Let's celebrate with baked goods: the story of pandoro and panettone.

There are many Christmas sweets, but among all those that absolutely must not be missing from Italian tables are undoubtedly the leavened breads Pan de Oro and Pan de Toni. Did you know that originally, the first in Verona and the second in Milano, these were the names of Pandoro and Panettone? This is their story, and it is a fascinating story, just like many other tales that arise from chance or the ingenuity and improvisation of small great court chefs or pastry artisans or bakers.

Pandoro and Panettone were born in two distant periods. While Panettone originated at the court of Ludovico il Moro in the second half of the 1400s, Pandoro in Verona established itself at the end of the 1800s. In both cases, their origins are attributed to stories that have since turned into real legends. Let's start with what was born first: Panettone.

Certainly, Panettone has Renaissance origins. The story tells of a sumptuous lunch organized by Ludovico il Moro with the authorities and noble Milanese. The court chef had worked for weeks preparing the menu, but unfortunately, the dessert he made was burnt in the big oven. Desperate and out of ingredients to replicate it, his apprentice Toni humbly offered to make a cake with the leftovers of the chef's dessert: eggs, butter, flour, some candied citrus peels. The chef tasted a piece and was astounded by its goodness. He decided to replace his dessert with Toni's and had the new cake served to the diners, which sparked amazement and great approval. When the Duke called the chef to ask what the new dessert was called, the chef replied: “L’è el pan de Toni.” Thus, the name Panettone was born.

Fascinating story? Wait until you read about Pandoro.

The Melegatti family claims that this famous dessert was born in their pastry shop in Piazza dei Signori in 1894, thanks to the intuition of Domenico Melegatti. The place surely remains the same, but the truth is a bit different. The product was actually conceived a few years earlier and is attributed to the ingenuity of another great pastry chef who had just returned from Vienna: Giovanni Battista Perbellini.

“El Tita”, as he was nicknamed, had learned the art of pastry making in Vienna, the home of leavened desserts like the legendary krapfen. When he arrived in Verona, he went to work in the ancient pastry shop of Domenico Melegatti, where he began his activities, bringing with him his Viennese experience. In Verona, there was already a dessert called Nadalìa: a simple, lightly leavened, buttery dessert topped with almond sprinkles and powdered sugar in the shape of a star. Battista, utilizing his knowledge of long leavening, managed to give that dessert an elevated shape with a pewter mold that still exists in the Perbellini family, calling it Offella.

It was 1891, and in Verona, wealthy families lined up at the pastry shop for an Offella on the Sundays of Advent. Poets and artists were fascinated by that dessert. “El Tita” Perbellini had become the "de garde" pastry chef of the city of Verona, which caused some annoyance to the Melegatti family: discussions revolved around Tita's Offella rather than Melegatti's desserts.

A visionary Veronese painter, Angelo dall’Oca Bianca, transformed Perbellini’s Offella into Pandoro, which here is paired with Lugana, asking to elevate the shape of the Offella to make it more elegant and refined for the holidays. Thus, the almond bits and sugar during cooking were removed. By tightening the pewter mold, they succeeded in creating a large, soft, tall leavened cake with a tapered shape, which was called Pan de Oro.

In 1894, Perbellini was dismissed by the Melegatti family, who, as a good exit, gifted him a house in Bovolone, far from the city. A good exit that felt a lot like exile: this way, Domenico Melegatti began his adventure with Pandoro from Verona, becoming its forerunner, so much so that on his building in Corso Portoni Borsari, high above, he had two forms of pandoro sculpted to support the cornice. However, Giovanni Battista Perbellini continued the production of Offella, which still today remains his true hallmark and irrefutable proof of the origins of Pandoro.

Bernardo Pasquali