel himself, who was dressed as Giandujot, one of the most popular characters of the Italian commedia dell'arte.

Simplicity at its finest, this softly set pudding takes almost no effort to make, yet is nothing short of amazing! Even though panna cotta (lit. cooked cream) wasn't mentioned in Italian cookbooks until the 1960s, today it is considered a traditional Piedmontese dessert, and the original recipe calls for only whole cream, sugar, vanilla, and gelatin.

When made to perfection and properly chilled, panna cotta is silky smooth, deliciously creamy, and has a gentle wobble to it. For a slightly lighter version of this scrumptious dessert, use half-and-half instead of heavy cream, or simply dilute heavy cream with milk. 

Baci di dama, meaning lady's kisses, are traditional hazelnut butter cookies with a layer of chocolate-hazelnut spread sandwiched between them. They originated in pastry shops in Tortona, Piedmont (famous for its hazelnuts), in the second half of the 19th century.

The name of these cookies refers to their visual appearance, since it is reminiscent of two mouths kissing, or the mouth of a lady (ladies didn't use to open their mouths while kissing, as it was considered crude). Baci di dama is often used as a holiday cookie, and they are sometimes even referred to as the Italian version of popular Oreo cookies.

This classic flavor combines hazelnuts and milk chocolate into a rich, smooth gelato. Though similar to the bacio flavor, gianduia is typically prepared with milk chocolate and does not incorporate crushed hazelnuts. It was modeled on gianduia, an iconic Italian cocoa, sugar, and hazelnut paste that was initially introduced in the 19th century.

Similar to the gianduia confection, the gelato is also usually associated with Piedmont, a region famous for its hazelnuts, but it is commonly found in numerous gelaterias throughout the country.

Pesche al forno is a traditional dessert that's especially popular in Piedmont. It's usually made with a combination of large peaches, butter, crumbled amaretti, sugar, almonds, Marsala, and dark chocolate. The peaches are cut in half and half of the flesh is scooped out into a bowl.

The flesh is mashed with the amaretti, butter, almonds, sugar, and Marsala until the mixture is sticky. The peach halves are placed into a buttered dish, topped with the filling mixture, and the remaining Marsala is poured on top. The dish is covered and baked until the peaches are tender. 

One of Italy’s most spectacular desserts, the luscious zabaione is a velvety custard cream of relatively obscure and mysterious origins. According to one legend, it was invented in Turin around the 16th century and was originally named crema di San Baylón, after its supposed inventor Franciscan monk Pascual Baylón Yubero, the patron saint of pastry chefs.

Interestingly enough, in modern-day Piedmont zabaione is still called sanbajon, though the oldest recipe for this creamy indulgence was found in L’Arte di Ben Cucinare, a 1662 book by Bartolomeo Stefani, head chef of the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Mantua. 

Bonèt is a traditional dessert that can be traced back to the 13th century. Rich, creamy, and soft, the dessert consists of amaretti cookies or hazelnut biscuits, eggs, cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and rum. The whole concoction is typically drizzled over with caramel before serving.

In some places, it's made with chocolate, in others with hazelnut, while, for instance, in Carru, it's made without any of those ingredients. The name of the dish means hat, referring to the original shape of this treat (round with a hole in the middle), but some say that it can also refer to the fact that bonèt is the last thing that is consumed for dinner, just like a hat is the last thing one puts on the head before leaving.

Krumiri are typical Piemontese cookies dating back to 1870, when they were invented by a confectioner named Domenico Rossi. These handmade cookies are made with a combination of fresh eggs, flour, sugar, butter, and vanilla. When the texture becomes just right, the combination is left to breathe for a day before baking.

They are shaped in the form of a bent cylinder with a rough surface. It's believed that the shape is made in honor of the mustached King Victor Emanuel II. Krumiri are said to taste the best when dunked into tea, sweet wines, chocolate liqueurs, or zabaione.

The decadent, chocolate-laden Torta Novecento (cake nine hundred), was created by a renowned Canavese master pastry chef Ottavio Bertinotti to celebrate the turn of the 20th century – hence the name. This seemingly simple cake, consisting of a mousse-like chocolate filling sandwiched between two layers of cocoa-flavored sponge cake, eventually became so popular that Bertinotti, tired of countless knockoffs being passed off as the real thing, finally patented the secret recipe for Novecento in 1964.

In 1972, he sold the recipe rights to Umberto Balla, founder and owner of Pasticceria Balla. His family-run pastry shop has been making the famous Torta 900 ever since, thus establishing itself as a culinary landmark of Ivrea.