Italy is celebrating the Tiramisù Day on March 21. The coffee-flavoured creamy delicious caloric bomb is the nation’s favourite dessert. Weekly sales of tiramisù across the country add up to a hefty sum of €4,200,000!

The origins of the dessert have been disputed for a while. The regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto each say that tiramisu theirs. The city of Treviso in Veneto claims to be the birthland of the dessert and seems to be winning the argument. It runs an annual Tiramisu World Cup with international chefs trying to outdo each other making the heavenly dessert. The town’s famous restaurant Le Beccherie says that the Tiramesù (in Veneto dialect it means “pick me up”) was invented in their kitchen in 1970. The sweet treat quickly became popular not only in Treviso but nationwide and the town’s natives living abroad shared it with the world. However,
Friuli Venezia Giulia insists that the dessert was created for the first time there in the 1940s.

Despite the fact that tiramisù is the most loved dessert in Bel Paese, even Italians are not always sure about the recipe. In 2018, it was the most searched recipe on Google in Italy. The original version of tiramisù calls for mascarpone cheese (not whipped cream), egg yolks, savoiardi biscuits and coffee (see the original recipe in Italian here) although dozens of variations exist nowadays: with peanut butter, pistachio, rum, ricotta instead of mascarpone and many more.

Where to find the best tiramisù

In Treviso, Le Beccherie still serves the classic version (€6.50 per portion) as well as a modern deconstructed one in a glass.

In Rome, Zum offers several variations including gluten- and lactose-free tiramisu. Another place to gorge on the creamy dessert in the Eternal City is Two Sizes where you can buy tiramisu to take away and eat on the go.