Can’t resist a Pasticceria!

When in Italy, it’s molto importante to know about the tantalising, irresistible, delicious shops that will wickedly seduce you.

For pane (bread), go to the panificio (bakery)
For frutta (fruit) and verdura (vegetables), go to the fruttivendolo
For pesce (fish), go to the pescheria (fish shop)
For carne (meat), go to the macelleria (butcher shop)
For gelato, go to the gelateria
AND for dolci (sweets), go to the pasticceria (pastry shop) - my favourite

After every trip to Italy it’s a wonder I don’t return home at least five kilos heavier!

In a pasticceria in Italy you will find professional pastry chefs creating some of the most amazing cakes and pastries. Different regions all lay claim to their own special pastries and sweets.

The concept of the Pasticceria evolved after the Renaissance due to significant developments in pastry making at the end of the 16th century. There was increased availability of sugar resulting in the arrival of creams, chocolates, shortcrust pastry and puff pastry. This era, also referred to as the Age of Sweets, highlighted the prominence of Italian cuisine, which gained recognition throughout Europe for the quality of its sweets and the expertise of its chefs.

Every year Pasticcerias across Italy are vying for the Best Pasticceria Italia Award. The award is called the Three Cakes and is the highest recognition, requiring a score above 90 points. One caffe that we visit every year in Sicily is Caffe Sicilia in Noto, which was founded in 1892! This year the caffe won a Three Cake Award. I am relishing the thought of what I’m going to devour when we visit next week!

It began 133 years ago and continues today with the same family. The passing of one generation to the next is part of Caffe Sicilia’s history. Generation after generation has grown up with the caffe.

This is the story of fourth generation Corrado Assenza who has pastry in his genes. What Caffe Sicilia has done, not just for Noto, but for Sicily is incredible. Corrado promotes artisans, ingredients and the territory. He has inspired a whole generation of Sicilian pastry chefs because of his creativity.

The greatest influence on Corrado is his island. He knows the history of every single ingredient that he’s working with. That is what has made him so special. He is MR. SICILY. He loves Sicily deeply and sees his island as a landscape that produces the best ingredients in the world.

Sicilian breakfast

It’s so hot in Sicily in the summer that everyone eats granita. It is a sweet dish made of flavoured ice like a sorbet. Almost all Sicilians eat granita and brioche for breakfast. There are two groups of people: those who eat almond granita every morning and those who eat lemon granita every morning. They never change. And of course Sicily grows the best almonds in the world. Corrado uses the entire almond to make the granita and that is the difference.

Growing up in Noto

Corrado grew up in the countryside of Noto. His aunt managed Caffe Sicilia. Every day after school Corrado would go to the caffe and eat granita and shortbread cookies with apricot jam. Roberto Giusto was the pastry chef who worked in the laboratory. Giusto taught Corrado that the work of the pastry chef is to make the classic Italian pastries, but it isn’t enough to know kitchen techniques. You have to recognise raw materials in nature and respect the land. The laboratory became Corrado’s playground.

At age 17 Corrado left home to discover the world. He went to Bologna to study agriculture at the university. He studied with a great beekeeper who taught him how to decode the language of bees. It became his great passion. During that time, Corrado fell in love with a nurse called Nives and together they built a life in Bologna. One day, a phone call came. His aunt was sick and could no longer keep Caffe Sicilia open. Either Corrado went home, or the family would lose the business. Corrado went home with Nives.

After seven years away, Corrado was back in the caffe, but he didn’t really understand the role of a pastry chef and now it was his responsibility. He learned by watching Giusto until he was ready.

When purchasing raw ingredients, Corrado goes directly to the farmers. He believes there is no quality in the ingredient if there is no quality in the person who produces it. So he finds farmers who understand quality in their work.

Franzo, the shepherd

His ricotta producer, Franzo, hand milks over 500 animals every day to make the perfect ricotta, but the public didn’t know about Franzo’s perfect ricotta. Corrado wanted him to succeed in giving a future to his family and farm, so he made sure people appreciated Franzo’s work - cooks, pizza makers, pastry chefs. Now they all buy his cheese. Corrado makes gelato with his ricotta, flavoured with rum and chopped pistacchios - so amazing.

The apricot

Sicily had become commercialised. Once where there were vegetable gardens, the land was being used to build shopping centres. Corrado’s next mission was to make the world understand the difference between commercialised produce and the quality born in the land. He thought about what came from the land that was unique and a higher quality than elsewhere. Albicocca - the apricot.

Caffe Sicilia had made their marmalade the same way . . . forever. He modernised the way of making it by reducing the added sugar to respect the purity of the fresh fruit. His purpose was to then make other timeless recipes with ingredients found in Sicily including cassata and cannoli.

Corrado saves the almond

Sicily’s most important ingredient, the almond, was at risk. Corrado went to the farmers and discovered the problem was the traders who decided it was not worth investing in the almond. As a result, farmers were abandoning their land. He put together a plan to save the almond by cutting out the middleman so that the farmers could sell directly. It was a long, slow process to convince the farmers to fight for the almond and save a part of Sicily’s cultural heritage. He took the almond to the Taste Expo in Milan to let the world know how good Sicily’s almonds are.

Back home in Noto, Corrado worked on a recipe to highlight the almond. He called it Terra Nostra - our Land. It consists of two layers of sorbet, one layer of white almond and one layer of green pistacchios.

Corrado saved the almond, but he also saved traditional Sicilian pastry making. Now it is his son, Francesco, fifth generation, who has taken over the reins of Caffe Sicilia, no doubt with Corrado looking over his shoulder every step of the way.

Join me for amazing experiences in Sicily next year. The new website, www.ciaoitaly.com.au has the dates and itinerary for May and October 2026.

Ci vediamo la prossima settimana.

Deb