The ultimate Italian desserts

When we speak of Italian food, we speak of pizza, pasta, and tiramisu. Consisting of eggs, sugar, mascarpone cheese, ladyfingers, coffee, and cocoa powder, tiramisu is a melt-in-the-mouth Italian dessert. The word tiramisu means "cheer me up" or "pick me up", hence its cheerful connotation. [...] Some said that tiramisu had been invented in Treviso in the North of Italy in the 1960s by a restauranteur called Roberto Linguanotto. Then the dessert quickly became popular in the US in the 1980s thanks to the chef Lidia Bastianich. She had helped her grandmother make tiramisu since childhood, and as she opened her restaurant Felidia, she introduced tiramisu into her menu. Now, tiramisu has truly become an international dessert. - Vy Tran, "The Tasty Tiramisu"

In Rome, my to-go gelaterias are La Gourmandise in the residential neighborhood called Monteverde Vecchio, and Il Gelato di San Crispino in the center. I almost always order the pistachio and hazelnut flavors but sometimes I am an adventurous taster. The pistachio gelato at La Bottega del Gelato in Pisa was top-notch, but the one that won the title "The Best Gelato in the World" in 2017 was in Spoleto. In Numana in Marche, and in Corniglia in Cinque Terre, I tried some fruity innovative flavors, such as the combinations of chamomile, lemon balm and passion flowers, as well as cherry and ginger. My most favorite gelateria in Italy is a local-favorite in Giudecca, in Venice. I loved all the flavors there and the freshness of the gelato left me speechless. - Vy Tran, "Where to find the best gelato in Italy"

Cannolo siciliano: is there any other Italian dessert so popular in the world? Tiramisù may be one of its more glorious competitors, but the "cannolo making" is an art that can’t be reproduced at home with the same simplicity. We can all make a good tiramisù in our own kitchen, but preparing cannoli right is far from an easy task. Cannoli siciliani have also a huge identity-defining power: Italian bakeries all over the world mark their presence on the shelves as a symbol of “italianità” and heritage, associated with only a handful of other products. - Eleonora Ruzzenenti, "The King Of Sicilia: The Cannolo"

Chocolate arrived in italy with the Spaniards, who brought it from the New World into Modica, in Sicily, which still produces it, following the original Aztec recipe. The Venetians, who were always open to trade and to new influences, started serving and drinking it in the city’s cafes. However, it was Torino which really became the first capital of chocolate and, perhaps that was due to the Savoy family—The Duke Emanuele Filiberto who brought to Torinoboth the precious cocoa beans, his son Carlo Emanuele I, who served hot chocolate at his wedding feast, and his grand-daughter-in-law Madama Reale, who granted the first chocolate making licence to a Turinese confectioner, Giò Antonio Ari. From Torino, Venezia and Modica it started spreading across the rest of the country. - Eleonora Ruzzenenti, "Italian Chocoholism"