Cannoli
 

My wife and I are heading to Venice, Florence, and Rome next week and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for Italian Pastry shops that have incredible cannolis. I searched around but can't seem to find much. Thanks.

These are not specialties of the cities you will be visiting. They are more typical of southern Italy.

If you're ever in Baltimore, try Vaccaro's.

Thats too bad. Thanks for the info though.

Hi Anton, I'm sure you will find canonolis in pastry shops even if it is not the speciality. I was in Rome, Florence and some towns in Tuscany last year and had several delicious cannolis. I don't have names, they were places we stopped in as we walked by and decided to take a break. They were all wonderful and better than ones I have had at home. Have a fun trip!

I don't have a pastry shop, but one restaurant that I went to in Rome had Sicilian Cannolis on the menu, and they were delicious. You get two huge ones. It's La Danesina Hostaria, Via del Governo, just west of Piazza Navona. They also have a terrine of homemade tomato soup with slabs of fresh mozarella on top that was wonderful. Wish I had some right now!

They are Sicilian. You can find them especially in Palermo.

P.S. The singular is cannolo. Cannoli is the word for the plural. There's no such thing as "cannolis."

P.S. Sicilians have settles all over to find work and start businesses, so it's possible that you may find some Sicilian-style bakeries. When I was in Florence in 1998, I found a shop that made very good gelato and granita. it was owned by a Sicilian couple from Capo d'Orlando. I couldn't find it again when I was there in 2002. (Maybe they opened a bakery instead???)

In Rome, SlowFood recommends the pastry shop Svizzera Siciliana, which, as the name suggests, specializes in Swiss and Sicilian pastries.

It is at Piazza Pio XI, 10-11; the telephone number is 06 6374974.

(The Piazza is not on my map of Rome; I have no idea where it is.)

Sorry for the distraction but just wanted to interject that cannoili is plural (singular is connolo).

At least in American English, cannoli has become an acceptable singular form, although as cmt correctly points out it is the plural form in Italian.

When one language adopts a word from another, usage and pronunciation are frequently altered.

One that always catches me out is bruschetta--I first had bruschetta in Italy and learned to pronounce it the Italian way (brus ket ta) as opposed to the typical American pronunciation (breh or bru shetta). I can't break the habit of saying it the Italian way (more or less) and get the occasional blank look from waiters.

But the waiters in our favorite Italian restaurants now know what I mean (I can just hear them muttering to one another when we arrive "Here comes the old "bru sketta" @***=@@@.")

But I tip well.

RufusT,
You are correct about American usage, but the OP and wife might want to know what to say when they are actually in Italy.

Great information. I'll keep my eyes open for a sicilian pastry shop. My family, friends, etc.. have always referred to them as cannoli or cannolis. You learn something new everyday. Thanks again.

Mr. Fly, you are very amusing!

My daughter became a "bru sketta" snob after her first trip to Italy.

Eloise, Is it possible that that shop is in Piazza Pio XII? It's at the end of Via della Conciliazione right before you enter St. Peter's Square. Just wondering.

SusanP, That's what I thought at first as well, but both the SlowFood site and the Pagine Bianche have it as Piazza Pio XI. The Pagine Bianche brought up a map. but I didn't recognize any of the streets. I assume it's not in central Rome.

There is an OUTSTANDING Sicilian pastry shop/tavola calda in Rome--Dagnino, in the Galleria Esedra, Via Orlando 75. The entrance to the shopping gallery is across the street from the St. Regis Hotel. The food is great and the cannoli and cassata (Sicilian cheescake with fruit) are out of this world.

Thanks RufusTFirefly - I almost forgot it was time for my Vaccaro's fix. Some of the best Italian deserts in or out of Italy (thats all they serve).

It might be helpful to remember this advice from the Godfather: "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

Hi, bardo. I wasn't trying to argue anything. Just making an observation of no particular value to the OP and his wife on their trip to Italy. I tend to do more and more of that sort of thing the older I get.

The village elder-philosopher complex. (Please, no village idiot comparisons!)

Though Mrs. Fly likens me more to a silver-back gorilla considering a variety of factors.