I was lucky enough to travel to Italy this summer for a week of family celebrations. We flew into Verona and then spent 5 days on Lake Garda before finishing the trip back in the city for a few days. I could not recommend both destinations enough. So much beauty and sunshine and of course...so much food!!!!!
Pictures from a lovely lunch at Ristorante Al Cristo, Verona.
I don't need to tell you how good the pizza and pasta was, instead I thought I would focus in a bit on Italian baking and sweets. We have all heard of the classic Italian desserts of tiramisu and panna cotta, so I wanted to delve into a bit more of the bakery/gelato side to Italian cuisine.
It was hot while we were there (34 degrees!), so we had to have a lot of ice cream stops to cool down!
This lovely Gelateria was in the heart of Malcesnie in Lake Garda. There was usually a big queue full of eager tourists wanting to try some of the many flavours (we tried mango, banana and hazelnut!).
Italian Gelato is similar to ice cream in that it starts with the same custard base, but it has a higher proportion of milk and less cream and eggs. It is churned at a much slower rate, incorporating less air, thus leaving the gelato denser than ice cream.
Bakery Panificio in Malcesine specialising in German and gluten-free breads. The Italian Lakes receive a lot of tourists from Germany as they are so close.
Back to Verona: After grabbing a cappuccino in one of the many cafe bars in the city, you may want a small sweet treat on the side to keep you going till lunch. A perfect little bite is a 'Juliet kiss' (Baci di Giulietta). Leaning on the city's setting of Shakespeare's famous play, these are small chocolate cookies flavoured with ground toasted almonds which are sandwiched together in pairs with chocolate filling. You may want to try instead a 'Romeo sigh' (Baci di Romeo) which is a reverse of flavours.
Pasticceria De Rossi have been making their own version since 1947 and sell them in this cute packaging which would be perfect to take as a gift if you were popping round to someone's house for dinner! This was my favourite bakery stop of our trip, so I would definitely recommend a visit. It is situated on Corso Porta Borsari which is just off the main square.
Another speciality of the bakery is 'Torta Russa' which is a round cake made of light dough that uses almond flour in a puff pastry shell. The cake is said to have gotten its name because is resembles a type of Russian fur hat!
Pandoro:
If you continue down the same street, you will find the birthplace of the Pandoro cake. Look out for a star shaped cake immortalised in stone in a building by the Melegatti sign. Domenico Melegatti ran a small pasticceria on the Cross Porta Borsari in 1894. He created a sweet yeast cake in the shape of a star baked with a fluffy dough made from eggs. The legend goes that an assistent who tasted the cake upon stopping by the bakery exclaimed 'This really is a bread made of gold' (Le proprio un pan de oro). The name stuck and Melegatti patented his 'Pandoro'.
Checking out a deli shop for some treats to take home! Verona really was a magical city to visit and it was a joy to discover its sweet treats!