Best Pastry Shops in Lucca: Where to Eat Cakes and Pastries

Pasticceria Stella: the modern pastry laboratory

Stella is a Lucca pasticceria built around a laboratory that works early every morning, producing all its lines from the same carefully chosen ingredients. Cocoa comes from selected origins, including single-origin Brazilian, nuts are toasted in-house, and natural sourdough starter is used year-round in both the sweet and savoury leavened bakes, according to the shop's own account. The result is a pastry counter that feels modern and deliberate rather than nostalgic.

Joseph Dimasi is the master pasticcere whose name runs across the whole range. The house philosophy is that the dough comes first: a good leavened bake is judged on its lightness and open crumb before anyone considers the filling. That standard runs from the morning pastries to the large celebration cakes, so you can order a cornetto and a slice of cake in the same visit and expect the same technical care.

The range covers nine modern cakes, an ugly cake, event and wedding cakes to order, individual dessert portions, a line of realistic fruit shapes and small mignon pastries for everyday assortment. Chocolate runs from pralines and sculptures to Easter eggs. If you want a single box to take away, ask for an assortment of mignon; if you want something for a table, the whole cakes are the answer.

For breakfast, the viennoserie is the reason to come: croissants, sfogliati (laminated pastries), valdostane and small savoury pizzette, all made with the same technique the shop applies to its cakes. The large leavened bakes, panettone, colomba and pandoro, are made with sourdough starter and are also pushed as corporate gifts. Order at the counter, take a tray and a coffee, and decide whether you want to stand or sit.

How Stella runs through the day

Stella is not just a breakfast stop. The shop runs a lunch service daily and an aperitivo, with catering and events alongside, so the rhythm shifts from pastries and coffee in the morning to savoury plates and drinks later. If you want the pastry counter at its best, come early; if you want a sit-down lunch, the same address works.

The address is Traversa II Via Pisana 50, outside the historic centre rather than on a tourist square. That matters when you are planning a route: it is not a shop you stumble on between the amphitheatre and the walls, so decide whether the detour fits before you go. The same applies to any celebration cake you want to order, which needs a conversation in advance rather than a walk-in purchase.

Pasticceria S. Anna: the neighbourhood shop

S. Anna sits on Via Sant'Anna 22, a short walk outside the busiest tourist lanes, and that distance is part of its appeal. It is a neighbourhood pasticceria rather than a showcase, the sort of place where the case is filled with everyday cakes and pastries rather than designed for photographs. If you want a quiet coffee and a good pastry away from the crowds, this is the trade-off worth making.

The pastries that come up most often are the bignè (choux buns filled with cream), an almond and chocolate cake, and handmade brioche raised with natural leavening. The cornetti ripieni, filled croissants, are singled out as a reason to come. There are savoury pieces too, so a mid-morning stop can be a small salty snack as easily as a sweet one.

Expect a simple, old-fashioned setup: a counter, a few tables, coffee and a case of cakes. One 2021 review noted that the shop had no card terminal at the time, so carrying euros is a sensible precaution rather than a guarantee of a cash-only policy. Ask before you order if it matters, and keep the visit short and unfussy, which is how this kind of shop works best.

Pasticceria Belluomini: the bar near the walls

Belluomini occupies a large site on Viale G. Puccini 210, just outside the walls to the south-west of the centre, with a big veranda and indoor seating. It is a pasticceria and bar in one, which makes it the most comfortable of the three for a sit-down breakfast: you can take a table under the loggia or stay inside rather than balancing a coffee at a counter.

The order to build a breakfast around is a cornetto and a coffee, with the cornetti iced and filled with cream, chantilly or pistachio getting the most attention. Filled brioche and jam versions are on the counter too, and there is enough savoury choice for anyone who does not want sugar first thing. Sit down, take your time and treat it as a proper pause rather than a grab-and-go.

The location is convenient if you are arriving by car or cycling the walls, because the wide street and the position just outside the ramparts make access easier than in the pedestrian centre. It is still only a few minutes on foot from the walls, so it slots naturally into a morning walk. Tables outside fill up in good weather, so a weekday visit is the calmer choice.

Breakfast at a Lucchese pasticceria

Italian breakfast is short and sweet: a coffee at the counter and a pastry, taken standing. In Lucca the cornetto is the default, plain or filled with cream, chantilly, pistachio or jam, and the brioche comes in many varieties including a cereal version. If you want a sit-down breakfast with a table and a view of the street, choose Belluomini; if you want speed, any of the three works at the counter.

Coffee in Italy is ordered and paid for in a particular order, and it is worth knowing before you queue. At many bars you pay at the till first, then hand the receipt to the barista; at others you order at the counter and pay at the end. Watch what the locals at the bar do, or ask, and you will not hold up the morning rush. Standing at the bar is normally cheaper than sitting at a table.

If you want a pastry with more of a sit-down feel, an aperitivo at a café later in the day is the Lucchese version of the same ritual, with a drink and a small snack rather than coffee and a cornetto. The pastry shops above mostly keep to the morning and daytime, so plan your sweet stop before the afternoon rather than after dinner.

Lucchese bakes to look for beyond the pastry counter

Lucca has its own sweet bread, buccellato, and it belongs on your list alongside the pastries. It is a ring-shaped loaf made with raisins and aniseed, sold by weight in bakeries and pastry shops around town, and it is the thing to buy if you want a taste of Lucca to take home. Buy it from a bakery rather than a souvenir stand for a fresher loaf.

Savoury baking matters too, and the pizzette at Stella and the savoury pieces at S. Anna show how seriously these shops treat the salty side. If you want a fuller meal rather than a snack, Lucca's restaurant scene runs from trattorias serving tordelli lucchesi, the town's meat-filled pasta, to pizzerias. Plan pastries for the morning and a proper sit-down meal later in the day.

Choosing between the three

Pick Stella if you care about technique and want chocolate, celebration cakes or a modern pastry counter, and accept the trip out to Via Pisana. Pick Belluomini if you want to sit down near the walls with a cornetto and a coffee and have space to linger. Pick S. Anna if you want a simple neighbourhood café off the tourist route and are happy to bring cash.

For a fuller day of eating, the pastry shops fit neatly around the rest of Lucca's food: gelato in the afternoon, pizza in the evening and a trattoria lunch in between. Use the best restaurants in Lucca to anchor the savoury meals, then slot a pasticceria in for breakfast or a mid-morning pause.

Which pastry shop fits your morning?

If you have one morning in Lucca, take your coffee at Belluomini for the sit-down comfort, and detour to Stella if chocolate and modern cakes are the priority. Save S. Anna for a quieter day when you want to walk a little further for a simple, well-made bignè and a neighbourhood feel.

Pastries are only one part of eating in Lucca, so build the rest of the day around a trattoria lunch or a plate of tordelli lucchesi and leave the sweet stop for breakfast. Carry some cash and check the shop's own website or noticeboard for current opening hours before you go.