Pastry Shops in Catania: Where to Eat Sicilian Sweets

What Catania's pastry shops do best: cannoli, cassata and almond sweets

Sicilian pastry is built on ricotta, almonds, pistachio and candied fruit, and Catania's shops lean hard into all four. The headline sweet is cassata siciliana, a round sponge cake layered with sweetened ricotta and finished with marzipan and candied fruit; it is sold whole or in slices at most counters. Cannoli are the other staple, a crisp fried tube filled to order with ricotta, and you should expect the fillings to be piped in front of you rather than sitting ready-made.

Beyond those two, look for torrone, the dense nougat of nuts and honey sold in slabs and bars, and almond pastries in marzipan form, often shaped and coloured to look like fruit. Pistachio from Bronte on Etna's slopes turns up in creams, spreads and fillings, which is why so many Catania counters give it a whole shelf. A pasticceria here is a place to buy a few small pieces rather than one large dessert: pick three or four, share them, and you get the range of the shop in one stop.

Pasticceria Pasubio on Via Pasubio: the Pastinventore and traditional Sicilian pastry

For a first visit, aim at the boxed and counter staples rather than the celebration cakes: the shop's own list of bestsellers names Bausette with pistachio, Isotta with a ricotta heart, Fedora and a classic cassata siciliana. The window also changes with the calendar, since Pasubio sells Easter eggs in spring and panettone and pandoro at Christmas. Its full catalogue and ordering details are on the Pasubio site. Maestro Santo Giarrusso, whom the shop calls its "Pastinventore", is presented as a prize-winning pastry chef who draws on traditional Sicilian pastry for new creations.

Savia: a century-old name in eastern Sicilian pastry

Savia, described in 2018 as a century-old queen of eastern Sicilian pastry led by twin brothers Alessandro and Claudio, appeared among twelve Catania pasticcerie competing in Best Bakery, the television competition that toured Italian cities and stopped in Catania in April 2018. Treat that as history rather than a current ranking: the programme's Catania round ran in April 2018, and it is a record of who took part, not a verdict on the city's best shops today.

I Dolci di Nonna Vincenza and Da Ernesto: family tradition and all-day pasticcerie

I Dolci di Nonna Vincenza takes its name from the mother of Paolo and Alessandro, who carry on the family tradition with Sicilian flavours. Da Ernesto has for years been a regular stop for Catanesi and visitors alike, with Anna and her pastry chefs offering traditional specialities through the day. That all-day rhythm matters when you are planning: a shop like this fits a mid-morning stop as easily as an afternoon one, and it gives you a reason to break up a walk through the centre.

Aiello, Francalanza and Falsaperla: more Catania shops from the 2018 Best Bakery line-up

The 2018 Best Bakery line-up also included Bisou Bakery, Cake Amore di Zucchero, Blanc à manger, Torte storte, Aiello, Francalanza, Cafè Sauvage and Cafè Saint Honoré, a reminder of how deep Catania's pastry bench runs. Use these as leads rather than a ranking. If your day is built around savoury food instead, the best restaurants in Catania are the natural place to start.

What to order: cassata siciliana, cannolo and torrone

For something savoury before the sweets, pasta alla Norma is the Catania dish to know, and it is named for the composer Vincenzo Bellini. It is a good lunch anchor before an afternoon of pastry counters.

How a Catania pasticceria works: counter service and buying by weight

If you want a gift, ask for a boxed assortment; Pasubio, for instance, sells torrone, chocolate and typical products specifically for that purpose, and keeps an online shop. Whole torte and celebration items are a different purchase, usually ordered ahead, so do not assume you can walk in and take a decorated cake home the same hour. Cassata, by contrast, the sources describe as sold whole or in slices.

Finding the shops in Catania

Pasubio is at Via Pasubio 2/f in Catania, with its full product list and contacts on its own site; the other shops named here are grouped in the centre, so you can work through several in a morning. Pick what suits your timing rather than chasing a ranking. For the rest of your eating plan in the city, the best restaurants guide covers the savoury side.

Which Catania pastry shop should you start with?

Buy small, buy mixed, and pay at the till before you order your coffee. That is the whole method for eating your way through Catania's pastry shops without over-ordering at the first counter you like.